To reuse a layout across Affinity artboards on Mac, configure one reference artboard, duplicate it, and check the copies. Use independent text-frame baseline grids where needed, and retain an editable Affinity file or template for future reuse.

This workflow uses the current Affinity desktop Help Center and its Studio-based interface. The task is to build several consistent artboard layouts without repeatedly estimating guide positions or text spacing. The documentation supports artboard duplication and reusable document templates; it does not describe a bulk command that transfers every guide and baseline-grid setting to existing artboards. Adding and removing artboards, Document templates

Decide what needs to stay consistent

Ruler guides, column guides, and baseline grids perform different jobs. Guides position objects; baseline grids control the vertical alignment of frame text. A document baseline grid and an independent text-frame baseline grid also have different scopes. Choose the appropriate mechanism before building your reference layout. Ruler and column guides, Baseline grids

Layout requirement Appropriate mechanism What to check when reusing it
A specific horizontal or vertical alignment Ruler guides Guide coordinates and origin
Repeated columns and gutters Column guides Column count, gutter, and available width
Aligned text baselines across frames Document baseline grid Grid origin, spacing, and paragraph alignment
A text frame with its own vertical rhythm Independent text-frame baseline grid Frame grid settings and paragraph alignment
The same starting layout in another document Document template Artboard dimensions, guides, grid setup, and text settings

Treat this as a reuse plan: identify the settings that define the layout, carry them forward, and inspect the result. Matching artboard dimensions alone is insufficient evidence that the text and guides match. Affinity’s Artboard Tool exposes size and spacing controls, while baseline and guide settings have their own controls. Artboard Tool, Text Frame panel

Build a reference artboard with exact guide positions

Start with a document containing an artboard. To create one, choose File > New, select a preset, enable Create artboard, and click Create. The Artboard Tool is available by default in Vector Studio. Use one reference artboard to settle the dimensions and layout before making variants. Adding and removing artboards, Artboard Tool

Select the reference artboard, then open View > Margins and Guides. Add horizontal or vertical ruler guides with the corresponding add buttons. Double-click a guide’s listed value to enter an exact position. For a regular column layout, set Columns, Rows, and Gutter in the same settings. These are documented numeric controls; they avoid estimating positions by dragging. Ruler and column guides

For an illustrative layout, suppose the artboard is 1200 pixels wide, with a 60-pixel inset on each side, three content columns, and two 24-pixel gutters. The available content width is 1200 − 120 = 1080 pixels. Subtracting the gutters leaves 1032 pixels, giving three 344-pixel columns.

The resulting vertical boundaries, measured from the left edge, are:

Boundary Position
Left content edge 60 px
End of first column 404 px
Start of second column 428 px
End of second column 772 px
Start of third column 796 px
Right content edge 1140 px

These are illustrative inputs and calculated coordinates, not an Affinity preset. They provide a small reference specification you can compare with another artboard. If the guide origin has moved, account for it before entering the numbers: the help explains that guide coordinates update relative to a repositioned spread origin. Ruler and column guides

Enable View > Show > Guides or View > Show > Column Guides, as appropriate. For object placement, open View > Snapping, enable snapping, and enable Snap to guides. Visibility and snapping are separate checks; the current snapping documentation makes guide snapping conditional on guides being switched on. Ruler and column guides, Snapping

Set up the text baseline rhythm

For a document baseline grid, open View > Baseline Grid, enable Use Baseline Grid, and set its position and Grid Spacing. In Paragraph > Spacing, enable Align to Baseline Grid for the relevant paragraphs. These settings apply to frame text, rather than Artistic Text. Baseline grids

An illustrative starting point is body text with 24-point leading and a 24-point grid interval. Keep this example separate from the pixel-based guide calculation above: enter explicit units and use values appropriate to your document. Judge the result using several lines of neutral sample text, such as “Sample heading” followed by short descriptive paragraphs.

Use an independent grid when the frame needs its own settings

Select the text frame and open Window > Text > Text Frame. In its Baseline Grid section, enable Use Independent Baseline Grid. Set Start Position, Relative To, and Grid Spacing. The panel documents these as properties of the selected frame. Text Frame panel

This gives you a supported way to specify the rhythm at frame level rather than relying solely on a document grid. For example, a smaller caption can have different spacing from the main body. For corresponding frames on several artboards, compare both their grid settings and their placement; equal intervals alone do not establish the same starting baseline.

