How to Use Guide Layouts in Photoshop: Video Lesson
This video lesson, titled “Learn How to Use Guide Layouts in Adobe Photoshop: A Training Tutorial,” shows you how to use guide layouts in Photoshop. This video lesson is from our complete Photoshop tutorial, titled “Mastering Photoshop Made Easy.”
Overview:
How to Apply Guide Layouts in Photoshop:
In addition to applying guides in Photoshop, you can also apply guide layouts in Photoshop. You can modify and save a custom guide layout in Photoshop as a new guide layout preset to apply a set of default guides to help you with content design and layout. To apply a guide layout in Photoshop, select “View| Guides| New Guide Layout…” from the Menu Bar to open the “New Guide Layout” dialog box.
How to Set the Guide Layout Target:
To select where to place the guide layout if adding it to a Photoshop document that contains artboards, choose the desired artboard name or the “Canvas” choice, as needed, from the “Target” drop-down. To apply a saved guide layout preset or one of the default presets, select it from the “Preset” drop-down.
How to Customize a Guide Layout in Photoshop:
Alternatively, to customize a guide layout, which you can then save, if desired, set the desired guide layout settings in the dialog box. To set the color of the guides, select a color from the “Color” drop-down or click the color swatch to its right to set a custom color in the “Color picker (guides color)” dialog box that opens and click “OK.”
To enable columns in the guide layout, check the “Columns” checkbox and enter the number of columns into its “Number” field. Optionally, to set the width of the columns, enter the column width and its unit of measurement abbreviation into the “Width” field. To optionally apply gutter spacing between the columns, enter the column gutter measurement and its unit of measurement abbreviation into the “Gutter” field.
To enable rows in the guide layout, check the “Rows” checkbox and enter the number of rows into its “Number” field. Optionally, to set the height of the rows, enter the row height and its unit of measurement abbreviation into the “Height” field. To optionally apply gutter spacing between the rows, enter the row gutter measurement and its unit of measurement abbreviation into the “Gutter” field.
To specify margins for the guide layout around the border of the selected canvas or artboard, check the “Margin” checkbox. Then enter the desired value and unit of measurement abbreviation for the “Top,” “Left,” “Bottom,” and “Right” sides, as desired. To center the columns in the guide layout, check the “Center columns” checkbox. To let this guide layout clear any existing guides in the selected canvas or artboard, check the “Clear Existing Guides” checkbox.
How to Save a Custom Guide Layout in Photoshop as a New Preset:
To save your current guide layout settings as a new guide layout preset, select the “Save Preset…” choice from the “Preset” drop-down in the “New Guide Layout” dialog box to then open the “Save As” dialog box. Then type a name for the custom guide layout preset into the “File name” field and click the “Save” button. The guide layout name should then appear in the “Preset” drop-down.
How to Delete a Saved Custom Guide Layout Preset in Photoshop:
To delete a custom guide layout you have created, if needed, select the “Delete Preset…” choice from the “Preset” drop-down to then open the “Delete Preset” dialog box. Select the name of the custom guide layout preset to delete from the “Preset” drop-down and then click the “Delete” button in the dialog box. Then click “Yes” in the confirmation prompt window to finish.
To apply your new guide layout in Photoshop, click the “OK” button in the “New Guide Layout” dialog box to apply the preset or customized guide layout to the selected artboard or canvas. You can then move and delete the guides in the guide layout, just as you normally move and delete guides.
How to Clear Guide Layouts from Artboards or the Canvas in Photoshop:
Also note that for Photoshop documents containing multiple sets of guides on artboards and the canvas, you can also clear guides from each artboard or the canvas, independently. To clear guides from a selected artboard, if needed, select the artboard in the Layers panel. Then select “View| Guides| Clear Selected Artboard Guides” from the Menu Bar. To clear guides from only the canvas and leave artboard guides intact, select the “View| Guides| Clear Canvas Guides” from the Menu Bar.