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Setting Units and Increments in InDesign
by Ron Kurtus (1 November 2015)
One of the first things to do when you start to use Adobe InDesign is to set the units and increments you want to use in the documents you create. This is done through the Preferences > Units & Increments dialog box.
Questions you may have include:
- How do you access the Units & Increments dialog box?
- What the the Ruler Units?
- What are other items that can be adjusted?
This lesson will answer those questions.
Access Units & Increments
You can set the units used in a new document by closing all documents and selecting Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments.... The Preferences dialog box displays for Units & Increments:
Units and Increments dialog box
Set Ruler Units
When you are working on document, you can view rulers across the top and down the side of your InDesign work space. They can help in aligning objects. You can set the configuration or origin of the rulers, as well as their increments, from the dialog box.
Origin
The origin or starting point of the ruler can be set to Spread, Page, or Spine.
Spread
By selecting Spread, the ruler will start from the left hand side of the document and span across the spread of the document.
Page
By selecting Page, the ruler will start at the left hand side and stop when it gets to the end of the page and it will start at zero again.
Spine
The Spine preset is useful when you are using facing pages. The ruler will start its zero point from the spine and work outwards to the edge of each document.
When working on a book, I set the Origin as Spine.
Horizontal and Vertical units
The default unit setting for a New Print Document is in picas, such that the document size might be listed as 51p0 by 66p0. Choices are:
- Points
- Picas
- Inches
- Inches Decimal
- Millimeters
- Centimeters
- Ciceros
- Agates
- Pixels
- Custom
I prefer to see page sizes in decimal increments of inches.
Other items
Other items that you can set on this dialog box are:
- Other Units
- Point/Pica Size
- Keyboard Increments
It seems like the default setting for these items are sufficient.
Summary
It is good to set your preferences of units and increments when you start to use Adobe InDesign. You can access the dialog box for setting the preferences from Edit > Preferences > Units & Increments.
In designing a box with facing pages, I normally set the Origin as Spine. I also set the units as Decimal Inches. The other setting can be left as is.
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units_and_increments.htm
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Setting Units and Increments in InDesign