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Use ruler guides to place individual horizontal or vertical guides, or use guides to create structured rows, columns, and grids. Guides are specific to the artboard they’re created on and are only visible in the editor—they aren’t included in the exported .riv file.
  • Show or hide: Click the eye icon next to a guide.
  • Remove: Click the - icon to remove the guide.
Rive interface showing grids, guides, and ruler guides

Toggling Ruler and Guide Visibility

To show or hide rulers and guides, press ; or select View Menu > Rulers & Guides.

Ruler Guides

Ruler guides are horizontal or vertical guides that you can position anywhere on an artboard. Ruler guides belong to the artboard they’re created on, so each artboard can have its own set of guides.

Creating a Ruler Guide

With rulers visible, click and drag from a ruler into the viewport to create a ruler guide.

Managing Ruler Guides

  • Move: Click and drag a ruler guide.
  • Duplicate: Hold Alt/Option while clicking and dragging a ruler guide.
  • Delete: Select a ruler guide and press Delete.
  • Lock: Press Option + ; or select View Options > Lock Guides to prevent ruler guides from being moved.

Guides

Guides let you add rows, columns, or a grid to an artboard. Like ruler guides, they belong to the artboard they’re created on.

Creating a Guide

With an artboard selected, go to the Guides panel in the Inspector and click the + button. Choose the type of guide you want to add:
  • Rows
  • Columns
  • Grid
Guide types - rows, columns, grid

Guide Options

The available options depend on the guide type. Grid
  • Color - Set the color of the grid.
  • Size - Set the size of the grid.
Rows and Columns
  • Color - Set the color of the guides.
  • Count - Set the number of rows or columns.
  • Width - Set the width of each row or column.
  • Type - Control how the rows or columns are distributed within the artboard: Left, Right, Center, or Stretch.

Managing Guides

You can add multiple guides to the same artboard, allowing you to combine grids, rows, and columns. Multiple guides applied to the same artboard
  • Show or hide: Click the eye icon next to a guide.
  • Remove: Click the - icon to remove the guide.

Guide Components

You can convert the guides on an artboard to a component, allowing you to reuse the same guide configuration across multiple artboards. In the Guides panel of the Inspector, click the Component icon. The guides on the artboard are converted to a component and added to the Assets panel. To edit the guide component, select it in the Assets panel. Changes to the component are reflected on every artboard where it’s used.

Applying a Guide Component

To apply a guide component to an artboard, drag it from the Assets panel onto the artboard. To apply it to every artboard in the file, right-click the component in the Assets panel and select Apply to All Artboards.

Managing a Guide Component

When an artboard uses a guide component, you can manage it from the Guides panel in the Inspector.
  • Show or hide: Click the eye icon to toggle the component’s visibility.
  • Remove: Click the - icon to remove the component from the current artboard.
  • Detach: Detach the guides from the component to edit them independently on the current artboard.

Snapping

Enable snapping to make objects snap to guides and ruler guides as you position them. Press Option + ; or open View Options and enable Snapping.