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Bill Vojtech
Bill Vojtech
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Fix the Document Setup feature

Jan 8, 2010 12:38 PM

In previous versions of Illustrator and all the other CS programs, you go to"File>Document Setup" and you have a place where you can type in the page size you want. In Illustrator CS4 they eliminated this feature. You can click on a button called "edit artboards" and drag handles to resize the page, but if you want a specific size, it's best to type in the page dimensions, not drag handles like you were cropping a photo.

 

Pleas bring back the ability to type in a page size in the Document Setup dialog box.

1218 Views   11 Replies   Latest reply: Stella1251, Sep 23, 2011 7:22 AM
 
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  • Scott Falkner
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    1. Scott Falkner,
    Jan 8, 2010 3:38 PM   in reply to Bill Vojtech
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    The problem with that is that now that Illustrator supports multiple artboards (let's not call them “pages”), how should Illustrator interpret the values you enter? Change all artboards? The last edited artboard? The first artboard? Let Illustrator guess? That only makes sense if there is only one artboard or if all artboards are the same size. Even then, one might actually want to change only one artboard, not all of them.


    The interface for artboard size, much like the interface for bloody everything else in Illustrator, is awful. What’s needed is a Freehand-like Inspector panel where thumbnails of artboards can be resized and arranged without having to zoom way out, change tools, enter sizes in the Control panel, drag artboards around, wait for the art to redraw, do the hokey-pokey…

     
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  • Bill Vojtech
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    2. Bill Vojtech,
    Jan 8, 2010 3:50 PM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    Or they could scrap the multiple artboard idea and stop trying to make all their programs do everything. Illustrator was for vector illustrating, InDesign is for page layout, Photoshop for photos. Why does Illustrator need multiple pages or "artboards", anyway? I've never used that "feature" and found it to be a pain when others used it in Freehand files I had to deal with.

     

    They could change the interface so that you can resize either by dragging handles, like you do now, or typing in the dimensions you want. When you resize now, I guess it applies to the current "artboard", so they could have it work the same way when you type in dimensions.

     

    Right now, I just make a blank document at the size I want and select and paste the art in.

     
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  • Scott Falkner
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    3. Scott Falkner,
    Jan 8, 2010 10:28 PM   in reply to Bill Vojtech
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    Bill Vojtech wrote:

     

    Or they could scrap the multiple artboard idea ...

    Too late. Once a feature is in it’s a tremendous nightmare getting it out. It’s easier to get pee out of a pool without draining the pool.

     
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  • art.Mariusz
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    4. art.Mariusz,
    Jan 15, 2010 6:43 AM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    Excuse me, but that is thrown if this forum had discussed the option before the introduction of multi-artboard to CS4?

    I'm asking seriously, out of curiosity.

     
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  • Scott Falkner
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    5. Scott Falkner,
    Jan 15, 2010 2:58 PM   in reply to art.Mariusz
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    I don’t follow. What are you asking?

     
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  • art.Mariusz
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    6. art.Mariusz,
    Jan 16, 2010 4:36 AM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    Sorry. In CS4 came the idea of multi artbaoard. Or earlier at this forum discussed how this idea was applied in Ai CS4?

     
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  • Scott Falkner
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    7. Scott Falkner,
    Jan 16, 2010 2:47 PM   in reply to art.Mariusz
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    So, what are you asking or suggesting? A time machine to go back in time to before the feature was requested? I think there’s a script for that.

     
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  • Bill Vojtech
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    8. Bill Vojtech,
    Jan 16, 2010 5:51 PM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    You can still resize artboards in CS4, however, you can't do it by typing in the precise dimensions you'd like the artboard to be, which you could do in the past. Now you have to do it by dragging handles that resize the artboard. All I want is 2 boxes to enter the height and width of the artboard.

     
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  • Scott Falkner
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    9. Scott Falkner,
    Jan 16, 2010 6:48 PM   in reply to Bill Vojtech
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    Bill Vojtech wrote:

     

    You can still resize artboards in CS4, however, you can't do it by typing in the precise dimensions you'd like the artboard to be, which you could do in the past. Now you have to do it by dragging handles that resize the artboard. All I want is 2 boxes to enter the height and width of the artboard.

     

    Alla Peanut Butter Sandwiches!

     

    Screen shot 2010-01-16 at 6.47.43 PM.PNG

     
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  • Bill Vojtech
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    10. Bill Vojtech,
    Jan 16, 2010 8:18 PM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    I never noticed that before. Thanks! Problem solved.

     
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  • Stella1251
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    11. Stella1251,
    Sep 23, 2011 7:22 AM   in reply to Scott Falkner
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    What if you want to see how much bleed you have? How do you do that?

     
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