Illustrator CC: how do I change the artboard colour?

[cdarklock]

This is frustrating.

No matter how I set the interface preferences, when I make a new artboard, that artboard is white.

The brain-dead workaround to this is to put a rectangle the colour I want on a locked background layer and make it the same size as my artboard, but this turns "Shift+O, drag" into "Shift+O, drag, M, drag, set desired fill colour, deselect rectangle, restore previous fill colour and tool and selection."

It seems like there should be an interface option somewhere that lets me set the colour of new artboards, but the only guidance I can find on setting the artboard colour says to use "simulate coloured paper." Simulating coloured paper is not setting the colour of your artboard. It is simulating the way ink always lets some of the paper colour show through.

I do not want my artboard to show through. I simply want it to be a different colour. When I press Shift+O and drag out a new artboard, I want that artboard to be the same colour. If I decide I would like a different colour, I want to change a single setting somewhere and have the colours of all artboards in the document change at once.

I cannot find any setting for this in the interface. Am I missing something, or is it just not there?

[rcraighead · Accepted solution]

It's just the way it is. If you want all your artboards to share the same color, create a giant rectangle that covers the entire work area, then all artboards will share the same base color. Change the color on all layers by changing the color of the single rectangle. Or you could use a global color and change the global color build in the swatch panel.

[cdarklock]

Doesn't make things any better, but at least I'm not missing anything. Thanks.

[emil_emil]

Another workaround, using File > Document Setup, you can make the two colors of the transparency grid the same and always work with Show Transparency Grid on which is accessible from the View menu (Shift + Ctrl + D)

[rcraighead]

I thought of that too, emiil. My only concern is, it would not export or print with the "transparent" color background.

[emil_emil]

Oh, I thought it is not for printing. Then, guessing the cdarklock's workflow, I think may be one time effort of creating one artboard with a rectangle of the desired color and  when needed duplicating it instead of creating new, saves the effort of adding a rectangle all the time.

[Gadget1969]

I guess you could create a layer under your art, draw a black box, then right click the layer and uncheck PRINT, then lock the layer so you don't have to mess with it, then go back to the top layer and do your work. This would effectively make the artboard black and would not show in print...

[TZiady]

This worked for me perfectly. Thanks for this.

[oscars93987756]

I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. IT WOULD ALWAYS STAY WHITE. EVEN THOUGH I CHANGED ALL THE DOCUMENT SETUP STUFF AS ALREADY DESCRIBED.

WHAT WORKED FOR ME?

1) I DID THE NORMAL DOCUMENT SETUP STUFF

2) I THEN LITERALLY SCROLLED DOWN PAST THE BOTTOM OF MY PICTURE. WHEN I SCROLLED BACK UP AGAIN THE PICTURE'S BACKGROUND HAD CHANGED TO THE COLOR I WANTED ! ! ! ! !

WORTH A TRY.

[kruegert]

This is also the only way it worked for me.

[stldncr01]

OMG! Why does that work!??! The scrolling down and back up worked! I changed both colors of the transparency grid to black, scrolled down and back up and bam, there it was! Thank you so much for the simple but effective trick.

[regan100]

What a funky bug. Thanks for the workaround!

[lenicyber5]

Holly cow, go figure!

This trick actually works. You're a life saver man!

[default70y11gtmg6bj]

This worked for me!!! Thank You!

[tomaugerdotcom]

OMG 8 freaking years later and this bug still exists. Meanwhile we have unusable ChatGPT AI vector drawing "features" that nobody asked for.

Workaround for me: force redraw with CMD + and CMD -

FIX YOUR TECHNICAL DEBT ADOBE!!!

[Monika Gause]

 this bug still exists.

It's not a bug. Illustrator has no "background color". Draw a rectangle.

[Kayla Danforth]

Party 

[Abuse removed by moderator]

[Doug A Roberts]

I think the 'bug' is that you need to do something for the screen to refresh to see your change to Simulate Coloured Paper take effect.

[Lu_Delmont]

Go to FILE>DOCUMENT SETUP>click on SIMULATE COLORED PAPER
Change color of upper color box to the desired color.
Click OK

If it does not change the background color press CMD + SHIFT + D twice. It should work.

[Monika Gause]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Lu+Delmont  schrieb

Go to FILE>DOCUMENT SETUP>click on SIMULATE COLORED PAPER
Change color of upper color box to the desired color.
Click OK

If it does not change the background color press CMD + SHIFT + D twice. It should work.

This does not set a background color. It simulates printing on colored paper. It makes white objects disappear.

[Lu_Delmont]

I am just using this and all white objects appear just fine. I am simulating white printing on black paper.

[António Rocha]

I have made the most simple way.  I have created a black shape with my artboard size and sent it back