A document is the space in which you create artwork. In Illustrator, you can create documents destined for many different types of output. (For information on creating Illustrator documents for video production, see the Enhancing Video Production PDF at www.adobe.com/go/learn_ai_video.

You start a new document by choosing a new document profile based on your intended output. Each profile includes preset values for size, color mode, units, orientation, transparency, and resolution. For example, the Video And Film Document profile uses pixels instead of points, and you can choose a device-specific crop area, such as NTSC DV Widescreen, to create a document in the exact dimensions required, with video-safe guides in place to help you lay out your design for optimal viewing.

If you plan to output your file to a high-end printer, for example if you’re sending it to a service bureau, specify the Print profile to ensure your artwork and any effects applied to the artwork are set to the proper resolution.

You can choose from the following profiles:

Print Document

Uses a default letter size artboard, and provides a variety of other preset print sizes to choose from. Use this profile if you plan to send this file to a service bureau for output to a high‑end printer.

Web Document

Provides preset options optimized for output to the web.

Mobile And Devices Document

Creates a small file size that is preset for a specific mobile device. You can choose your device from the Size menu. Click Device Central to open Adobe Device Central and view the document layout in a specified device interface.

Video And Film Document

Provides several preset video- and film-specific crop area sizes (note that the Artboard option changes to Crop Size for this profile). Illustrator creates only square pixel files, so to ensure that the sizes are interpreted correctly in video applications, Illustrator adjusts the Width and Height values. For example, if you choose NTSC DV Standard, Illustrator uses a pixel size of 648 x 480, which translates to 740 x 480 pixels in video-based applications.

Basic CMYK Document

Uses a default letter size artboard, and provides a variety of other sizes to choose from. Use this profile if you plan to send a document to multiple types of media. If one of the media types is a service bureau, you’ll want to manually increase the Raster Effects setting to High.

Basic RGB Document

Uses a default 800 x 600 size artboard, and provides a variety of other print-, video-, and web-specific sizes to choose from. Do not use this option if you plan to send a document to a service bureau or output to a high-end printer. Use this profile for documents that will be output to mid-level printers, to the web, or multiple types of media.

For a video on setting up new documents, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0031.