InDesign

Move, edit, or delete ruler guides

You can change the attributes of individual ruler guides, and you can move, cut, copy, paste, or delete multiple ruler guides simultaneously. Cut or copied ruler guides can be pasted to other pages or documents, but not to other programs. To change attributes of specific guides, you must select the guides you want to change. When no guides are selected, the Ruler Guides command sets the defaults for new guides only.

Move ruler guides

 Using Selection tool  or the Direct Selection tool , do any of the following:

  • To move a ruler guide, drag it.

  • To move multiple ruler guides, shift-select the guides you want to move, and then drag them.

    Move selected guides just as you would any other selected object, including nudging with the arrow keys and using the Control or Transform panels.

  • To make a guide snap to a ruler tick mark, press Shift as you drag it. Or select the guide, press and hold down the Shift key, and then click the mouse button.

  • To move a spread guide, drag the part of the guide that’s on the pasteboard, or press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you drag the guide from within the page.

  • To move guides to another page or document, select one or more guides, choose Edit > Copy or Edit > Cut, go to another page, and then choose Edit > Paste. If you’re pasting onto a page of the same size and orientation as the guides’ original page, the guides appear in the same position.

Note: The Paste Remembers Layers option affects the layer on which pasted guides appear.

Delete ruler guides

  • To delete individual guides, select one or more ruler guides and then press Delete. (You can also drag ruler guides and drop them on a ruler to delete them.)
  • To delete all ruler guides on the target spread, first press Ctrl+Alt+G (Windows) or Command+Option+G (Mac OS) to select the guides, and then press Delete.

Customize ruler guides

  1. Do one of the following:

    • To change options for one or more existing ruler guides, select those ruler guides.

    • To set default options for new ruler guides, deselect all guides by clicking in an empty area.

  2. Choose Layout > Ruler Guides.
  3. For View Threshold, specify the magnification below which ruler guides do not appear. This prevents ruler guides from appearing too close together at lower magnifications.
  4. For Color, choose a color or choose Custom to specify a custom color in the system color picker. Then click OK.
You can set the current magnification as the view threshold for new ruler guides by pressing Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you drag the ruler guides you’ve selected.