Is there a way to have something like a guide (both horizontal and vertical) that follows the cursor in Photoshop?

Question

I've been looking for a functionality that makes it so that there's a something like a crosshair which extends from the horizontal and vertical rulers to where the cursor is, like this image (taken from here), and follows it when it moves:

I do know that guides can be used, such as dragging from the ruler, but as far as I know, there is no shortcut to create either a horizontal or vertical guide from the mouse's current location (which is another question, similar to this).

EDIT: Note that I'd prefer something quick (as such as why I mentioned something dynamic and just follows your mouse), and I don't care much for guides staying on the screen, as I will only be using them for multiple operations in succession that won't last longer than a handful of seconds.

Also, I'm using CC 2018 if it matters.

Thanks!

Answer 1

While there's no way to place a guide under a cursor, you can use a script with an additional step to place guides in a specific location.

For example this script will place guides to coordinates of a Count tool. You can assign the script to a hotkey and quickly run it.

If your goal is having a temporary guide a 3rd party tool would work better.

function main()
{
    var units = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;
    try
    {
        var ref = new ActionReference();
        ref.putProperty(stringIDToTypeID("property"), stringIDToTypeID("countClass"));
        ref.putEnumerated(stringIDToTypeID("document"), charIDToTypeID("Ordn"), charIDToTypeID("Trgt"));
        var desc = executeActionGet(ref).getList(stringIDToTypeID("countClass")).getObjectValue(0)
    }
    catch (e)
    {
        app.preferences.rulerUnits = units
        return false
    };

    createGuide(
    {
        x: true,
        coord: desc.getUnitDoubleValue(stringIDToTypeID("x"))
    });

    createGuide(
    {
        y: true,
        coord: desc.getUnitDoubleValue(stringIDToTypeID("y"))
    });

    clearCounts();

    app.preferences.rulerUnits = units

    function createGuide(guide)
    {
        guide.x == void(0) && guide.x = false;
        guide.y == void(0) && guide.y = false;

        var vertical = guide.x

        var desc9 = new ActionDescriptor();
        var desc10 = new ActionDescriptor();
        desc10.putUnitDouble(charIDToTypeID('Pstn'), charIDToTypeID('#Pxl'), guide.coord);
        desc10.putEnumerated(charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID('Ornt'), charIDToTypeID(vertical ? 'Vrtc' : 'Hrzn'));
        desc10.putEnumerated(charIDToTypeID('Knd '), charIDToTypeID('Knd '), charIDToTypeID('Dcmn'));
        var ref1 = new ActionReference();
        ref1.putIdentifier(charIDToTypeID('Dcmn'), 267);
        ref1.putIndex(charIDToTypeID('Gd  '), 1);
        desc10.putReference(charIDToTypeID('null'), ref1);
        desc9.putObject(charIDToTypeID('Nw  '), charIDToTypeID('Gd  '), desc10);
        var ref2 = new ActionReference();
        ref2.putClass(charIDToTypeID('Gd  '));
        desc9.putReference(charIDToTypeID('null'), ref2);
        desc9.putEnumerated(stringIDToTypeID('guideTarget'), stringIDToTypeID('guideTarget'), stringIDToTypeID('guideTargetCanvas'));
        executeAction(charIDToTypeID('Mk  '), desc9, DialogModes.NO);
    };

    function clearCounts() {
        var desc13 = new ActionDescriptor();
        executeAction( stringIDToTypeID('countClear'), desc13, DialogModes.NO );
    } // end of clearCounts()

}
app.activeDocument.suspendHistory("temp", "main()");

Answer 2

AFAIK you cannot do that natively with Photoshop (crosshairs that follow the mouse).

You could just drag from the top-left corner of the rulers but I can see how that will get annoying really quick, since it will reset your 0,0 coordinate to the place where you release the mouse button.

That sounds like a good use case for a tool like xScope (disclaimer: I'm not associated with the company but I've been using the toolset for quite a while), where you have crosshairs exactly as you want and many other useful tools. Worth taking a look at the free trial at least.

Answer 3

At the View Menu there are three possibilities to make guides:

Knowing the x,y coordinates, you can just add a horizontal and then a vertical guide setting the positions:

Or make a shape from the point where you want the guides exceeding the limits of the document and make a New Guide from Shape