Feature Request: Set Ruler Origin Location in Photoshop

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 8, 2020
3 replies
7394 views

I'd love to see an option in preferences under Units and Rulers to set the Ruler Origin (0,0) to be in a different location than the top left corner of the artboard, either on a document by document basis, or as a default - maybe with a toggle. A 3x3 grid of radio button selections such as top left, middle left, bottom left; top center, middle center, bottom center; top right, middle right, bottom right would be ideal, but a drop down list would work also. This would save having to zoom waaaaayyy in to the appropriate location and dragging the corner box of the ruler to (hopefully) line up with the exact pixel you're aiming for on each new artboard/file.

If there's already a simple way to do this that I'm unaware of, I'd love to know what it is!

Thanks!

mscureman

Correct answer mscureman

Thanks for the feedback, kstohlmeyer! I knew about dragging the upper left corner, but didn't know about the Shift key modifier. Helpful!

Also, I submitted this as an "Idea" on the feedback forum here:

Set Ruler Origin Location in Preferences, New Document Dialog or Menu

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

A similar topic here: Feature Request: Set Origin Point

mscuremanAuthor

Inspiring

I'd love to have an option to set where the 0,0 point is for the X and Y axes. Top Left is fine for many projects, but it'd be nice to have, perhaps, a radio button-style interface, either in preferences or in the document properties (or both!), where you had a 3x3 grid of buttons so you could choose to set the reference origin point at the:

Top Left, Top Middle, Top Right

Middle Left, Center, Middle Right

Bottom Left, Bottom Middle, Bottom Right

See attached photo

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi @mscureman

For the origin, Photoshop uses the same widget that InDesign and Illustrator use (plus other DTP applications going back 30+ years). Click the reference point to indicate the postion, then type the W and H in the options bar.

To move the zero point, drag from the intersection of the rulers. Double-click the intersection to put it back.

~ Jane

mscuremanAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks Jane, but I'm aware of the ability to drag the origin point. I realized that I'd already posted this request a year ago in the feedback forum, but the issue remains a problem for me for the reasons I listed in that post.

Set Ruler Origin Location in Preferences, New Document Dialog or Menu

Also, I'm not seeing that widget when I use the Shape Tool (which is what I'm assuming you're using in your photo).