How to Add Artboards in Photoshop (Steps & Tips)

Since the artboard is the empty canvas that stores all the layers and project elements, it is the foundation of any multi-page project in Photoshop.

When designing a brochure or numerous screens for mobile applications, Photoshop may produce multiple artboards that can be used as a kind of layer group, just like Adobe Illustrator.

I have over five years of Adobe Photoshop experience and I’m Adobe Photoshop certified. In this article, I am going to cover how to add artboards/canvas in Photoshop and how to use them.

Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

• Making distinct artboards is important since it enables you to store all the components of a given project in a single document.

• This is ideal for novice editors and interface designers because it is so simple to use.

• Make sure you are saving your work every so often to ensure you don’t lose your changes.

What Are Artboards in Photoshop

The canvas that you can add photos, objects, text, and other components to in Photoshop is called an artboard. You can add as many layers and layer groups to the project as the artboard can accommodate.

Artboards made in Photoshop are highly suited for digital projects since they are optimized for both the advanced GPU drawing mode and the RGB color mode.

The image below shows what a plain artboard looks like:

You can create and store numerous artboards in a single document, which is how an artboard differs from a straightforward canvas. You can construct several pages for a single project since each artboard can hold a variety of layers and layer groups.

To work on multiple artboards at once, artboards can be arranged next to one another in the Photoshop workspace.

How to Use the Photoshop Artboard Tool

When opening Photoshop, choose the New File button to create an artboard for your project. If you already have a project open, choose File > New or press Control + N (Windows) or Command + N (Mac).

So you already learned how to get the artboard onto your screen, now how do you change the size and orientation of it?

Step 1: Click and hold the Move tool, and then select Artboard Tool.

Step 2: You will notice that the artboard will be highlighted blue and will have options to change the size from the corners. If you click on any corner and drag, it will increase or decrease the size to your liking.

Or if you need a designated size, you can repeat Step 1, and a size option will appear on the menu bar at the top, which will have a dropdown list of sizes you can choose from.

You will see your artboard looking like the image below. The artboard will have four plus signs on each side. These are there if you want to add more artboards on the sides, top, or bottom of your current artboard.

Artboards can contain layer groups but not another artboard. If you want to create or add another artboard next to your current one, you will need to follow the above steps or click on your Layer button at the top of your menu bar, click on New, and find Artboard and that will allow you to add as many artboards as you need.

You can alter the size or background color of a selected artboard in the properties panel after you’ve created it.

Elements can be moved across artboards when you are working with numerous artboards by choosing the items and dragging and dropping them onto the new artboard. You can use the rulers to align the items with where they were on the previous artboard, and Photoshop can assist you in doing this.

Although you can export your file as a two-page PDF in this example, you can save your file as a Photoshop file to preserve layers. You may also export your artboards as JPEGs, PDFs, PNGs, and more by using the File > Export function.

Additional Tips

• Remember always to save your work, you don’t want to start over from scratch.
• There is no limit to how many artboards you can have in your single file.
• Even if you started a document without artboards, you can easily create them from existing layers or groups. Simply right-click on a group in the Layers Panel and select “Artboard from Group” to make the switch.

Final Thoughts

You’ve now mastered the fundamentals of creating and maintaining artboards in Photoshop! This will hopefully help you to lay out your ideas more clearly and organize them properly.

Any questions about artboards in Photoshop? Leave a comment and let me know.

About Aly Walters