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Learn how to position objects with precision and measure using rulers and the Ruler tool. The rulers are helpful for positioning objects and the Ruler tool lets you precisely measure the length of objects.

Rulers

Rulers is an important but often overlooked tool in Photoshop. With rulers, you can position objects with expert precision. The rulers are located on the top and left side of the document window. If you don't see rulers, you can enable them by choosing View > Rulers.

Changing the zero origin

You can position the ruler to start from anywhere in the image that you want. To do this, click and hold on the top left corner of the ruler and drag. Position the cross hair where you want the ruler to start. In the image below, the ruler's zero origin was set to the edge of the pie chart. Notice now that the ruler starts from the area that you positioned the cross hair. In the image below, the ruler's zero points has moved from the top left to an inch away from the top left.

Specifying the units of measurement

you created a new document. For example, when you create a new document and you specify the image dimension in inches, the ruler's measurement unit will be inches. You can change this to any measurement that you desire.

To specify the units of measurement, right mouse click on the ruler and choose the measurement unit that you would like to use.

You can also set the units of measurement more precisely with the preferences tool. Choose Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers. You only have to edit the Units and Point/Pica Size options. In the Units options, select the measurement unit that you would like to use. In the Point/Pica Size options, choose one of the following:

• PostScript (72 points/inch) if you will be printing the image on a PostScript device. Most modern printers use this option.
• Traditional (72.27 points/inch) if you will be printing on a traditional device that does not support PostScript.