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nuttersanonymous_
New Participant
April 22, 2011
Answered

how to print guides?

  • April 22, 2011
  • 8 replies
  • 76132 views

hi, can anyone tell me how I can have the guide lines print out when I'm printing a document?

thanks

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Stephen Marsh

    Here is a script from 2017 (I can't credit the original unknown author, it may have been SuperMerlin), it allows you to pick the printable guide colour and thickness as a path while retaining the actual non-printable guides:

    // https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2360122

//Requires Photoshop CS5 or newer
#target photoshop;
if(documents.length) app.activeDocument.suspendHistory('Stroke Guides', 'main()');
function main(){
activeDocument.artLayers.add();
activeDocument.activeLayer.name="Stroked Guides";
app.showColorPicker();
var newColour = app.foregroundColor;
var guideSize = Window.prompt("Please enter Stroke Size!","1");
var guides = app.activeDocument.guides;
var guideArray = [];
for( var g = 0; g < guides.length; g++ ){
    singleLine(guides[g].direction.toString(), Number(guides[g].coordinate.value).toFixed(0) );
    if(Number(guideSize) > 1)
   activeDocument.selection.stroke (newColour, Number(guideSize), StrokeLocation.OUTSIDE, ColorBlendMode.NORMAL, 100, false);
   activeDocument.selection.stroke (newColour, Number(guideSize), StrokeLocation.INSIDE, ColorBlendMode.NORMAL, 100, false);
}
activeDocument.selection.deselect();
};
function singleLine(pos,pixelPos) {
var desc5 = new ActionDescriptor();
var ref4 = new ActionReference();
ref4.putProperty( charIDToTypeID('Chnl'), charIDToTypeID('fsel') );
desc5.putReference( charIDToTypeID('null'), ref4 );
var desc6 = new ActionDescriptor();
if(pos == "Direction.VERTICAL"){
desc6.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Left'), charIDToTypeID('#Pxl'), Number(pixelPos) );
desc5.putObject( charIDToTypeID('T   '), charIDToTypeID('Sngc'), desc6 );
}else{
desc6.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Top '), charIDToTypeID('#Pxl'), Number(pixelPos) );
desc5.putObject( charIDToTypeID('T   '), charIDToTypeID('Sngr'), desc6 );
}
executeAction( charIDToTypeID('setd'), desc5, DialogModes.NO );
};

    https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

    8 replies

    K
    Kelly Nikou
    New Participant
    November 1, 2022

    Meanwhile I sent some key chain thingies for printing and made a guide for a circular cutting on the top left where the chain has to go through and the printing company somehow managed to print the guides on both sides. What could have gone wrong?

    TheDigitalDog
    TheDigitalDog
    Inspiring
    December 3, 2021

    The old reply from La.lo was correct; you can't print the guides in Photoshop. You could make a layer then using various tools, recreate them (good suggestion how to do so today) and then they would print from that layer. But the guides in PS are visual only, they do not output. 

    Author “Color Management for Photographers" &amp; "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
    Stephen Marsh
    Community Expert
    Stephen MarshCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 2, 2021

    Here is a script from 2017 (I can't credit the original unknown author, it may have been SuperMerlin), it allows you to pick the printable guide colour and thickness as a path while retaining the actual non-printable guides:

    // https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2360122

//Requires Photoshop CS5 or newer
#target photoshop;
if(documents.length) app.activeDocument.suspendHistory('Stroke Guides', 'main()');
function main(){
activeDocument.artLayers.add();
activeDocument.activeLayer.name="Stroked Guides";
app.showColorPicker();
var newColour = app.foregroundColor;
var guideSize = Window.prompt("Please enter Stroke Size!","1");
var guides = app.activeDocument.guides;
var guideArray = [];
for( var g = 0; g < guides.length; g++ ){
    singleLine(guides[g].direction.toString(), Number(guides[g].coordinate.value).toFixed(0) );
    if(Number(guideSize) > 1)
   activeDocument.selection.stroke (newColour, Number(guideSize), StrokeLocation.OUTSIDE, ColorBlendMode.NORMAL, 100, false);
   activeDocument.selection.stroke (newColour, Number(guideSize), StrokeLocation.INSIDE, ColorBlendMode.NORMAL, 100, false);
}
activeDocument.selection.deselect();
};
function singleLine(pos,pixelPos) {
var desc5 = new ActionDescriptor();
var ref4 = new ActionReference();
ref4.putProperty( charIDToTypeID('Chnl'), charIDToTypeID('fsel') );
desc5.putReference( charIDToTypeID('null'), ref4 );
var desc6 = new ActionDescriptor();
if(pos == "Direction.VERTICAL"){
desc6.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Left'), charIDToTypeID('#Pxl'), Number(pixelPos) );
desc5.putObject( charIDToTypeID('T   '), charIDToTypeID('Sngc'), desc6 );
}else{
desc6.putUnitDouble( charIDToTypeID('Top '), charIDToTypeID('#Pxl'), Number(pixelPos) );
desc5.putObject( charIDToTypeID('T   '), charIDToTypeID('Sngr'), desc6 );
}
executeAction( charIDToTypeID('setd'), desc5, DialogModes.NO );
};

    https://prepression.blogspot.com/2017/11/downloading-and-installing-adobe-scripts.html

