Setting up Your Document > Working with pages > Setting units of measure |
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Setting units of measure
FreeHand offers precision and flexibility for entering numeric values and displaying the rulers and grid.
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You can choose from points, picas, inches, decimal inches, millimeters, Kyus, centimeters, or pixels to display in the rulers, panels, and dialog boxes. |
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You can combine units other than the default or override the default unit of measure in text boxes. If you override the default unit of measure, FreeHand automatically converts the value to the default unit of measure. For example, entering 125m in a text box yields 125 millimeters instead of 125 points; the 125-millimeter value is automatically converted to 354.3307 points. |
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You can enter mathematical equations and combine units of measure in text boxes to have FreeHand automatically calculate values for you. |
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You can define custom units of measure equivalent to other units of measure, including meters, feet, miles, ciceros, and didots. For more information, see Using the rulers. |
To set the unit of measure for an entire document:
1 |
Click the Units pop-up menu in the Status toolbar (Windows) or in the lower left corner of the Document window (Macintosh). |
2 |
Choose a unit of measure. |
This setting affects almost all numeric text boxes except the text-related settings based on points. For example, if the Units pop-up menu is set to inches, entering 12 in a font size text box yields 12-point type regardless of the unit of measure. |
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To set a unit of measure other than the default in a unit text box:
1 |
Do one of the following: |
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To enter a pica value other than the default, enter the numeric value followed by p. |
For example, enter 7p for 7 picas. |
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To enter other units of measure, enter a numeric value followed by the uniti for inches, p for picas, pt for points, m for millimeters, c for centimeters, and x for pixels. |
2 |
Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh). |
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To specify a font size for a text block using mathematical functions:
1 |
Select the text block with the Pointer tool. |
2 |
In the Font Size pop-up menu in the Document inspector, enter numeric values and create an equation using any of the following mathematical symbols: |
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+ (addition) |
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- (subtraction) |
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* (multiplication) |
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/ (division) |
Multiplication and division operations are evaluated before addition and subtraction if you combine these operations. |
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You can combine different units in an equation. For example, if the default unit of measure in the Units menu is set to points, entering 4*50-49, 71+80, or 2i + p7 in a text box all yield 151 points. If you enter an invalid equation or unit, FreeHand tries to resolve it or enters 0. |
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3 |
Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh). |
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