Adobe Acrobat 7 TIPS and TRICKS THE 100150 BEST [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

TIP 91: Using Grids and Guides for Assistance

If you have worked with image, illustration, or layout programs, you know about grids and guides. Acrobat 7 includes both these handy features, along with rulers to help you position content precisely, and to assist in measuring and examining drawings.

Grids are sets of vertical and horizontal lines that overlay a document. The lines of the grid, which use spacing that you specify, aren't printed.

Choose View > Grid to display the grid. If you want to be able to move an object and have it "snap" to the grid (align itself automatically with the grid lines), choose View > Snap to Grid (Figure 91a). As you drag an object you see it jump to align with the grid lines horizontally and vertically.

Guides are custom lines that you can add either vertically or horizontally to help with positioning. To use guides, turn on the rulers first by choosing View > Rulers. Click the horizontal ruler at the top of the Document pane with any tool and drag downward to place a horizontal guide; drag right from the vertical ruler at the left of the Document pane with any tool to place a vertical guide.

To reposition your guide, click the Select Object tool on the Advanced Editing toolbar and drag the guide line. When you drag, the Select Object tool switches to a cursor (shown in Figure 91b). Toggle the guides on and off using the View > Guides command. Use the Select Object tool and drag horizontal guides up to the ruler or drag vertical guides left to the ruler to remove them.

Both grids and guides can be customized in the Preferences dialog. Choose Edit > Preferences or Acrobat > Preferences and choose the Units and Guides option in the list at the left of the dialog to display the customization settings (Figure 91c).

Click the Units pull-down menu and choose an option other than the default inches if required. Select options for grid spacing, color, and position of the grid. Use the arrows for each setting to increase or decrease the values, or you can type a value in the text boxes.

Not sure where the grid should start? You can use the Info pane to tell you exactly where to set the Offset values for the grid preference. Choose View > Navigation Tabs > Info to open the pane (Figure 91d). As you move the mouse over the page, you see the values change in the pane; note the horizontal or vertical value at your desired location and then use the value to set the Offset preference. Of course, you can use the Info pane for other purposes as well, such as checking the size and location of a button, form field, or drawn object.