How to Use the Grid in Adobe Acrobat (PC & Mac)

We recently looked at how to use the rulers in Adobe Acrobat. Today, we are going to look at how to use the grid in Adobe Acrobat.

The grid is a system of lines that helps you align objects such as text boxes, buttons, form fields, and images in your PDF. You can use the rulers and the grid at the same time.

First, we will turn on the grid. Then, we will turn on the Snap to Grid option. Finally, we will change the grid’s preferences, such as the unit of measurement, spacing, number of subdivisions, and line color.

Table of Contents

How to Turn On the Grid
How to Turn On Snap to Grid
How to Change the Grid Preferences

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The images below are from Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. These steps also apply to Adobe Acrobat 2020. In addition, the steps are similar for PC and Mac. These steps don’t apply to Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader.

How to Turn On the Grid

Select the View menu.

View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 1. View menu

Select Show/Hide from the drop-down menu.

Show Hide option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 2. Show/Hide option

Select Rulers & Grids from the submenu.

Rulers and Grids option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 3. Rulers & Grids option

Select Grid from the secondary submenu.

Grid option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 4. Grid option

The grid should appear over your page.

Grid in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 5. Grid over page

To turn off the grid, repeat steps 1 through 3, and then deselect Grid in the secondary submenu, as shown in figure 4.

Pro Tip: Grid Keyboard Shortcuts

Turn on or turn off the grid by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + U (PC) or Command + U (Mac).

How to Turn On Snap to Grid

The Snap to Grid option makes the grid lines “sticky” so objects will automatically line up with them as you move the objects. While convenient, Snap to Grid can make resizing certain objects difficult, so you may need to turn it on and off as you arrange your PDF.

Select the View menu (see figure 1).
Select Show/Hide from the drop-down menu (see figure 2).
Select Rulers & Grids from the submenu (see figure 3).
Select Snap to Grid from the secondary submenu.

Snap to Grip option in the View menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 6. Snap to Grid option

How to Change the Grid Preferences

You can change the default preferences for Adobe Acrobat’s grid. These changes will remain in effect for future PDFs.

Select the Edit menu (PC) or the Acrobat menu (Mac).
Select Preferences from the drop-down menu. (PC users see figure 7. Mac users see figure 8.)

Preferences option in the Edit menu in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 7. Preferences option in the Edit menu (PC)

Preferences option in the Acrobat menu in Adobe Acrobat for Mac — Figure 8. Preferences option in the Acrobat menu (Mac)

Select the Units & Guides category in the Preferences dialog box.

Units and Guides category in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 9. Units & Guides category

Use the Page & Ruler Units menu to select a new default unit of measurement:
- Points
- Picas
- Millimeters
- Centimeters
- Inches

Important Note: The unit of measurement applies to the grid and the rulers. However, you can use different units of measurement for the grid and the rulers by right-clicking (PC) or Control-clicking (Mac) one of the rulers and then choosing a new unit from the shortcut menu, as shown in “How to Use the Rulers in Adobe Acrobat.”

Page and Ruler Units menu in the Preferences dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 10. Page & Ruler Units menu

Enter new choices into the menus in the Layout Grid section:

- Width between lines
- Height between lines
- Grid offset from left edge
- Grid offset from top edge
- Subdivisions (Subdivisions are lighter color lines that divide the main grid lines.)
- Grid line color