Scaling with the Scale command


    The scale command lets you scale an object by entering a negative or positive percentage factor. Objects scale relative to the object's center or you can change the reference point to any point in the document window. You can create a scaled copy of the selected object without affecting the original object and control whether strokes, effects, or pattern fills scale.

    Tip iconYou can access the Scale command from the context menu after selecting an object. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS), and then choose Transform > Scale.

To scale an object with the Scale command:

  1. Select the object.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • To scale the object from its center, choose Object > Transform > Scale or double-click the Scale tool.
    • To scale the object relative to a different reference point, select the Scale tool Scale tool and Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) where you want the reference point to be in the document window.
  3. In the Scale dialog box, do one of the following:
    • To maintain the object's proportions as it scales, select Uniform, and enter a percentage in the Scale text box.
    • To scale the height and width separately, select Non-Uniform, and enter a percentage in the Horizontal and Vertical text boxes.

    The scale factors are relative to the reference point and can be negative or positive.

  4. Do any of the following in the Scale dialog box:
    • To also scale the weight of all stroked paths and any size-related effects, select Scale Strokes & Effects.
    • To preview the effect in the document window, select Preview.
  5. If the object uses a pattern fill, do any of the following in the Scale dialog box:
    • To scale the object and its pattern fill, select both Objects and Patterns.
    • To only scale the object, select Objects and deselect Patterns.
    • To only scale the pattern fill, deselect Objects and select Patterns.
  6. Do one of the following:
    • To scale the object, click OK.
    • To scale a copy of the object, click Copy.