[scribus] Including guide lines in a pdf export

[Gregory Pittman]

Here's a few things I would add to Owen's suggestions:

Create a new layer on top of the document - hit F6 or Windows > Layers to bring up the dialog, then hit the button with the + sign to make a new layer on top. Since you can only work on one layer at a time, you can play around with the lines/grid without messing up your page content. You can also uncheck its visibility or printability at any time. You can even change its opacity in case that's of any use. Note that you can switch layers on the main canvas with the drop down list at the bottom of the window - the default is Background, so you don't have to bring up the Layers dialog just to switch layers. Using layers also would be useful in case there is some page content you want to be above the grid - just put it on a layer above the grid's layer. You may have noticed that there is an item Send to Layer in the context menu for all objects.
If you hold down Ctrl while drawing the line, it will help ensure that the first line is exactly horizontal or vertical, since the line will be constrained to 15° incremental angles.
If you want to draw a line from edge to edge, just approximate it - i.e., don't get too fiddly with it. Once it's drawn, then go to Properties > Geometry and make its X-Pos and Y-Pos 0, and the "Width" (really the length) either the height or width of the page. 
If you know what features you want the line to have, for example color, width, type of line, etc., do it before you run multiple duplicate. BTW, to change the color, you want to change the color of the Stroke, not the Fill.
If you make a mistake with Multiple Duplicate, just hitting Undo once gets rid of all the copies. This way you can play around with spacing or the number of lines.
Finally, since you're working on this grid on its own layer, you can use Edit > Select All to select all the lines on the layer in case you want to tweak settings afterward.

More advanced stuff:
What if you have a multipage document, and want the grid on all the pages? Edit > Select All, then right-click, select Edit > Cut. Now, from the menu, Edit > Master Pages, and switch to the layer you choose, and Edit > Paste to the Master Page. If you want it selectively on only some pages, then you'll need more than one Master Page.
What if you want to use this grid over again, without starting from scratch? Edit > Select all, then right-click and Send to the Scrapbook.

Greg


On 4/7/19 6:47 PM, Owen wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> It is probably easier than you think.
> 
> 1.  Draw one grid line (line tool)
> 
> 2.  Then go to "Item-> Multiple duplicate"
> 
> 3.  You can the group them all and move it to precisely where you would like it.
> 
> 
> Then you can play with line widths, colors and style.
> 
> 
> 
> Owen
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Subject: [scribus] Including guide lines in a pdf export
>>
>> Hi, I'm trying to make a pdf with a grid on it like the guide lines that
>> you can select to show up in Scribus... Is there a way to export a pdf that
>> will show these guidelines?  I don't want to have to make a bunch of tables
>> that overlap the lines because it will be hard to get them to be precise
>> and it'll be a lot of work...  Thank you for any advice on this!  Peace.