Draw guides from the rulers
This works the same way in Design, Animation, and Interaction mode.
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Show the rulers
On the bar at the bottom right, click the Rulers button, right after the Pixel grid button, or press ⇧R. Rulers in px appear along the top and left of the canvas, with 0 at the scene’s top-left corner. When you select an object, both rulers show the span it covers as a blue band with its start and end numbers. The rulers are off at first, and this editor on this device remembers whether you turned them on.
Clicking the Rulers button shows rulers along the top and left of the canvas, and selecting a rectangle shows its span as a blue band. Video: Clicking the Rulers button, right after the Pixel grid button on the bar at the bottom right, shows rulers along the top and left of the canvas. Clicking a rectangle shows its span on both rulers as a blue band with its start and end numbers, and pressing Shift+R twice hides the rulers and shows them again. -
Drag out a guide
Press on the top ruler and drag onto the canvas to make a horizontal guide; drag from the left ruler for a vertical one. While you drag, its position in px shows above the pointer. With Snap to objects on, it snaps to the edges and centers of the scene and of objects, and to other guides; with Pixel grid on, it lands on whole pixels. Hold ⇧ while dragging to move in the ruler’s small ticks, or hold ⌘ to move without snapping. Press esc while dragging to cancel.
A horizontal guide dragged from the top ruler and a vertical one dragged from the left ruler snap to the center of the scene. Video: Dragging down from the top ruler brings a teal horizontal guide along, with its Y value above the pointer, and it snaps to the scene’s vertical center at Y 540. Dragging right from the left ruler snaps a vertical guide to X 960, so the two guides cross at the center of the scene. -
Move and delete guides
Drag a guide, or its mark on the ruler, to move it; hold ⌥ while dragging to duplicate it. On the canvas, press the guide first and then hold ⇧ or ⌘; if either key is already down, the press selects objects instead. Drop a guide back over the ruler it came from (the top one for horizontal guides, the left one for vertical guides) to delete it. Click a guide to select it, then press Delete to delete it, or use the arrow keys to move it 1 px at a time, 10 px with ⇧. If you change something by mistake, press ⌘Z to undo. On a touchscreen, an object on top of a guide is picked first, so drag the guide’s mark on the ruler instead.
The vertical guide moves left, and the horizontal guide is deleted when it’s dropped over the top ruler. Video: Pointing at the vertical guide darkens it and shows X 960. Dragging it left and dropping it at X 760 moves it. Dragging the horizontal guide up over the top ruler turns its label into Delete, and letting go removes the guide. -
Line objects up with guides
When you move, resize, or draw an object, it snaps to the guides that are showing. While it’s snapped, a pink snap guide is drawn over that guide. With Snap to objects off or the guides hidden, objects don’t snap to guides, and they don’t snap while you hold ⌘ and drag either.
Two rectangles are dragged one after the other, and their left edges snap to the vertical guide and line up. Video: Dragging the yellow rectangle left snaps its left edge to the vertical guide, and a pink snap guide is drawn over that guide while it stays snapped. Dragging the light blue rectangle to the same guide lines up the left edges of both rectangles.
Place guides by value or as a preset
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Place a guide exactly
Double-click a guide, or click it to select it and press ↩, and a value field opens right there. Type a value in px, measured from the scene’s left or top edge, or a share of the scene’s width or height like 25%, then press ↩. Like the editor’s other number fields, it doesn’t take formulas. Right-clicking a guide and choosing Set Position opens the same field.
Typing 25% for the vertical guide moves it a quarter of the way across the scene, and typing 120 for the horizontal guide moves it 120 px from the top. Video: Double-clicking the vertical guide opens a value field right there. Typing 25% and pressing Enter moves the guide to X 480, a quarter of the scene’s width. Clicking the horizontal guide to select it and pressing Enter opens the field, and typing 120 moves it to Y 120. -
Lay out several at once
With nothing selected, the Guides section sits at the bottom of the Scene panel on the right. The Vertical and Horizontal lists show each guide with a value field and a − button, and the + button next to each name adds a guide across the middle of the scene and opens its value field on the canvas. Choose Center, Thirds, Margins, 12 columns, 6 columns, or Video safe areas from Add a preset to place several guides at once. 12 columns and 6 columns also add top and bottom margin guides. Choosing another preset replaces only the previous preset’s guides and keeps the ones you placed yourself, and None removes only the preset’s guides.
Choosing Thirds and then 12 columns from Add a preset changes the guides, and another scene shows the same guides. Video: With nothing selected, choosing Thirds from Add a preset… in the Guides section at the bottom of the Scene panel adds four guides and lists their values under Vertical and Horizontal. Choosing 12 columns next replaces them with column guides, and opening another scene from the Scenes list shows the same guides.
Hiding and locking, menus, and scene size
To hide or lock guides. Press ⌘;, or turn off Show Guides in the right-click menu, to hide the guides. Objects don’t snap to hidden guides, and dragging a new guide out of a ruler shows them again. Press ⌘⌥;, or turn on Lock Guides, and guides can’t be selected or moved. Point at a locked guide and Locked shows; press on it and the object under it is picked. Both settings and the rulers apply only to this editor on this device, so people editing with you keep their own view. The guides themselves are saved with the project and shared with people editing with you.
To use the menus. Right-click a guide for Set Position, Duplicate, and Delete Guide. At the bottom of that menu are Show Rulers, Show Guides, Lock Guides, and Clear Guides on All Scenes. The same items are in the rulers’ menu and in the menu of an empty spot on the canvas with nothing selected.
When you change the scene size. A guide keeps its distance from the nearer edge, and a guide in the exact center of the scene stays centered. Guides placed with %, the Thirds and Video safe areas presets, and the column guides of 12 columns and 6 columns keep their share of the scene. Margins and the top and bottom guides of 12 columns and 6 columns keep their distance from the edges. To change the scene size, see Work with scenes.
Shortcuts on this page
| Show rulers (reverses the path’s direction while editing a path) | ⇧R |
|---|---|
| Show guides | ⌘; |
| Lock guides | ⌘⌥; |
| Open the selected guide’s value field | ↩ |
| Move the selected guide 1 px | ←or→or↑or↓ |
| Move the selected guide 10 px | ⇧+arrow keys |
| Delete the selected guide | Delete |
| Drag in ruler ticks (on the canvas, after pressing the guide) | ⇧+click and drag |
| Drag without snapping (on the canvas, after pressing the guide) | ⌘+click and drag |
| Duplicate a guide as you drag | ⌥+click and drag |
| Cancel a drag | esc |
Updated 11/5/2026 · The videos on this page were recorded in the current editor.