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How to use rulers, grids, and guides:
What is
1. To show rulers, choose View > Rulers > Show Rulers. To
turn off rulers, choose View> Rulers > Hide Rulers.
2. To set the general unit of measurement for rulers in the
current document, choose File > Document Setup.
The Document Setup dialog box opens (Figure 27)
3. Choose the unit of measure you want to use from the
Units menu, and click OK to close the Document Setup
dialog box.
Note: You can also set the default unit of measurement
for all your Illustrator documents by choosing Edit >
Preferences > Units (Windows) or Illustrator >
Preferences > Units (Mac OS), and then select units for
the General, Stroke, and Type options.
4. To use the grid, choose View > Show Grid. To hide the
grid, choose View > Hide Grid.
5. 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: To specify the spacing between gridlines, grid style
(lines or dots), grid color, or whether grids appear in the
front or back of artwork, choose Edit > Preferences >
Guides & Grid (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences >
Guides & Grid (Mac OS).
6. To show guides, choose View > Guides > Show Guides.
To hide guides, choose View > Guides > Hide Guides.
7. Position the pointer on the left ruler for a vertical guide or
on the top ruler for a horizontal guide.
8. Drag the guide into position (Figure 28).
9. Move the guide by dragging or delete the guide by
pressing Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Mac OS), or
by choosing Edit > Cut or Edit > Clear.
10. Choose View > Smart Guides to turn guides on or off.
11. Use Smart Guides in the following ways:
• When you create an object, use the Smart Guides to
position a new object's position relative to an
existing object. Or, when you create a new artboard,
use Smart Guides to position it relative to another
artboard or an object.
• When you move an object or artboard, use the Smart
Guides to align the selected object or artboard to
other objects or artboards. The alignment is based on
the geometry of objects and artboards. Guides appear
as the object approaches the edge or center point of
other objects (Figure 29).
• When you transform an object, Smart Guides
automatically appear to assist the transformation.
You can change when and how Smart Guides appear by
setting Smart Guide preferences. Choose Edit >
Preferences > Smart Guides (Windows) or Illustrator >
Preferences > Smart Guides (Mac OS).