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split into grid fails to add guides

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split into grid fails to add guides, even though I specifically check the "add guides" checkbox

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Ton FrederiksCorrect answer

Community Expert

Yes, Dan I saw the same, but after setting the 0/0 point to the upper left corner of the artboard it worked fine

Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

I found a bug report here:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/35671036-split-into-grid-draws-guides-wrong-on-multiple-art

You may want to add your vote.

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

It seems to work if you use Global Rulers instead of Artboard rulers (right click in the Ruler to change this) and set the X/Y 0/0 point to the upper left of the artboard (double click the intersection of the rulers).

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Dan Iosif23277824j246Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Ton,
thanks for checking in and suggesting that workaround. Just to quickly report back on that. I did test it on the file I've sharerd earlier in this thread. Same behavior, same result, guides are indeed placed, but way off the ardboard containg the object that I'm splitting with split-into-grid, even after switching the rulers to Global. Thanks anyways.

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Dan Iosif23277824j246Author

Participating Frequently

Yes, Dan I saw the same, but after setting the 0/0 point to the upper left corner of the artboard it worked fine

Hi Ton, you’re absolutely right.
I missed that step the first time around, but after setting the 0/0 point to the upper-left corner of the artboard, it worked perfectly. Thanks again for following up and pointing that out. Definitely the key to getting it to work!

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Dan Iosif23277824j246,

Sorry to hear you're running into this. I just tested it on Windows 11 with Illustrator 29.5, and the 'Add Guides' option seems to be working as expected. Could you confirm which version of Illustrator you're using and share details of your operating system? Also, does the issue happen only with a specific file or even when you try it in a newly created file? If possible, a short screen recording showing the issue would be helpful for us to investigate this further with the team.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Abhishek

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Dan Iosif23277824j246Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Abhishek,

Thanks for your message. I'm on Windows 10 with Illustrator 29.5 (latest). I am working with a 20-Artboard file and trying to split into quarters a rectangle on the first artboard using Split Into Grid with 2 Rows + 2 Columns. As I was further experimenting I noticed that some guides were in fact added but way further than where they were supposed to be - thousands pixels away from the artboard I was working on, which is weird. I've tried attaching the .ai file to this message but I got an error telling me the file does not match its extension, again weird. Please analyze the .ai file I've uploaded to the Google Drive link below to see for yourself. Thanks.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16-vHpNhLC2qgojXW3RflPTPIDmtqVgi8/view?usp=sharing

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Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Dan Iosif23277824j246,

Thanks for sharing the file! I tested it on my end and observed the same behavior.

This is expected behavior in Illustrator when using the Split Into Grid feature with the "Add Guides" option enabled.

Illustrator's guides are global across the canvas – they are not limited to the artboard bounds. When you apply Split Into Grid with Add Guides, the guides are placed based on the object's boundaries, but they span the entire canvas area, not just the artboard. As a result, the guides may appear far outside the selected shape or artboard.

As a workaround, you can simply select and delete the outer frame that appears outside the artboard. The guides will remain intact and correctly divide the area as intended, based on your row and column settings.

I'm discussing this with the team to explore if there's room for improvement or clarification, and I'll keep you posted once I hear back.

Thanks again for bringing this up!

Abhishek

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