Learn how to quickly lock and unlock guides and rotate guides in Illustrator, giving you control and precision when designing on one or multiple artboards.
Lock and Unlock Guides in Illustrator Video Tutorial
Want to follow along as I demonstrate this simple Illustrator tutorial and try it at your own pace? Feel free to watch the tutorial above or keep reading for the step-by-step written tutorial.
Lock and Unlock Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1 – In a new document, start by turning on your rules by going to view > rulers > show rulers.
Step 2 – Click and drag guides onto the canvas from the rulers, and use the rulers to align the guides.
Step 3 – Once you have your rulers on your canvas, go to window > properties.
Step 4 – In your properties panel under ‘guides’, you can now toggle the lock and unlock guides modes by pressing the middle icon or use shortcut alt+cmd/ctrl+; to toggle between the two states.
Rotate Guides in Illustrator Video Tutorial
As above, feel free to follow along and watch me demonstrate this tutorial by watching the video below.
Rotate Guides Step-by-Step Tutorial
There are two parts to this guide, showcasing two techniques. The first is freehand, and the second is using the rotate panel.
Feel free to navigate to the section you want, or have a try at both.
Freehand Rotation
Step 1 – Using the first steps from the previous tutorial, make sure your rulers are on and drag your guides out onto your canvas, making sure the guides are unlocked so that you can select them.
Step 2 – Use the selection tool to select one or more of the guides, and the guide will change color when selected.
Step 3 – Select the rotate tool from the lefthand panel.
Step 4 – Once selected, a rotation point will appear on the guide(s). You can change this by clicking on the guides, but by default, it will appear in the center of the selected object.
Step 5 – From there, simply click and drag the guide, and it will rotate accordingly. The degree of rotation will be visible to you, so you can track your rotation.
Rotate Panel Rotation
Step 1 – Repeat steps 1-4 above.
Step 2 – Once you have selected the rotation tool and you are happy with the central point of rotation, instead of clicking and dragging, hold alt and click once on the point of rotation to bring up the rotate panel.
Step 3 – You can now type in a specific angle of rotation and press ‘preview’ to see what the rotation looks like. Once happy, click ‘ok’.
Remember, once you are happy with your guides, it’s important to lock them before you begin designing on the canvas.
Using guides is a super important part of designing in Illustrator, and this tutorial should cover all the basics you need to add, lock, unlock, and rotate your guides to help you with your designs.