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Get started with artboards in Adobe XD

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  1. Adobe XD User Guide
  2. Introduction
    1. What's new in Adobe XD
    2. Common questions
    3. Design, prototype, and share with Adobe XD
    4. System requirements
      1. Hardware and software requirements
      2. Adobe XD, Big Sur, and Apple silicon | macOS 11
    5. Workspace basics
    6. Change app language in Adobe XD
    7. Access UI design kits
    8. Accessibility in Adobe XD
    9. Keyboard shortcuts
    10. Tips and tricks
    11. Adobe XD subscription options
    12. Changes to XD Starter Plan
  3. Design
    1. Artboards, guides, and layers
      1. Get started with artboards
      2. Use guides and grids
      3. Create scrollable artboards
      4. Work with layers
      5. Create scroll groups
    2. Shapes, objects, and path
      1. Select, resize, and rotate objects
      2. Move, align, distribute, and arrange objects
      3. Group, lock, duplicate, copy, and flip objects
      4. Set stroke, fill, and drop shadow for objects
      5. Create repeating elements
      6. Create perspective designs with 3D transforms
      7. Edit objects using Boolean operations
    3. Text and fonts
      1. Work with drawing and text tools
      2. Fonts in Adobe XD
    4. Components and states
      1. Work with components
      2. Work with nested components
      3. Add multiple states to components
    5. Masking and effects
      1. Create a mask with shapes
      2. Work with blur effects
      3. Create and modify gradients
      4. Apply blend effects
    6. Layout
      1. Responsive resize and constraints
      2. Set fixed padding for components and groups
      3. Create dynamic designs with stacks
    7. Videos and Lottie animations
      1. Work with videos
      2. Create prototypes using videos
      3. Work with Lottie animations
  4. Prototype
    1. Create interactive prototypes
    2. Animate prototypes
    3. Object properties supported for auto-animate
    4. Create prototypes with keyboard and gamepad
    5. Create prototypes using voice commands and playback
    6. Create timed transitions
    7. Add overlays
    8. Design voice prototypes
    9. Create anchor links
    10. Create hyperlinks
    11. Preview designs and prototypes
  5. Share, export, and review
    1. Share selected artboards
    2. Share designs and prototypes
    3. Set access permissions for links
    4. Work with prototypes
    5. Review prototypes
    6. Work with design specs
    7. Share design specs
    8. Inspect design specs
    9. Navigate design specs
    10. Review and comment design specs
    11. Export design assets
    12. Export and download assets from design specs
    13. Group sharing for enterprise
  6. Design systems
    1. Design systems with Creative Cloud Libraries
    2. Work with document assets in Adobe XD
    3. Work with Creative Cloud Libraries in Adobe XD
    4. Migrate from linked assets to Creative Cloud Libraries
    5. Work with design tokens 
    6. Use assets from Creative Cloud Libraries
  7. Cloud documents
    1. Cloud documents in Adobe XD
    2. Collaborate and coedit designs
    3. Coedit documents shared with you
  8. Integrations and plugins
    1. Work with external assets
    2. Work with design assets from Photoshop
    3. Copy and paste assets from Photoshop
    4. Import or open Photoshop designs
    5. Work with Illustrator assets in Adobe XD
    6. Open or import Illustrator designs
    7. Copy vectors from Illustrator to XD
    8. Plugins for Adobe XD
    9. Create and manage plugins
    10. Jira integration for XD
    11. Slack plugin for XD
    12. Zoom plug-in for XD
    13. Publish design from XD to Behance
  9. XD for iOS and Android
    1. Preview on mobile devices
    2. Adobe XD on mobile FAQ
  10. Troubleshooting
    1. Known and fixed issues
      1. Known issues
      2. Fixed issues
    2. Installation and updates
      1. XD appears as not compatible on Windows
      2. Error code 191
      3. Error code 183
      4. Issues installing XD plugins
      5.  Prompt to uninstall and reinstall XD on Windows 10
      6. Issues with preferences migration
    3. Launch and crash
      1.  XD crashes when launched on Windows 10
      2.  XD quits when you sign out of Creative Cloud
      3. Issue with subscription status on Windows
      4. Blocked-app warning when launching  XD on Windows
      5. Crash dump generation on Windows
      6. Crash log collection and sharing
    4. Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Libraries
      1. Issues with XD cloud documents
      2. Issues with linked components
      3. Issues with libraries and links
    5. Prototype, publish, and review
      1. Unable to record prototype interactions on macOS Catalina
      2. Issues with publish workflows
      3. Published  links do not appear in browsers
      4. Prototypes do not render correctly in browsers
      5. Commenting panel suddenly showing up on shared links
      6. Unable to publish libraries
    6. Import, export, and working with other apps
      1. Import and export in XD
      2. Photoshop files in XD
      3. Illustrator files in XD
      4. Export to After Effects from XD
      5. Sketch files in XD
      6. Third-party apps not visible in Export

Learn how to use artboards to create your design projects in XD.

