How to Divide Artwork to Print in Illustrator

A printer's page size does not necessarily match the artwork in Illustrator. When this happens, you can divide (or tile) the artwork to match a printer's page size. These instructions apply to Adobe Illustrator 8. Procedures for other versions may vary.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Printers
• Adobe Illustrator

1. Create your artwork.

2. Reposition pages on the artboard, if desired, by using the Page tool.

3. Reveal tiling by choosing Show Page Tiling from the View menu.

4. Go to Document Setup under the File menu to change tiling options.

5. Choose Single Full Page if you want to print a full page.

6. Select Tile Multiple Pages if you want to view and print multiple pages - as in a brochure, for example.

7. Choose Tile Imageable Areas if you want to view and print a single piece of artwork that is too big for one page. A large poster is one example.

8. Click OK.

Tips & Warnings

• When printing, Illustrator divides the artwork into one or more rectangles that correspond to the printer's page size. This is called tiling. If your artwork tiles into six pages and you set the printer to print pages 1 to 5, the last page will not print.
• The file will tile in from left to right, top to bottom. The first page is always page one. This shows on screen but will not show when printed.