PageStream has horizontal and vertical rulers to help you lay out your pages. The rulers are normally placed along the top and left sides of the window. The zero point, or origin, is normally at the top left corner of the page or spread.
PageStream allows you to set four measurement systems for your document. There are separate horizontal and vertical measurement systems, so you could use inches vertically and picas horizontally. The relative measurement system is used for non-directional measurements, such as nudging objects and line lenghts, and the text measurement system is used for measuring type size and leading.
To set the measurement systems: Choose Preferences from the File menu to display the Preferences dialog box. Click on the Measure tab. Select a horizontal measurement. If you want to use the same system for vertical and relative measurements, set them to Same As Horizontal; otherwise select their measurement systems. Click Save to save these as the program default, or click Use to use them for the current document.
The rulers normally display the horizontal and vertical measurement systems, but you can override the ruler defaults in a window.
To set the rulers' measurement systems: Choose Set Rulers from the Layout menu to display the Set Rulers dialog box. If you want to use the default measurement systems, select Same As Measurement System from the horizontal and vertical pop-up menus. Otherwise select their measurement systems. Click OK.
You can override the measurement system when entering a number in a text box by adding an abbreviation. PageStream shows values with an abbreviation so that you know which measurement system is in use.
To override the measurement system in a text box: Enter the number with its measurement system abbreviation.
| Measurement System | Abbreviation | Example |
| Inches | " or i after the number | 1.25" or 1.25i for 1.25 inches |
| Centimeters | cm after the number | 3cm for 3 centimeters |
| Millimeters | mm after the number | 30mm for 30 millimeters |
| Picas | p after the number | 5p for 5 picas |
| Points | p before or pt after the number | p3 or 3pt for 3 points |
| Picas and points | p between the numbers | 5p3 for 5 picas and 3 points |
| Printer picas | pp after the number | 5pp for 5 printer picas |
| Printer points | pp before or ppt after the number | pp3 or 3ppt for 3 printer points |
| Printer picas and points | pp between the numbers | 5pp3 for 5 printer picas and 3 points |
| Ciceros | c after the number | 4c for 4 ciceros |
| Ciceros and didot points | c between the numbers | 4c3 for 4 ciceros and 3 didot points |
| Didot points | d after the number | 3d for 3 didot points |
| Feet | ' or f after the number | 2' or 2f for 2 feet |
| Meters | m after the number | 2m for 2 meters |
The zero point is the intersection of the origins of the horizontal and vertical rulers. The zero point defaults to the top left corner of the page. You can move the zero point to measure distances from any point on your page.
Zero Point
You can set the ruler zero point visually by dragging out from the ruler origin.
A Position the pointer over the ruler origin
B Drag to the new position.
C Release the mouse button.
Click on the ruler origin to reset the zero point to the top left corner of the page or spread .
Alternatively, choose Set Rulers from the Layout menu to display the Set Rulers dialog box. Enter the zero point offset from the top left corner of the page or spread. Click OK.
The rulers are positioned at the top left corner of the window by default. You can move the rulers to place them in a different corner or near objects you wish to measure visually.
Ruler Offset
You can set the ruler offset visually by Shift dragging out from the ruler origin.
A Position the pointer over the ruler origin.
B Drag to the new position while holding down a Shift key.
C Release the mouse button.
Shift click on the ruler origin to return the ruler to the top left corner of the window.
Alternatively, choose Set Rulers from the Layout menu. Enter an offset in pixels for the rulers from the top left corner of the window. Click OK.