Change Measurement Systems on the Fly
You probabaly already know that you can type into just about any of InDesign’s measurement fields a value based on any measurement system InDesign understands. For instance, if the document uses pica for measurement, you can still specify height, width, and numerous other values in inches by typing X in (for inches [also " and i]) or YpZ (for pica). The same trick works for centimeters (cm), millimeters (mm), points (pt), and ciceros (c). All that you probably knew because people like me have been excitedly writing about it since InDesign 1.0.
What you may not know is that you can also change the global measurement system on the fly without ever going into the Units & Increments pane of Preferences.
It’s a keyboard shortcut–four-fingered, true, but still typically faster than the Preferences route. On Mac, press CMD+OPT+SHIFT+U, and on Windows, CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+U, to cycle through the available measurement systems, in the order of the Units & Increments Ruler Units menus–Points, Picas, Inches, Inches Decimal, Millimeters, Centimeters, Ciceros, and Custom (measured in points). Each press of the keyboard shortcut will change both the horizontal and vertical rulers, as well as reflect in the applicable fields on the Transform, Control, and other palettes.
Well, you finally did. You blew me away. I hope you’re happy. I’ve been resorting to the ol’ preferences editing at least twice a week, and this should save my colleague and me a bit of irritation. Thanks a ton, Pariah.
I’m a fan of the ctrl click on the rulers
When cycling through, it seems to not change the units sometimes. Are there redundant units in there that aren’t being shown? Also, what is a cicero?
There’s inches and inches decimal. Also, millimeters and centimeters are sometimes hard to distinguish at certain zoom levels.
There’s also a drop-down menu in the Info palette that allows you to change both rulers at once (I recall David and Anne-Marie chuckling about that in a recent podcast because the symbol looks more like an accident than a design). It’s the + sign next the X: and Y: fields.
Dave
I’m a fan of just right mouse clicking on the rulers and choosing whichever unit I want.
Yep, right-click on the rulers switches the unit since v1.
Tim, Dave, Josh, and Branislav are all correct, of course.
There are several ways to change the document measurement system, and there are several methods of doing many small but common tasks in InDesign. In fact, one of the things I dig most about InDesign is all the choices afforded the user by redundant, interchangeable methods.
I prefer clicking on the rulers. I can use separate units of measure for each dimension Which often makes a lot of sense with the stuff that I work on.
As others have pointed out, you can right-click on the rulers, but that only changes one measurement. I like Pariah’s tip because it changes both. (It’s nice to have the option to have 2 different measurement systems, but it’s rare that I actually use that.)
I wish we had more easter egg choices, though, such as Hands, the Q measurement (quarter of a millimeter, if I recall), and cubits. Maybe in CS3.14.
Well, if nobody will respond to Chris’ question “What’s a cicero?”, I will.
1 cicero ~ 1.07 pica
1 cicero = 12 didot
1 pica = 12 points
What’s a didot?
Didot is a Rush Limbaugh salute.
I definitely prefer using the info palette to change units.
What’s annoying though is that you can’t change units from within a modal dialog, like Object Shadow or Document Setup — that’s usually when I notice I want it changed! ;-)
Didot is a name given to a group of typefaces named for the famous French printing and type producing family of the same name. The classification is known as modern, or Didone. The typeface we know today was based on a collection of related types developed in the period 1784-1811. …
I’d love to be able to get ruler increments set to pixels but so far i haven’t found anything in my research that suggests this is possible. Anyone out there know of a way to work in pixel increments in indesign?