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Using rulers, guides, and grids
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Last modified August 15, 2007		 E-mail This Topic Printable Version Give Us Feedback

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About using rulers, guides, and grids

You can use rulers, guides, and grids in layout view to align map elements on the page. These layout aids act as visual indicators of element size and position.


Rulers

Rulers show the size of the page on the final printed map. You can also turn on snapping to force map elements to snap to the rulers. Snapping makes it easy to align map elements precisely.


Guides

Guides are straight lines that you can use in layout view to align map elements on the page. Although you can see guides on the virtual page in layout view, they won't show up when you print your map. You can use guides to set margins for a map that isn't the same size as your printer's page size. The guides provide a visual indication of the map's margins to help you avoid positioning map elements in the margins. To align map elements precisely, you can turn on snapping, which forces map elements to snap to the guides.


Grids

A grid shows reference points on the layout that you can use to position map elements. You can use the grid as a purely visual reference in placing map elements, or you can turn on snapping to grid to align map elements more precisely on the page. The snapping grid appears as a grid of dots on the virtual page. If you turn on snapping, the position of elements on the page will be constrained by the vertices of the snapping grid. Although you can see the grid on the virtual page in layout view, it won't show when you print your map.

You can change the size of the grid to allow more or less freedom in positioning map elements when snapping to grid is turned on.


How to use rulers, guides, and grids

Turning rulers on and off

  1. Right-click the page in layout view, point to Rulers, and click Rulers.
    2. The rulers are on by default.


Snapping to rulers

  1. Right-click the page in layout view, point to Rulers, and click Snap to Rulers.

Tips

  • The order in which guides, grids, and rulers appear in the Snap elements to list determines which one an element will snap to. For example, in the event that the element is within the snapping tolerance of both a guide and a grid point, it will snap to whichever is on top. You can use the up and down arrow keys to change the snapping order.
  • You can use the readouts in the lower right corner of the ArcMap window to find the geographic position and page position of the pointer.

Setting the units and divisions on rulers

  1. Right-click the ruler and click Options.
  2. Click the Units drop-down arrow and click a unit of measure.
  3. Click the Smallest Division drop-down arrow and click the size of the smallest division.
  4. Click OK.

Tip

  • You can set the units of measure shown on the rulers to points, centimeters, or inches. You can also change the number of divisions per unit.

Turning guides on and off

  1. Right-click the page in layout view, point to Guides, and click Guides.


Snapping to guides

  1. Right-click the page in layout view, point to Guides, and click Snap to Guides.
    2. When you move map elements to the vicinity of a guide, the map element will snap to the guide.

Tip

  • The order in which guides, grids, and rulers appear in the Snap elements to list determines which one an element will snap to. For example, in the event that the element is within the snapping tolerance of both a guide and a grid point, it will snap to whichever is on top. You can use the up and down arrow keys to change the snapping order.

Adding a guide

  1. Click the ruler in layout view at the place where you want a guide.


Moving a guide

  1. Point to a guide marker on the ruler.
  2. Click the guide marker and drag it to a new location on the ruler.
    3. The guide appears with a dotted line until you release the mouse button.

Tip

  • As you move a guide, the upper left corner of the display shows a text readout with the exact position of the guide in the current ruler/page units.

Removing a guide

  1. Point to a guide marker on the ruler in layout view.
  2. Right-click the guide marker and click Clear Guide.


Removing all guides from a ruler

  1. Right-click the ruler in layout view.
  2. Click Clear All Guides.
    3. All the guides are removed from the ruler.


Using guides to define map margins

  1. Click the rulers in layout view to add guides where you want the map's margins to be.
    2. Optionally, move the guides to fine-tune their position.

Tips

  • Turning on Snapping to guides provides an additional cue that an element is near a margin.
  • For more information on margins, see Setting up the page.

Turning the grid on and off

  1. Right-click the page in layout view.
  2. Point to Grid and click Grid.


Snapping to the grid

  1. Right-click the page in layout view.
  2. Point to Grid and click Snap to Grid.

Tip

  • The order in which guides, grids, and rulers appear in the Snap elements to list determines which one an element will snap to. For example, in the event that the element is within the snapping tolerance of both a guide and a grid point, it will snap to whichever is on top. You can use the up and down arrow keys to change the snapping order.

Changing the grid size

  1. Click the Tools menu and click Options.
  2. Click the Layout View tab on the Options dialog box.
    3. The Options dialog box appears.
  3. Click the Horizontal Spacing drop-down arrow and click a number of units to specify the horizontal spacing of the snapping grid.
  4. Click the Vertical Spacing drop-down arrow and click a number of units to specify the vertical spacing of the snapping grid.
  5. Click OK.


Changing the snapping tolerance

  1. Right-click the page.
  2. Click Options.
  3. Type a number of units for the snapping tolerance.
  4. Click OK.

Tip

  • The order in which guides, grids, and rulers appear in the Snap elements to list determines which one an element will snap to. For example, in the event that the element is within the snapping tolerance of both a guide and a grid point, it will snap to whichever is on top. You can use the up and down arrow keys to change the snapping order.
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