How to change the "Y" coordinate from positive to negative when moving down?

[jfisherf&g]

Good day all, I am stuck in my ways and prefer it when I move something along the the "Y" axis that I can use negetive "-" to move it DOWN the page and positive "+" to muve it UP the page. Can any one send me instructions on how I can change that or send me to a link that answers this question?

Thank you so much for your help. Also I use the latest version of Illustrator.

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

jfisherf,

They have reversed the Y axis. But you can unreverse it and get back to what you are used to.

To change the ruler origin (and direction of the Y axis) in CS5 - CC(whatever) to be the same as in CS4 and earlier, you may wait for Carlos to post his script to do it.

Or you may try to salvage it from here, as Ton showed in the following thread:

https://ipfs-sec.stackexchange.cloudflare-ipfs.com/graphicdesign/A/question/13388.html

Ruler zero position reset but positive/neg reversed

Or you may do it the old way by manually changing the relevant preference settings as follows:

0) Close down Illy (you can only change the preference file with Illy closed);

1) Find and open the AIPrefs (Win speak) or Adobe Illustrator Prefs (Mac speak) file with a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit; the preference file is a (hidden) file in the (hidden)

folder Adobe Illustrator [Version number] Settings

2): Find and change the following two bits of code:

/isRulerOriginTopLeft 1 >>> /isRulerOriginTopLeft 0 (change 1 to 0)

/isRulerIn4thQuad 1 >>> /isRulerIn4thQuad 0 (change 1 to 0)

This is a global change so you only have to do it once (just as you can undo it once).

You may find the file here:

Set preferences

[jfisherf&g]

Thank you for the reply, I am afraid I am stuck on trying to find the preferences. Can you be a little more detailed on how to find them?

I have Mac OS and AI version 2020. I have Notepad but I have never really used it.  

Thank you.

[Jacob Bugge · Accepted solution]

jfisherf,

The following is the path specified on the helpx page for Mac OS; the bits in < > are the changeable ones specific for your computer setup; the <version number> is the two digit numbering, not the CC<year>, currently it is year + 4, so CC2020 is 24).

<OSDisk>/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator <version number> Settings/en_US*/Adobe Illustrator Prefs

And further:

If you cannot locate the preferences file, use your operating system’s Find command, and search for AIPrefs (Windows) or Adobe Illustrator Prefs (macOS).

Especially if you have customized preferences that you wish to return to if the unreversing fail in the first go, it is advisable to copy the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file to a known place easy to find: in this way you can always move it back and start over in a new go.

Otherwise, especially if you have default preferences, you can follow this from the helpx page:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (macOS) as you start Illustrator. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Illustrator.

Concerning the use of Notepad, just select the Adobe Illustrator Prefs file and choose to open it with Notepad or another similar application, then make the search and changes and save.

I hope you will share your findings.

[jfisherf&g]

Thank you for the added information, this did work for me and I appreciate the extra effort. I had forgotten about needing to be able to "see" hidden files and you providing the path helped remind me of that. I will keep this one as a note for the future as I just cant stand using AI the other way.

Thanks again.

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, jfisherf.

To have the current customized preference file to fall back on, you can copy it to a known place easy to find.

[Jacob Bugge]

jfisherf,

Today, an Adobe staff friend kindly restored the old thread with the script I mentioned, so here it is:

JS - change CS5 Ruler Origin to bottom/left (like CS4)

You may wish to Bookmark it, just in case.

[Monika Gause]

Why bookmark?

Read the thread and understand it.

Copy the script and save it.

Done.

[Jacob Bugge]

Monika,

To save the script is an excellent suggestion; redundancy is an important part of safety.

[Kurt Gold]

I just unbookmarked (is that a valid term?) Jacob's link, just to make sure that his completely useless bookmark advice will never knife me someday.

I didn't read the thread and nonetheless understood it altogether, but probably it is just a conspiracy theory.

I thought about something and saved something.

[richardbenish]

So you have to be a code-geek to fix a simple thing like this? Why not have it be a option box to check or uncheck?

More to the point, perhaps, is: Why Break the thing in the first place? Software manglers just out to justify their existence, I suppose. Users be damned.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

>>I just unbookmarked (is that a valid term?) Jacob's link, just to make sure that his completely useless bookmark advice will never knife me someday.

>>I didn't read the thread and nonetheless understood it altogether, but probably it is just a conspiracy theory.

>>I thought about something and saved something.

I don't understand the purpose of this post. Was it supposed to be tongue-in-cheek or just a useless "complaint" post?