Cut, Copy & Paste Artboards
As long as Illustrator has had the ability to have multiple artboards [introduced in CS4, 2008] we’ve been able to Duplicate artboards and their content, but Illustrator 2020 adds the ability to cut, copy and paste them in the same document or even in another one.
What we could do before
- Artboard Tool (shift+O) – click on any artboard to select it, then resize with the handles [does not resize content], move it [does move content, as long as ‘Move/Copy Artwork with Artboard’ button is on] or delete it [which deletes the artboard, but not content]
- Window > Artboards – choosing ‘Duplicate Artboards’ from the panel menu creates duplicate(s) of whatever artboards were selected to the right of the existing artboards
- option/alt + drag – with the Artboard Tool copies artboards content while dragging
What we can do now
- With artboards selected, go to Edit > Cut/Copy then Edit > Paste [or use shortcuts]
- Artboards are pasted to the right of existing artboards in the same arrangement
- Go to a NEW document and paste those same artboards using shortcuts!
- You can also drag & drop artboards from one document to the other!!
The ‘Move/Copy Artwork with Artboard’ button in the Control panel must be selected if you want to cut, copy or paste the content along with the artboard