How to Straighten an Artboard in Photoshop?

To straighten content that appears crooked within your Photoshop document, which could be on a standard canvas or within an artboard, you can use the Measure Tool and the Rotate Canvas command. This method is ideal for straightening scanned images or photos that were captured at a slight angle.

Here are the steps based on the provided reference:

Straightening Crooked Content Using the Measure Tool

This technique relies on identifying a line in your image that should be straight (like an edge of a building, horizon, or document edge) and using Photoshop to measure its angle. Photoshop then automatically rotates the canvas (and all its content) by the inverse of that angle, making the measured line horizontal or vertical.

Step-by-Step Guide:

Here is the process to straighten your image or content:

1. Select The "Measure Tool"

   • Find the Measure Tool in the Tools panel. It might be nested under the Eyedropper Tool or one of the other analysis tools. Click and hold the Eyedropper Tool icon to reveal hidden tools if you don't see it immediately.
   • This tool is used to calculate distances and angles in your image.

2. Click And Drag Along Something That Should Be Straight

   • On your crooked image, find an element that you know should be perfectly horizontal or vertical (e.g., the edge of a scanned document, a window frame, a horizon line).
   • Click and drag the Measure Tool along this line. As you drag, you'll see a line appear, and information about its length and angle will be displayed in the Info panel.

3. Choose The "Rotate Canvas - Arbitrary" Command

   • Go to the main menu bar at the top of the screen.
   • Select Image > Image Rotation > Arbitrary....
   • A dialog box will appear. Photoshop automatically reads the angle measured by the Measure Tool and fills in the Angle field. It will also suggest rotating either CW (Clockwise) or CCW (Counter Clockwise) to straighten the image.

4. Click OK To Rotate And Straighten The Image

   • Review the suggested angle and direction in the Arbitrary Rotate dialog box.
   • Click OK. Photoshop will rotate the entire canvas (and all layers and content on it) by the precise angle needed to make the line you measured in Step 2 perfectly straight. Your image should now appear level.

5. Crop The Image With The "Crop Tool"

   • After rotation, the corners of your image will likely be outside the original canvas boundaries, leaving transparent areas or needing excess space trimmed.
   • Select the Crop Tool from the Tools panel.
   • Drag the crop handles to define the area of the image you want to keep, typically excluding the transparent corners created by the rotation.
   • Press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS) to finalize the crop.

Following these steps effectively straightens the content within your document, correcting the tilt that might have occurred during scanning or capture.