Getting Started with the Screen Calipers

Q: How do I move the Calipers?

To move the Calipers around the screen the easiest way is with your mouse. Move the entire Calipers by clicking and dragging the left side. Shown here is how you extend and rotate the Calipers; simply click and drag the right side. Your mousepointer will change into a little grab hand while you're doing this. You can also click the arrow buttons to move and extend the Calipers by a single pixel. The number displayed is the distance in pixels.

Q: How do you change the options?

By clicking the menu icon you can access a menu of options for the Calipers. From this menu you can change the Caliper's units, change the look and feel with a different "skin", alter the Transparency and much more. You can also Right-click on the Calipers to show the menu.

Q: How do I extend without rotating?

If you want to extend the distance without rotating the Calipers then you can hold down the "Shift" key on your keyboard while dragging the Calipers. You can also check the "Lock Angle" option from the Caliper menu. Your mousepointer will change into a little grab hand with a left-right arrow while you're doing this.

Q: How do I Rotate the Calipers without Extending?

If you'd like to rotate the Calipers while keeping the distance locked then you can hold down the "Alt" key on your keyboard while dragging with your mouse. This can also be done by checking the "Lock Measurement" Option from the menu. The mousepointer will add a rotate icon to the grab hand while you do this.

After you've installed the Screen Calipers you should find using the tool straightforward. You can use the tips below to get the most out of the Calipers and measure like a pro.

How do I move the Calipers?

How do you change the options?

How do I extend without rotating?

How do I Rotate the Calipers without Extending?

How do I calibrate the Calipers?

Using the Calibration screen you can calibrate the Calipers to measure in any unit. In this example we will be measuring in feet on a blueprint, but we could just as easily be measuring millimeters on a microscope image.

1. With Pixels selected measure a known distance on your image, in our case the front door which we already know measures 2.75 feet. Note the measurement in pixels, in this example it is 30 pixels.

2. On the 'Units' menu select 'Calibrate Units'.

3. In the Calibration window enter the name for our custom unit which will be 'Feet on blueprint'. In the 'Number of Pixels' box enter '30', and in the 'Length in Units' box enter '2.75'. In our case we already know that our door measures 2.75 feet, and we know this measures 30 pixels on our blueprint, so we use these values in the Calibration window.

4. The Calipers will now be correctly calibrated for our image and we may measure other distances with accuracy. We can find that the front room measures just under 14 feet. There's a lot more to the Calipers, including a huge array of extra keyboard controls. Just press 'F1' or choose 'Help' from the options menu and you can read full details of what's available.

Read the full specifications

To use the Calipers drag them over the portion of a window you want to measure with the mouse. To extend the calipers drag the right hand side out using the mouse. The number in the text box will show the space being measured. The Calipers have several buttons which may appear differently on different skins. The arrow buttons on the slider will allow you to move and rotate the Calipers to measure any distance. The Diagonally downward pointing arrow hides the Calipers in the System Tray. All the controls can be accessed through the keyboard:

Arrow Keys	Move Calipers
Shift + Arrow Keys	Extend Calipers
Ctrl + Arrow Keys	Move Calipers by 10 Pixels
Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Keys	Extend Calipers by 10 Pixels
Shift + >	Rotate clockwise
Shift + <	Rotate counter-clockwise
C	Cycle Color
K	Cycle Slider Color
F	Rotate to nearest 45 degrees
L	Rotate to last 45 degrees
A	Toggle Lock Angle
M	Toggle Lock Measurement
N	New Set of Calipers
Q	Quit
H	Hide in System Tray
F1	Show Help
Ctrl+C	Copy Value to Clipboard
Ctrl+V	Paste Value from Clipboard
Z	Undo/Redo Movement
Doubleclick mouse	Flip between horizontal and vertical
Right-click mouse	Show Calipers menu

While Dragging the Base:

Shift	Limit movement to 45 degrees
Alt	Limit movement to angle

While Dragging the Slider:

Shift	Lock Angle
Alt	Lock Measurement
Ctrl	Override 'Sticky Angles'

By typing a number and pressing 'Enter' the Calipers will extend to that distance. Simple calculations may be performed by typing -, +, *, or / and then a number, then 'Enter'; the Calipers will extend to the new relative position. When Closed the Calipers sits in the System Tray. By Right-clicking anywhere on the face of the Calipers, or clicking on the System Tray icon the Calipers menu is displayed. The menu is divided into four sections:

Units	Change the scale of measurement
Skins	Choose a new user interface
Options	Access more options

Additionally there are the options:

Sticky Angles	Snap rotation to nearest 45 degrees
Lock Angle	Lock angle when dragging
Lock Measurement	Lock measurement when dragging
Exit	Close the program

