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ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS2
User Guide
To change the unit of measurement
The default unit of measurement in Illustrator is points (a point equals .3528 millimeter). You can change the unit
that Illustrator uses for general measurements, strokes, and type. You can override the default unit while entering
values in boxes.
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To change the default unit of measurement, choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Display Performance (Windows)
or Illustrator > Preferences > Units & Display Performance (Mac OS), and then select units for the General,
Stroke, and Type options. If Show Asian Options is selected in the Type preferences, you can also select a unit
specifically for Asian type.
Note:
The “General” measurement option affects rulers, measuring the distance between points, moving and trans
forming objects, setting grid and guides spacing, and creating shapes.
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To set the general unit of measurement for the current document only, choose File > Document Setup, select
Artboard from the menu at the top left of the Document Setup dialog box, set the unit of measure you want to use,
and click OK.
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To change the unit of measurement when entering a value in a box, follow the value by any of the following abbre
viations: inch, inches, in, millimeters, millimetres, mm, Qs (one Q equals 0.25 millimeter), centimeters, centi
metres, cm, points, p, pt, picas, pc, pixel, pixels, and px.
When mixing picas and points, you can enter values as XpY, where X and Y are the number of picas and points (for
example, 12p6 for 12 picas, 6 points).
To work with the grid
The grid appears behind your artwork in the illustration window, and it does not print.
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To use the grid, choose View > Show Grid.
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To hide the grid, choose View > Hide Grid.
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To snap objects to gridlines, choose View > Snap To Grid, select the object you want to move, and drag it to the
desired location.
When the object’s boundaries come within 2 pixels of a gridline, it snaps to the point.
Note:
When the View > Pixel Preview option is selected, Snap To Grid changes to Snap To Pixel.
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To change the spacing between gridlines, choose Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Windows) or Illustrator >
Preferences > Guides & Grid (Mac OS).
You can also choose between two grid styles—dots and lines—and change the color of the grid.
To work with guides
Guides
help you align text and graphic objects. You can create
ruler guides
(straight vertical or horizontal lines) and
guide objects
(vector objects that you convert to guides). Like the grid, guides do not print.
You can choose between two guide styles—dots and lines—and you can change the color of guides by using either
predefined grid colors or colors you select using a color picker. By default, guides are locked in place, but you can
unlock them to move, modify, delete, or revert them.
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To show or hide guides, choose View > Guides > Show Guides or View > Guides > Hide Guides.
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To change guide settings, choose Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences >
Guides & Grid (Mac OS).
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To unlock guides, deselect View > Guides > Lock Guides.