Change units from points to inches won't "stick"

[DigitalChickster]

I just updated from Illustrator 2018 to 2019. Everything is working fine... except I want to change "General" units from points to inches. It does not remain in inches. The next time I open a file, it's back to points. Any ideas? I'm on a Mac, by the way. Thanks so much!

julie

[Ton Frederiks]

The units you set in Preferences > Units > General are only used for documents that you open that do not have a unit specified, like an image.

The document that you open determines the Unit settings.

For new documents that means they will use the Units specified in the New Document Profile.

[DigitalChickster]

Really? That's so weird. I've been doing these same charts for many, many years. They are generated online. I've always had them open with inches. Every time I've updated Illustrator, I set the units to inches and it always shows up that way. So is this a new thing?

[DigitalChickster]

OK, so I see where when I create a new document I can choose inches at that point. I am thinking that's the trick. Thanks so much for your help!

[Ton Frederiks]

AABBCCJuile  wrote

OK, so I see where when I create a new document I can choose inches at that point. I am thinking that's the trick. Thanks so much for your help!

I hope that works for you, but choosing the units when creating the doc should work.

[Ton Frederiks]

As far as I know this has been the case for many versions.

When I open a document with units set to inches, the preferences change to inches.

If the next document I open has the units set to pixels, the preferences change to pixels.

[Me-too-Zee]

This is very frustrating. If I am understanding this when I import a document from another designer I can not change the units?

This seems to be the case: I went to preferences - Units and the ruler did not change. That seems very broken and yes I agree this has been this way for far too long.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Right-click the ruler and select the unit from the menu.

[andrewk26695853]

This worked for me, even when changing the units in my preferences did not (not even for the document I was working in). Thanks!

[Mainardi]

Perfect! Worked for me! Best!

[Rochelle26156295izhq]

Worked for me!! Love it.

[robynh52680087]

Thank you thank you thank you!

[casual_Forest5FA6]

I've been having this problem recently.  Even documents I've already opened and were initially in inches, sometimes reset to points.  Not only that, but when I go into settings, it will still indicate that it's set for inches.  The only way to correct it has been to change the setting to anything else, return to the document, then go BACK to settings again, and reset it to inches.  Then it works, at least for a while.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @casual_Forest5FA6,

Thanks for sharing the details. Could you try adjusting the units in Illustrator by going to Preferences > Units when no file is open, then set it to inches and see if that helps keep the setting for new documents? Let me know if this works for you.

Best, 

Abhishek

[casual_Forest5FA6]

I will try that., thanks.

[Ton Frederiks]

Units are defined by the document that is opened or by the new document profile that is used to base a new document on. The only time that the Preferences unit is used is when the document that you open has no units, like a PDF or an image file or for open documents when the Preferences unit is changed. Changing the Preferences unit when no file is open is something that works in InDesign.

[shotz]

File/document setup - units 

[iant3810619]

Who in the hell even uses points these days?? The few would probably use indesign anyway. I don't see why they haven't changed it to in or px. Its not 1987 anymore adobe...

[iant3810619]

And I'm pretty sure the "designer" who put the photo on the web didn't "set it up" using points... The image would go through the web and use pixels...