Adobe InDesign CS4 - Manual (Page 59)

51 USING INDESIGN CS4
Layout
• To lock or unlock the zero point, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the zero point of the rulers, and
choose Lock Zero Point or Unlock Zero Point in the context menu.
Change the default zero point
Using the Origin setting in the Preferences dialog box, you can set the default zero point for rulers as well as the scope
of the horizontal ruler. The scope determines whether the ruler measures across the page, across the entire spread, or,
for multipage spreads, from the center of the spine.
If you set the ruler origin at each spread’s binding spine, the origin becomes locked at the spine. You won’t be able to
reposition the ruler origin by dragging it from the intersection of the rulers unless you choose another origin option.
1 Choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Units & Increments
(Mac OS).
2 In the Ruler Units section, in the Origin menu, do one of the following:
• To set the ruler origin at the top-left corner of each spread, choose Spread. The horizontal ruler measures across
the entire spread.
• To set the ruler origin at the top-left corner of each page, choose Page. The horizontal ruler starts at zero for each
page in a spread.
• To set the ruler origin at the center of the spine, choose Spine. The horizontal ruler measures in negative numbers
to the left of the spine and positive numbers to the right of the spine.
You can also change horizontal ruler origin settings using the context menu that appears when you right-click
(Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the horizontal ruler.
Measure objects
The Measure tool calculates the distance between any two points in the document window. When you measure from
one point to another, the distance measured is displayed in the Info panel. All measurements except the angle are
calculated in the units of measure currently set for the document.
After you use the Measure tool to measure an item, the line or lines remain visible until you take another measurement
or select a different tool.
Measure the distance between two points
1 Make sure the Info panel is visible (Window > Info).
2 Select the Measure tool . (Click and hold the Eyedropper tool to display the Measure tool.)
3 Click the first point and drag to the second point. Shift-drag to constrain the tool’s motion to multiples of 45°. You
cannot drag beyond a single pasteboard and its spread.
The width and height measurements appear in the Info panel.
Measure angles
1 Make sure the Info panel is visible (Window > Info).
2 Select the Measure tool . (Click and hold the Eyedropper tool to display the Measure tool.)
3 Do one of the following:
• To measure an angle from the x axis, drag the tool.
Updated 18 June 2009