This means that if you export your artboard as a PNG document then, much like when the artboard is white, the fill color will not be reflected in your exported design. All you’re changing is the appearance of the artboard within your workspace.

Whenever you change the artboard color in Illustrator there are a few things that should be kept in mind.įor one, much like changing the canvas color in Inkscape, you’re not actually changing the color of any of your design work or the document itself. If at any point you’d like to reset the artboard color so that you can return to a regular white fill, simply navigate back to the Document Setup menu and deselect the “ Simulate Color Paper” box, and click OK to save and close out. To zoom in and out, hold Alt and roll up and down on the mouse wheel. All you have to do is zoom in and out real quick to reset it, and your changed artboard color should become visible. This is merely a screen rendering problem though. If your computer is anything like mine then chances are that the color of your artboard has remained white despite setting a different color. Your artboard should now reflect the color you’ve chosen to fill it with: Once you’ve chosen your color, click OK in the color menu, and then OK in the Document Setup menu to save your changes and close out of it. Otherwise you can just choose a color manually using the interface. Unfortunately there is no way to specify a HEX color code, so you’ll need either the RGB or the HSL values for your shade if you have something particular in mind. This will be the color that your artboard is filled with. Once you click on the stripe you will be prompted to choose a color. Once that is enabled, simply click on the top color stripe, next to the checkerboard grid, and set that to whatever color you’d like your artboard to be. This simulation of color paper is what will allow you to change the artboard color in Illustrator to whatever you want. Once you’re in the Document Setup menu, all you have to do is tweak two of the settings.įirst, tick the box that reads “ Simulate Color Paper” and make sure the preset beneath it is set to. The Document Setup menu is a small menu that allows you to alter certain properties of your document, such as your preferred units of measurement, document bleed size (if any), and whether or not you’d like to apply an opacity checkerboard to your artboard. To do so, press Alt + Control + P on your keyboard, or navigate to File > Document Setup using the toolbar menu. In order for us to pursue this workaround we will need to access the Document Setup menu.

Adobe illustrator artboard color