Newbie--can't remove the rectangle in the middle of my image.

[Guest]

Yes, I'm new to Illustrator. Every time I open up a previously made image, usually a jpg of an illustration I did by hand, there is an outline of a rectangle right in the middle of my image. I have no doubt I put it there while doing something else. But, now it shows up in all the images I open in Illustrator. Does anyone know what I might have done to create this, and better yet, how I can get rid of it? I'm using Illustrator CS4.

Thanks.

Ron

[Kurt Gold]

Are you perhaps just talking about the artboard boundaries?

If that does not apply, can you show a screenshot?

[SJRiegel]

I can't be sure without a screenshot, but it sounds like your image is larger than the artboard, and that's the outline of the artboard you are seeing.

BTY, a jpg should be put into an illustrator file with File>Place, not directly opened. That could be what's creating your problem.

[Guest]

Thanks to both Kurt and SRiegel. And yes, I believe it is the artboard I'm seeing within a lager image. But, I cannot get rid of it, and it's in every image I open. When I tried to Place an image in Illustrator, Place was greyed out.

Ron

[SJRiegel · Accepted solution]

You can't get rid of it; it's the boundries of the "virtual paper" you are working on. You can make it larger with the artboard tool, or you can shrink your artwork down to fit it.

If place is greyed out, chances are that you have a locked layer selected.

[Jacob Bugge]

Ron,

You should be able to View>Hide Artboard (use the View dropdown and click Hide Artboard, when you have done that the option becomes Show Artboard, which you can use to get it back).

[Jongware]

Hiding the artboard is only useful within Illustrator itself. Any export, print, or plain save and then imported in InDesign (for example) will use the artboard dimensions -- visible or not.

It's better to, now you know what it's called, look it up in the on-line help and see how you can either make your artwork smaller (so it fits inside the current artboard) or make the artboard itself larger.

[Guest]

Thank you one and all. I finally got it, and solved my problem, which really wasn't a problem. It was just my lack of understanding.

[Lomalololo]

Please could you specify how did you solve it?

[Monika Gause]

You want to hide the artboard?

View > Hide artboard.

[Jacob Bugge]

Theunis,

Did they go from Crop Area to Artboard governing the extension of saving/exporting a raster image between CS3 and CS4? I thought it was betwen CS4 and CS5.

Apart from that, I should expect that if the image were cropped by the Artboard, it would coincide with the edge of the image rather than being an inner rectangle as stated in the OP.

[Jongware]

Jacob Bugge wrote:

Theunis,

Did they go from Crop Area to Artboard governing the extension of saving/exporting a raster image between CS3 and CS4? I thought it was betwen CS4 and CS5.

Hold on while I check CS4.

.. (muzak playing) ..

Okay, got the answer. It Depends.

• export as PNG or BMP (and presumably other bitmap formats) defaults to art size.
• Export for Web defaults to Artboard size, but you can uncheck "Clip to Artboard".
• what should be the preferred option, Save as Native AI, clips to Artboard size when placed into InDesign -- and none of the usual options (Art, Bounding Box, etc.) can make the clipped off parts visible.

Apart from that, I should expect that if the image were cropped by the Artboard, it would coincide with the edge of the image rather than being an inner rectangle as stated in the OP.

Isn't it the reverse By referencing to the artboard, you are forcing Illustrator to use whatever artboard you happen to have. What you describe is the behavior in Save For Web (except you got it the wrong way around).

[Jacob Bugge]

Theunis,

But if the image is cropped by the Artboard, there would be nothing outside the Artboard, so it would be impossible for the Artboard to show up as a rectangle inside the image, no?

[lisar17788242]

Making the artboard larger fixed the problem for me.  Thank you for this!

(Using Illustrator CC 2018)

-L Rogers

[Regunathan PL]

Its Print tiling

View > Hide Print Tiling can make it Invisible

[Stribling10]

I hid the artboard and it appears white behind my banner.  When I export the banner into versaworks to print will it interfer or is there something I should do at this point...how can I group my images on the banner so they will not move.  

[John Mensinger]

Your question about it potentially interfering would be impossible to answer without more information. The artboard should be the equivalemnt of the paper on which your banner will be printed. Why did you hide it?

[Stribling10]

Is there a way to replace it in the size of my banner without losing my information?

[Stribling10]

the box that was there was no where near the size of my banner so I only
made it so that the back is completely white. Following one the
instructions it said to hide and would not hurt the banner itself.

Is a 3 x 7 banner size 67 inches? Also do I need cut lines?
~~*Jeannette S. Riddick*
*jeannette.riddick@gmail.com *

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing
that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are
serving the Lord Christ."

[Monika Gause]

You might want to talk about file specifications with your service provider. Ask them for their exact needs.