I'm using Illustrator CS6 on OS X. When choosing View -> Actual Size, the displayed elements are smaller on the screen than their actual size, say in centimetres. How can I "calibrate" Illustrator to my screen's resolution (dpi) so that it can display objects at life size when using 100% zoom?
(Acrobat does have a DPI setting in its preferences, and I assume Illustrator must have it too. But I cannot find it.)
Edit: To clarify, if I put a ruler next to the screen, and also turn on the ruler in the document, I want them to match up when selecting View -> Actual Size.
Answer
Illustrator doesn't have a setting to adjust the Actual Size view of print documents to a screen's pixel density.
To 'calibrate', I helped myself by holding an A4 sheet against an A4 document on the screen and zooming until they matched. Then I – ahem – wrote down the zoom percentage on a super-sticky Post-it, which now adorns the frame of my screen… (The percentage works for InDesign and Office applications as well.)
Shortcut key workaround: Illustrator can't have a shortcut key for a user-defined zoom percentage, nor can you record an Action macro for that (which would have allowed for a shortcut key). A workaround would be to create a custom view of your document at that zoom percentage View > New View… and then Save the document. This custom view is then saved within the document file and appears in the View menu. Illustrator allows to set shortcut keys to change to custom views of documents. Use Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts… and in the drop-down menu choose Menu Commands > View > Custom View 1.
(based on Illustrator CS5.1)
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