Meet Jeanee, a graphic designer who has been chosen to lead a UX design project. She is pitching Adobe XD to her team, the members of which have varying levels of expertise with UX design and tools.

 
  • She is looking for resources to quickly help her get started with the project.

 

  • She needs tutorials to get her started and sample files to learn on-the-go.

Jeanee is training herself on basic design terminologies and working with artboards to create her first prototype in XD. Read on to learn how we can help her get started.

New to Adobe XD?

Get Free Trial App

Learn app basics

Try it yourself

Sample file

.xd; 6 MB

Before you proceed

Look at the basics of XD:

Set up artboards in 4 easy steps

What is an artboard? Artboards represent the screens in your application or pages in your website. It streamlines the design processes and creates interactive designs for multiple screen sizes in a single document. Use artboards to create your XD project.

Read on to learn how you can set up your artboards.


Create a new artboard

Use an existing artboard

Manage artboards

Apply layout or square grids

Create a new artboard

Adobe XD provides you with artboards for popular screen sizes such as those for different versions of iPhones, iPads, and Web. You can create a custom artboard if the choices do not meet your requirements.

Home screen

Use the preset artboard sizes or create your custom artboard.

Custom artboards

XD app

Use the Artboard tool  to create additional artboards. Select and apply the artboard presets from the Property Inspector.

Artboard Property

Use an existing artboard from Photoshop and Illustrator

You can import existing artboards from Photoshop or Illustrator into XD without having to recreate them. 

Use an existing artboard from Photoshop and Illustrator

Use File > Import from XD to open up Photoshop or Illustrator artboards in XD with every artboard and layer intact and editable.

Check out this article that describes about top 5 ways to use Photoshop assets in XD.

Manage artboards

Changed your mind about the artboard size? Resize them. You can also rename them based on your design needs. Want to create more artboards and manage their placement? Duplicate and rearrange them.

Rename

Rearrange

Double-click the artboard title.

Resize

Resize

Drag the circular handle that appears on the edges of an artboard.

Duplicate

Copy paste artboards

Select the artboard and press Ctrl /Cmd + D.

Align and Distribute

Align and Distribute

Select multiple artboards and click Align and Distribute in the Property Inspector. Drag the artboard around to rearrange them.

Apply layout or square grids

Want to define the underlying structure of your design content added within artboards? Apply Layout grids. Want to get an idea on how to measure quickly and align your design content while laying out objects or text on your artboards? Use Square grids.

Layout grids

Layout grids

Select one or more artboards and in the Grid section of the Property Inspector, choose Layout.

Square grids

Layout grids

Select one or more artboards and in the Grid section of the Property inspector, choose Square.

Design artboards

Now that you have created your first artboard, learn how to add visual and text elements, change the background, and create scroll effects.

Add visual and text elements

Add visual and text elements

Create scrollable artboards

Create scrollable artboards

Add visual and text elements

Now that your basic artboard is in place, you can create or modify the background color, add graphics, and create or format text styles into reusable assets. Want to create an editable grid of repeated elements? Use Repeat Grids.

Add visual and text elements

Add elements

Use Drawing tools to create custom elements or select File> Import to import existing elements such as images and icons from your device folder. Use Text tools to create, format, and capture text styles into reusable assets. 

To change the background color of the artboard, from the Property Inspector, select Fill and apply color from the color picker.

Sample file

Create repeatable elements

Repeat elements

Use repeat grids to create objects with repeatable elements such as lists and card-based layouts.

Create scrollable artboards

Want to add vertical and horizontal scroll effects in your design? Use scroll groups to prototype a window of content.

Do you want to achieve a realistic simulation of scrolling on desktop and mobile? Set the fixed position of an element on the artboard to allow other elements to scroll beneath. 

Vertical scrolling

Dotted line and scrollable content

To extend the artboard beyond the viewport height, use the marker. The marker indicates the position till which you need to scroll to access the content.

Fix position when scrolling

Dotted line and scrollable content

To pin the design elements to a fixed position, select Fix position when scrolling in the Property Inspector.

The final design

Now that you know enough about artboards, you can play around with what you’ve learned so far and create more amazing artboards for your design projects.

Subject to change

Go ahead and download the final design to view how your design project looks.

Download your final design

Learn more

Here is a sample 4-minute video to get started. You can also download the sample files to try alongside the videos. 

Sample Files

Tips and tricks

Now that you've got the basics of artboards in XD, here are some handy tips and tricks:

  • To measure the distance of an object from the edges of an artboard, click the object and press the Option (on macOS) or Alt (on Windows) keys.
  • To turn OFF the scroll option in an artboard, select the artboard and in the Property Inspector, change Scrolling to None.

For more pro tips on working with artboards, follow @Elainecchao, XD Product Manager on Twitter.

What's next?

We've got you started with creating, managing, and sharing artboards. Take a step forward and learn how to create custom artboard guides and position your artboard using grids.

Have a question or an idea?

Ask the Community

If you have a question to ask or an idea to share, come and participate in Adobe XD Community. We would love to hear from you and see your creations.

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