by David R. Mankin
Here's a neat little trick that can help you describe a position on a PDF page to a colleague, even if they are not in the same room (or hemisphere). If you are working with a PDF page that has several similar regions on it, describing the proper object can be tricky. For example: "Look at the widget on the left side of the page, near the middle, but a little lower" just doesn't cut it.
What if there was a way to describe an exact position on a page? If you haven't discovered it yet, Acrobat DOES sport rulers, but they are hidden by default. To see them, press [Ctrl] [R] ([Command] [R] on a Mac). With the rulers visible, you can determine your cursor's page position by noting the lines that appear on the rulers as you move your mouse around the page--but that's a visual thing and the lines won't give you the EXACT coordinates of a specific spot on your page.
To determine your cursor's exact position, you only need to turn on a feature called Cursor Coordinates. Choose View > Cursor Coordinates. A small black information box appears in the lower left of your view panel. It shows your current cursor location, in your preferred document measurement system.
Want to change your measurement units to points, picas, millimeters, inches? Choose to Edit > Preferences (Acrobat > Preferences on Mac), select Units & Guides, and dial in your preferred choice.
The small black box with the coordinates can be dragged around the page as you see fit. If it disappears (and mine has a few times), change your page view from scrolling to single page view, as it apparently likes this view, and wants to hide in scrolling view.
And that's this week's Acrobat 9 tip... coming to you 38 inches from my kitchen sliding glass door, and 129 inches from my stove.
Learn what PDF technology is all about, and how to use Acrobat 9 Professional to create, edit and enhance your PDF files. Click here for more information and class dates.
What if there was a way to describe an exact position on a page? If you haven't discovered it yet, Acrobat DOES sport rulers, but they are hidden by default. To see them, press [Ctrl] [R] ([Command] [R] on a Mac). With the rulers visible, you can determine your cursor's page position by noting the lines that appear on the rulers as you move your mouse around the page--but that's a visual thing and the lines won't give you the EXACT coordinates of a specific spot on your page.
To determine your cursor's exact position, you only need to turn on a feature called Cursor Coordinates. Choose View > Cursor Coordinates. A small black information box appears in the lower left of your view panel. It shows your current cursor location, in your preferred document measurement system.
Want to change your measurement units to points, picas, millimeters, inches? Choose to Edit > Preferences (Acrobat > Preferences on Mac), select Units & Guides, and dial in your preferred choice.
The small black box with the coordinates can be dragged around the page as you see fit. If it disappears (and mine has a few times), change your page view from scrolling to single page view, as it apparently likes this view, and wants to hide in scrolling view.
And that's this week's Acrobat 9 tip... coming to you 38 inches from my kitchen sliding glass door, and 129 inches from my stove.
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Learn what PDF technology is all about, and how to use Acrobat 9 Professional to create, edit and enhance your PDF files. Click here for more information and class dates.
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About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.
Great tip, especially when working with large and complex CAD files. The only drawback is when you zoom into a small area the placement of the XY box is very erratic and often not visible at all.
Posted by: Bob Sloan, Canberra Australia | December 04, 2009 at 11:56 AM