Area Measure Tool not showing Square Footage

[michaelv86756553]

I'm having an issue where the measurement tool isn't showing square footage, it's just showing a random number (or at least what I think is random). I'm guessing/know i'm doing something wrong, but not sure what just yet. Any help would be appreciated. I've attached the process I've been told to do to measure the square footage.

[George_Johnson]

It's strange that there are no units shown. There may be an embedded scale ratio. If so, you can set a preference to ignore it by selecting: Edit > Preferences > Measuring (2D) > Use Scale and Units from Document (when present) [deselect]

Then you can decide whether using the embedded scale makes sense to use or you can set up your own in Acrobat like you show.

[Tom25168750ynf2]

The random number you speak of is square inches and I'm looking for an answer myself on how to have that show me square footage instead.  Since I'm sure you're still not pondering this 4 years later,  for anyone else coming across this question,  divide the "random number" 😉 by 144 to get square footage.   Simple enough,  but annoying that it doesn't just read in square footage... I'll continue the search!