How to resize my Canvas in Illustrator

[GertvandeCappelle]

Hello,

can anyone help me out. I would like to rezise my canvas in Illustrator and I dont know how to do that!

Why: I'de like to fit my AI design on to an other AI, real size object and the Illustrator canvas is to small to handle the design in a proper way. So my design is to large to fit the real obeject. the question is therefor how can I make my Canvas larger?

Hope for your support and help.

Thanks

Gert van de Cappelle

[Jacob Bugge]

Gert,

There is no canvas in Illustrator.

In Illustrator you have the (about) 227" x 227" Workspace, and inside that the Artboard, which corresponds to the page (in print), and which holds the artwork that is printed or saved as PDF; in the newest versions, it is also used to crop for exporting artwork in other formats. You set the Artboard size with File>Document Setup>Artboard, or in the newest version with the Artboard Tool (DoubleClick).

[Conor4400]

Hi Jacob,

I've been tooling around the internet for a while now looking for answers and I was wondering if you could help! Do you know of any way to change the size of the default 227 inch workspace?

Thanks!

Conor

[Jacob Bugge]

Conor,

There is no way.

Have you seen this post, which came after your post here?

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3201140#3201140

[integralcolor]

Even in .ai cc 2017 - no way to make a very large size file to accomodate a real-size object. Looks like it has to be done in Pshop. Too bad since I love using illustrator for design projects. (fabric and garment) If anyone knows something new please post! Thanks

Barbara

[toneee4]

Jacob Buggebrief answer is the answer to this question, quite simply.

@The artboard is to Illustrator what the canvas is to Photoshop. Period.

[ambitious_motivation0D4D]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if anybody know if there is a possibility to change the art board size symmetrical !

The same way when we hold the option key to resize a rectangle object symmetrically.

Thanks

[ofee76050228]

Thank you so much, I found your answer very, very helpful.

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, ofee.

[Kjonnnn58]

[Guest]

Hi there,

I had the same issue when designing a banner with a size of 5800 mm x 2400mm . the same box popped up when i clicked create because it surpasses the canvas size limit. However, what you can do is create a new  artwork  and set the  size to a smaller ratio. Basically what i did was set the size by 50% smaller ratio making the art board dimensions  2900 mm x 1200 mm. After I sent it to the printing company, I specifically  told them that the artwork I sent to them  is in a 50% ratio and that they would have scale to rescale it back to its original size to print.

[franciscob1218]

Just wanna say this is wrong. There IS a canvas in Illustrator. The Artboards are contained within the canvas. And while artboards are essentially the same thing as a canvas in photoshop. Saying that a canvas does not exist in Illustrator is incorrect

[Doug A Roberts]

'Canvas' is a relatively new term in Illustrator, and it has spread around inconsistently since 2010 (when Jacob posted that message). Many users would have been more familiar with 'pasteboard' or simply 'work area' as Jacob said, but they are all the same thing.

[Blissful_hand5EB4]

Well said!

[shawn24246291mdgy]

This is incorrect, at least in CS4. When I try to resize my artboard to outside the boundaries of the canvas area I receive the notification that I cannot do this. I am attempting to resize my artboard to a specific size that is outsise the canvas area and am finding nothing in any settings to change the canvas area dimensions. I am assuming this is not possible. 

[Doug A Roberts]

What was incorrect exactly?

What size artboard do you need to create? As Jacob said, the maximum is 227 inches square (until the 2020 version at least).

[usp51884834]

I've been searching how to do this forever and this is how you do it: You have to create a New document, put in the dimensions that you need, and it will create that Canvas size for you automatically. And it's Huge too, plenty of room for most scales. Unfortunately, what you can't change an existing document to a larger canvas size, it has to be a new document.

[theAdriana]

WOW! Thanks for that!

[mohammada49500265]

but can i change the canvas size on an existing document ! becuase what happening here is .. when i saved hires pdf from the large document, the out file was too lowres! (the large document was 50x50 m canvas size)

[bongofernie]

Not sure what you mean by out file was too low res. If that is the problem on your PDF you may see if you are clicking High Quality PDF before you save. Just a thought.

[Guest]

Jacob,

If there's no canvas in Illustrator, how come I get an error message saying, "Artboard size can not be bigger than CANVAS size", when I try to make a large artboard?

[Jacob Bugge]

RPCappa,

Because whoever started using the term, in error messages and/or elsewhere, had failed to realize it.

Some day, (almost) everyone may use this basically misleading term with its implication of a (non existing) background, and we shall have to really waste time in the Illustrator forum explaining that there is no background (of any colour) in an Illustrator file.

Here is just one of many threads over there in the past, showing that it had not crept in in CS4:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2211879#2211879

[tylerbuckguinn@gmail.com]

There's no point in being rude to people bro. get over yourself.

its a canvas.

[Rodrigo5C3A]

I just had the same problem, I know it's 10 years after the original post... hahaha

Just group all the items that you have so that they can go beyond the canvas, then make a new file with an artboard the size of that and your canvas will stretch to that size, though not a lot more. Then copy and paste into the new file.

I just made a file 16K + pixels high and it worked. 

[www.eva-motion.digital]

Thank you!