    D
    default9a6gq81uwxff
    New Participant
    December 2, 2021

    Here's what I found works: 

    1. Go to VIEW > Outlines > Guides > Unlock Guides

    2. Using Selection Tool, select all the Guide lines.

    3. Now, go to VIEW > Outlines > Guides > RELEASE Guides

     

    Your Guides will turn into a normal, regular path. You should be able to change Stroke color, pt, opacity, etc. 

    Finally, save your project as PDF. Print it out. It will show you the "Guides" (which we turned into a stroke/path line). 

     

      Stephen Marsh
      Community Expert
      Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      December 2, 2021

      @default9a6gq81uwxff – Are you perhaps thinking of Illustrator?

        jane-e
        Community Expert
        jane-eCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        December 3, 2021

        Yes, that's Illustrator — not Photoshop.

         

        InDesign will print visible guides by simply checking a box in the Print dialog. This might be worth a feature request.

         

        Jane

        L
        La.lo
        New Participant
        September 7, 2018

        Guides won't print. So, you can simulate guides with these settings:

        Stroke width: 0.1 pt

        Outline color: #4AFFFF

        And that's it!

        A
        Anonymous
        April 24, 2011

        How about the Marquee Tool Single Row, can be either horizontal or vertical, then fill the selection with colour of choice?

          S
          shunithD
          Inspiring
          April 23, 2011

          nuttersanonymous! wrote:

          hi, can anyone tell me how I can have the guide lines print out when I'm printing a document?

          thanks

          The guide lines won't prnt... what you can do is draw lines on the document (preferably on a new layer) to match the guidelines. Then print those.

          Edit: As Hunt says...

          Noel Carboni
          Noel Carboni
          Legend
          April 22, 2011

          There are a lot of registration/crop/etc. marks you can invoke through the Print dialog (by clicking Color Management and changing it to Output), but unfortunately I don't believe there's any way you can print Guides.

          You could do a screen grab and print that, I suppose.  There would be obvious resolution and possibly color issues with doing that, but perhaps it can get you close.

          -Noel

            the_wine_snob
            the_wine_snob
            Inspiring
            April 22, 2011

            In the past, when I need the Guides, or the Grid to print, I would have them ON, and then do a Save. Next, I would Open that PSD in Corel Painter, and they would be there, embedded. I could then Print from Painter, to get those. This worked up through Painter 8, but I have not needed to do so, and cannot tell if this "useful problem" still exists in more recent Painter versions.

            Obviously, there is a downside to the above behavior - if one does the Save to PSD, and they do NOT want the Guides/Grid, in Painter, they had to remember to turn those OFF. I hit upon this by mistake, but remembered it, as I later had use for it.

            Not sure of any other easy way to get the Guides/Grid though, and while Painter is a great program, it would hardly be worth the price, just for this.

            Now, one could create a new Layer, make sure that Snap to Guides was ON, then use the Pen Tool to "trace" the Guides, and on the New Layer, set up the Pencil Tool to maybe 2 pixels Hard with the desired color, then Stroke the Paths created with the Pen Tool. Note: to constrain the Paths, hold down Shift. This is how I create my "Alignment Guides" for Video Title editing, as PrPro's Titler does not have Rulers, or Guides.

            Good luck,

            Hunt

            Message was edited by: Bill Hunt - Added link

              acresofgreen
              acresofgreen
              Inspiring
              April 23, 2011

              the_wine_snob wrote:

              In the past, when I need the Guides, or the Grid to print, I would have them ON, and then do a Save. Next, I would Open that PSD in Corel Painter, and they would be there, embedded. I could then Print from Painter, to get those. This worked up through Painter 8, but I have not needed to do so, and cannot tell if this "useful problem" still exists in more recent Painter versions.

              This is very interesting.  It works as you say with Painter 11. If the Photoshop file is saved as a .tif, the guides don't show in Painter. If the Photoshop file is saved as a .psd, the file when opened in Painter shows the guides as black lines which are part of the image.

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