how do I size my text field in smaller increments than 1/4"

[Former Community Member]

is there a setting that will allow me to size a text field in millimeters or smaller? i see that i can adjust the ruler to show milimmeters and CM, but the text field always want to move and size in 1/4" increments left, right, up, and down.

This applies to the form i've attached.

[Former Community Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Greg, you need to deselect the 'Snap to Grid' option. This can be done via the 'Drawing Aids' palette or via the button in the standard menu. That's the button with the 3 little shapes on it (triangle, circle and square). 

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

In the drawing aids tab (acessible from the Window menu) you can also set the units (change to mm or cm) and you can change the interval of the grid from 3.15/cm to 6.30/cm in both directions, which gives a finer grid.

Hope that helps,

N.

[djaknow]

Hi Greg,

No matter what your grid is set to or whether you have snap to grid turned on you can still size and position your objects to any setting you'd like in the layout tab. The grid makes life a lot easier, but if you have to cram a lot of stuff into one page sometimes it's easier just to type in the coordinates by hand.

djaknow

[Former Community Member]

am i supposed to see a graphical grid on the form in design view? when i check and uncheck the snap to grid check box

in drawing aids nothing changes. Also when the snap to grid is checked i still seem to only be able to size the text field box in 1/4" increments even though my ruler increments are mm. i can manually change the height and width but i cannot position the text field exactly where i want because it move in 1/4" increments.

[Former Community Member]

If you have the 'Show Grid' option checked, then you should be seeing a grid on the page only when you are in design view. 'Snap to Grid' option will then position your objects to the nearest grid position and also scale the object in the same manner. I feel that de-selecting these options allows the most flexibility.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

Changing the units to mm will not change the grid. The rulers will be in mm, but the size of the grid will be the same. You should see the grid as a series of dots. Check the colour of the grid is not set to white (unlikely, but check in the Drawing Aids tab).

Changing the grid from 3.15/cm to 6.3/cm will double the number of grid points per cm and make the grid finer, giving you more control/flexibility in sizing and placing objects.

You can specify the size and position of an object in the Object/Layout tab. Values that you input here will ignore the grid.

For what it is worth, the grid is useful when layout out the form, because it helps keeps objects aligned in both directions. There is a potential hidden benefit as well.  At runtime (in preview or Acrobat) tabbing is affected/determined by the relative positions of objects. If an object on the right is a fraction higher than an object on the left, it will be tabbed into first (not what the user expects).

Hope that helps,

Niall