Position Your Grid

GuideGuide does a lot of automatic math for you. To do this, it infers what you’re trying to do based on what you have selected. This is called context. There are many different kinds of context, depending on the application you are using GuideGuide in.

GuideGuide will generally use the current artboard (or equivalent concept for the given app) as the default context. If elements are selected, they will be used instead.

Photoshop

If a marquee selection exists, it will be used. If not, GuideGuide will use the currently focused artboard, as determined by the layers that are selected. If layers in multiple artboards are selected, GuideGuide will use the lowest artboard in the layer stack. If no artboards exist, GuideGuide will use the document.

Illustrator

If a element is selected, it will be used as context. Guides are added to the active artboard, regardless of where they exist in the document. This isn’t noticeable when selecting items in a single artboard, but may cause confusion if selecting items in multiple artboards.

If no selection exist, GuideGuide uses the active artboard.

InDesign

If an element is selected it will be used as context. Guides are added to the active page. The active page is determined by double clicking the page within the pages palette. Please note, the page which is highlighted blue in the pages palette does not indicate the active page.

If a selection contains elements from multiple pages, or elements that exist in the pasteboard, guides will be added relative to the pasteboard.

If no elements are selected, GuideGuide uses the active page as context.

Figma

GuideGuide uses the currently selected element as its context. Guides are added and removed from top level frame or component that contains the selection. If elements from multiple top-level frames are selected, GuideGuide will add and remove guides using the page instead.

Note: The Figma UI does not allow you to add guides to child frames or components. As a quirk, if a frame has guides before it is nested, Figma will keep the guides, but they won’t be visible. To avoid confusion, GuideGuide follows this logic and only adds guides to the highest level frame that contains the current selection. Any intermediate frames are ignored.

Sketch

If an element is selected it will be used as context. Guides are added to the active artboard. If elements in multiple artboards are selected, guides are added relative to the active artboard.

If no elements are selected, GuideGuide uses the active artboard as context.

GuideGuide does not work in pages without artboards.