Setting Up the Grid

The nonprinting, customizable grid appears as an overlay across the entire document window. As with the rulers, it can be used for scaling and positioning, but it can be especially helpful for maintaining symmetry in your layout and design, or for occasions when you'd like objects to snap to specific points in the window.

To show or hide the grid

• From the View menu, choose Grid to turn the grid on and off (Figure 2.49).
  
  

  Figure 2.49. Choose View > Grid to display the document grid.

  

  
  

To change the grid settings

1.	From the Edit menu, choose Preferences > Grid to open the Grid Preferences dialog box (Figure 2.50). Figure 2.50. Choose Grid from the Preferences menu to open the Grid Preferences dialog box.
2.	From the Color drop-down menu, choose a preset grid color, or choose Custom (Figure 2.51). Figure 2.51. Choose a grid color from the list of preset colors or create a custom color. Choosing Custom displays the Color Picker, where you can select a custom grid color.
3.	From the Style drop-down menu, choose a line style for the major grid lines (Figure 2.52). Figure 2.52. Examples of grid line styles.
4.	In the Gridline every drop-down menu, choose a unit of measure; then enter a number in the accompanying field to define the spacing of the major grid lines.
5.	In the Subdivisions field, enter a number to define the frequency of minor grid lines (Figure 2.53). Figure 2.53. This figure shows a document grid with major grid lines set every inch, subdivided by four minor grid lines.
6.	Click OK.