Check Initial Advance too. The Text Frame panel uses this setting for the distance between the frame top and its first baseline, with a separate Minimum value. If two otherwise similar frames begin differently, inspect these settings before adjusting their positions by eye. Text Frame panel

Duplicate the artboard, then verify the reused setup

With the reference artboard selected, choose Edit > Duplicate > Selection. Alternatively, use the Move Tool or Artboard Tool and ⌘-drag the selected artboard on Mac. These are the current documented duplication methods. Rename the copy by double-clicking its name above the artboard or in the Layers panel. Adding and removing artboards

Duplication is the documented starting operation. The help does not explicitly guarantee that every guide and baseline property will propagate in every document context. Before producing many variants, inspect one duplicate against the reference specification:

  1. Confirm that its dimensions match the intended layout.
  2. Select it and inspect the guide coordinates, column count, and gutter.
  3. Select its text frame and inspect the independent baseline settings, if used.
  4. Compare paragraph alignment and first-line placement using identical sample text.
  5. Replace the sample content only after the structure matches.

If guide values need restoring, enter the recorded coordinates and column settings through Margins and Guides. If a frame needs its baseline settings restored, enter them in the Text Frame panel. This is a reproducible fallback using documented controls. It also works as a specification for existing artboards, where duplicating the reference would create an unwanted additional layout. Ruler and column guides, Text Frame panel

For differently sized artboards, decide which measurements should remain fixed before copying values. In the example above, retaining 60-pixel side insets and 24-pixel gutters on a 900-pixel-wide artboard produces 244-pixel columns: (900 − 120 − 48) ÷ 3. Reusing the original right-edge coordinate of 1140 pixels would not fit that artboard.

Troubleshoot missing grids and unexpected text spacing

Work through visibility, text behavior, and document context separately. This prevents a hidden overlay from being mistaken for a lost layout setting.

  • All design aids have disappeared: check View > Preview Mode, which hides grids, baseline grids, guides, margins, and bleed guides. Preview mode
  • The document baseline grid is invisible: enable View > Show > Baseline Grids and zoom beyond its Display Threshold. Baseline grids
  • Frame text ignores the document grid: inspect Ignore Baseline Grid in the Text Frame panel. Text Frame panel
  • Line spacing changes after grid alignment: grid spacing overrides frame-text leading. Also check font size and whether the frame is rotated relative to its governing grid. Baseline grids

If Document Setup looks different after adding artboards, that is a documented context change: Affinity displays a reduced set of Document Setup options for artboard documents. Use the dedicated guide and text-frame controls described above rather than assuming every page-layout setting will remain in Document Setup. Document setup (Desktop only)

Preserve the editable setup and export the right area

Save the working document with File > Save As in Affinity’s editable .af format. The Saving documentation distinguishes this from exporting to formats such as JPEG, PNG, or PDF: native saving preserves the project information for later editing. All artboards remain together in their parent document. Saving, About artboards

For reuse in future projects, choose File > Export > As Template to create an .aftemplate file. Affinity explicitly documents ruler guides, column guides, and grid setup among the settings associated with templates. Open a template through My Templates to create another document from that starting point. A template reuses a document setup; it is not a documented bulk transfer tool for existing artboards. Document templates

Guides are expressly non-printing and non-exporting. Keep the native document or template as the reusable source instead of expecting an exported image or PDF to carry the editable guide system. Use Preview Mode to inspect the design without its on-screen aids before exporting. Ruler and column guides, Preview mode

To export one artboard, choose File > Export > Export and select its name under Area. The artboard export help describes Whole document as the route for concatenated artboards; it should not be assumed to mean one separate file per artboard. For multiple separate outputs, use the Slice Studio, adjust each artboard slice’s formats and sizes, then choose Export Slices. Exporting artboards

Export options depend on the chosen file format. Page and spread options in the Export dialog belong to the corresponding document context, while a named-artboard option targets one artboard. Check the selected area and preview before saving the output, especially when the required deliverable is PDF. Export dialog

Keep one reference specification alongside the editable layout: dimensions, guide coordinates, gutters, baseline interval, and first-line settings. Duplicate the reference for same-size variants, recalculate deliberately for other sizes, and preserve the finished starting document as a template. That makes the layout reusable without depending on an undocumented transfer command.

Sources