Photoshop Change Artboard Size: Resize the Workspace Without Distorting Your Logo
How to change or edit artboard size in Photoshop with the Artboard tool or Properties panel, how it differs from Canvas Size and Image Size, and how to check logo artwork afterward.
Contents
The short answer
To change an artboard's size in Photoshop, select the Artboard tool, which is grouped with the Move tool in the toolbar. Click the artboard's name in the document window or its entry in the Layers panel. Then type new Width and Height values in the Properties panel or the tool's options bar, or drag the handles on the artboard's edges. This changes the frame around your logo, not the logo itself. Your artwork is not scaled. The visible area is trimmed or extended with empty space.
An artboard is a fixed-size frame inside a Photoshop document. Each artboard holds its own layers and can be exported separately. One document can hold several artboards, for example a square avatar version and a wide header version of the same logo. Resizing one artboard leaves the others unchanged.
Step by step: editing artboard size
- Open the document and confirm it uses artboards. In the Layers panel, artboards appear as top-level containers with their own names.
- Choose the Artboard tool. If it is hidden, click and hold the Move tool icon to reveal it.
- Select the artboard you want to change by clicking its name label above the canvas or its row in the Layers panel.
- For exact dimensions, enter Width and Height in the Properties panel. The options bar also has a size preset menu if you need a standard format.
- For a visual adjustment, drag the handles on the artboard's edges or corners.
- If the artboard should sit somewhere else in the document, adjust its X and Y position in the Properties panel.
Menu labels and panel layouts can change between Photoshop versions. If a field is not where these steps describe, look for the same options in the Properties panel while the artboard is selected.
If your document has no artboards
Many Photoshop files are plain documents without artboards. In that case, the equivalent control is Image > Canvas Size. The Anchor grid sets which edges grow or shrink. The Relative option lets you add a set amount instead of typing new totals. Canvas Extension Color controls how new space is filled on a Background layer. Other layers get transparent space.
If the file does contain artboards, Canvas Size affects the overall document area around them, not the artboards themselves. Use the Artboard tool or the Properties panel for those instead.
Artboard size, Canvas Size and Image Size
| Command | What it changes | Effect on the logo |
| Artboard Width/Height | The frame of one artboard | Not scaled; the visible area is cropped or extended |
| Image > Canvas Size | The working area of a document without artboards | Not scaled; space is added or removed at the anchored edges |
| Image > Image Size | The pixel dimensions of the whole document | Scaled; pixel layers are resampled |
If you want the logo itself to get bigger or smaller, changing the artboard size is the wrong tool. Scale the logo layer with Free Transform, or rebuild the export at the size you need.
What this means for logo artwork
Photoshop is mainly a raster editor, meaning it works in pixels, but it can also hold vector content. Shape layers, type layers and vector smart objects keep sharp edges when transformed. Pixel layers do not. A larger artboard simply gives a logo more surrounding space, such as padding or clear space, without touching its edges.
A smaller artboard hides any part of the logo that falls outside the new edges. Layer content beyond an artboard's bounds is clipped from view rather than deleted, so enlarging the artboard again normally brings it back. Still, check before exporting, because an export includes only what is visible inside the artboard.
Saving or exporting from Photoshop does not make a logo vector. A file extension alone also does not prove that a logo is fully vector or editable, or that you are allowed to reuse it. If you need a scalable master logo for print or for other designers, keep or obtain the original in a dedicated vector application. Use Photoshop artboards for raster deliverables such as web and social formats.
Verify the result
- Reselect the artboard and confirm the Width and Height in the Properties panel match what you intended.
- View at 100% zoom and check that no part of the mark or wordmark is cut off at the edges.
- Check that the logo's clear space is balanced on all sides, or deliberately offset if the layout calls for it.
- If the logo needs a transparent background, make sure the artboard background is set to transparent, not white or a color.
- Export the artboard, for example with File > Export > Artboards to Files or Export As, and open the exported file to confirm its size and edges.
Gaps in this guide
No version-specific documentation, required pixel dimensions or delivery specifications were provided for this guide. The steps above describe Photoshop's general artboard behavior. For exact output sizes, follow the requirements of the platform, printer or client receiving the logo.