Make snapping available for artboards

[sergio]

I often resize artboards to match new variations in content, e.g. adjust artboard height after creating a design version which is bigger or more compact. Would be great if it was possible to quickly adjust the size of the artboard to perfectly match the content.

[MEB]

Hi Sergio,

You can't snap the artboard to objects contained within itself but you can easily change its size using the Move Tool, checking Lock Children in the context toolbar and dragging the respective bounding box handle on canvas.

[sergio]

Cool, good to know there's a workaround. I still think it would be great to make artboard resize snapping possible when using the artboard tool. I would never figure out having "Lock Children"solves this on my own.

[MEB]

Just to make this clear, you can use the Artboard Tool or the Move Tool to snap artboards to other artboards or objects inside other artboards. The only case where this doesn't work is when you are trying to snap the artboard to objects contained inside the same artboard.

[sergio]

Yep, that exception relates precisely to the improvement I originally requested.

[d.cj]

On 8/16/2016 at 7:08 AM, MEB said:

Just to make this clear, you can use the Artboard Tool or the Move Tool to snap artboards to other artboards or objects inside other artboards. The only case where this doesn't work is when you are trying to snap the artboard to objects contained inside the same artboard.

I know this is a very old post, but I'm jumping in here almost five years later to say: "....WHY THE HECK NOT!?!?!?!?!?"

Snapping an artboard to objects within itself is the most common, if not only kind of snapping I want an artboard to be able to do. Is there really no way to do this in Affinity Designer? I think I'll have to switch to Adobe's tools if not. This seems like such a huge oversight to me. I frequently want to change the size of an artboard to snap only around the objects so I can create a new image from it without any whitespace around the objects.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, d.cj said:

I frequently want to change the size of an artboard to snap only around the objects so I can create a new image from it without any whitespace around the objects.

Select object/objects, Create Artboard from Selection, or Copy, New from Clipboard. 

[JiaChen ZENG]

Strangely, now an artboard can snap to the top and bottom of the object, BUT not the left and right. Just why...?

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, JiaChen ZENG said:

now an artboard can snap to the top and bottom of the object, BUT not the left and right.

Do you mean snapping the position of Artboards when moving it using the Move Tool? It snaps to all sides of the object for me. Creating Artboards using the Artboard tool also snapped on. The only thing that doesn't snap me, on either side of the object, is the resizing of the Artboard.

[JiaChen ZENG]

I'm resizing the artboard. OK, I found why. I made it a symbol and put it into another artboard. The global y axis was the same. It just snapped to that object so actually snapping while resizing isn't implemented.

Edited December 2, 2021 by JiaChen ZENG

[MikkelJP]

This is absolutely a needed feature. I am moving in here from Adobe XD and even that has it. It is frankly quite weird that artboards don't abide by the general rules of snapping.

[thilemann]

I also have an Adobe subscription, but I really want to give the Affinity suite a chance, as I am a big fan of the business model. But lacking features like this really prevents me from making the move for the entire company. Basic tasks just take forever to complete compared to using other products… I would much rather have a solid foundation than some very specific features not many are going to use.

[drkanukie]

Same here I need artboards to snap to their contents or a size artboard to fit contents option. Such a common usecase if doing icons or logos. Workaround is to select the content and insert a new artboard size to selection.

[Pšenda]

25 minutes ago, drkanukie said:

Workaround is to select the content and insert a new artboard size to selection.

Maybe I just don't understand your description, but the solution for me is the procedure described earlier:

On 1/25/2021 at 9:06 AM, Pšenda said:

Select object/objects, Create Artboard from Selection

Unfortunately, this is not an optimal procedure, because the content of the artboard needs to be transferred to the new one.
At the same time, double-clicking on the handle points of the artboard bounding box works, but somehow strangely - it sets the size of the artboard to a square 🙃
Which is a shame, because it could/should do content-based sizing like a Text Frame.