The Units menu allows you to choose a new unit from the list of predefined units. You may also configure your own Custom Units using the 'Configure Units' menu option. Choosing this option will bring up a screen which allows you to choose a Custom Unit, rename and set the scale. You may also set the zero point, enabling easy relative measurement to be calculated. The Skins menu presents several different choices for the user interface of the Calipers. By choosing the "Get More Skins" menu item you will be taken to the Screen Calipers skin webpage. This allows you to browse and download new skins. Full instructions are given on the webpage. The Options menu contains a sub menu of the following options:

Stay On Top	Controls floating above other windows
Show Color Bars	Shows/Hides edge Color Bars
Show Tooltips	Shows/Hides info popups for buttons
Run at Startup	Opens Calipers when computer starts
Hide Splash Screen	Hides the picture at startup
Transparency	Pops up a slider to control how see-through the application is
Set Angle	Allows you to type an exact angle to rotate the Calipers to
Magnifier	Opens the IconicoScreen MagnifierApplication
Center On Screen	Moves the Calipers to screen center
Help	Shows Help
Unlock Application	Accepts your serial number
Visit Website	Links to Caliper homepage

Configure Custom Units

The Calipers can be configured to measure in Pixels, Inches, Centimeters, Points, Picas and Twips. By clicking the 'Calibrate Units' menu item you can easily define any number of additional units of measurement. You can also change the number of decimal places that a unit is measured in. The Caliper's measurements are based on pixels. When the units are changed to inches or centimeters the Calipers use a standard conversion factor to determine the measurement. If you measure something with the Calipers to be an inch, then a printout on a standard printer of that picture will also be an inch. The Calipers do not take into account the size as it is displayed on your monitor, so different resolutions will still measure one inch. The Calipers use conversion factors to determine the built in units. You can adapt these units and enter your own custom units. The easiest way to configure the Calipers is to extend the calipers so that you measure exactly ten of your new measurements. Then open the "Configure Units" screen and enter the current number of pixels measured by the Calipers in the 'Number of Pixels' column. In the 'Length in Units' column enter '10' and the Calipers will be calibrated.

Adobe Acrobat Toolbar

The Screen Calipers for Windows can be used directly from Adobe Acrobat to measure PDF documents, both the Reader and the full versions. From Adobe Acrobat™ right click on the menu area and choose 'Iconico Calipers'. The following toolbar will appear:

Clicking the leftmost icon will launch the Screen Calipers and automatically link it to the PDF document. This means that any time you zoom in or out on the PDF with the Acrobat zoom tools the Screen Calipers will be linked to correctly measure distances regardless of the zoom factor. When the Calipers is linked the following toolbar icons are displayed:

Clicking the second icon to the left will unlink the Calipers from the magnification factor of Acrobat, and the following icon, with an unlinked state will be shown:

The next button to the right opens the Calipers Calibration screen, and the last opens the Calipers help file. The plugin works on Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader versions 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Troubleshooting

How do I solve a Exception EOleSysError in module?

We have had some reports of this error: Exception EOleSysError in module at 000697AD. Error accessing the OLE registry. This is usually solved by uninstalling, rebooting and reinstalling the application. We would also recommend installing the application as an administrator, or trying to run the application as an Administrator (right click the application icon and choose Run As Administrator) and see if that solves your issue. If that does not then follow these steps to grant full permissions to all users which should resolve issues.

1. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen.

2. Choose the 'Run...' option.

3. Type "regedit" and click OK. and click "OK" (Note that on some Windows system you need to use "Regedt32")

4. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Iconico

5. Note that on some 64Bit systems this may be located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Iconico

6. Right-click and choose 'Permissions...'

7. Click the 'Add' button and in the popup type the name 'Everyone' and then click 'OK'.

8. You could also simply type your user's name.

9. With 'Everyone' selected click the 'Full Control' checkbox.

Why am I prompted for a registration code serial number every time?

This is usually due to the application permissions. First please login using an Administrator account and try registering the application. If that doesn't work, then while still being logged in using the Administrator account, right click the application and select the "Run as Administrator" option and then try registering the application the way you normally do.

1. Click the Start button in the bottom left of your screen.

2. Choose the 'Run...' option.

3. Type "regedit" and click OK. and click "OK" (Note that on some Windows system you need to use "Regedt32")

4. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Iconico

5. Note that on some 64Bit systems this may be located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Iconico

6. Right-click and choose 'Permissions...'

7. Click the 'Add' button and in the popup type the name 'Everyone' and then click 'OK'.

8. You could also simply type your user's name.

9. With 'Everyone' selected click the 'Full Control' checkbox.

Why is there a flicker when using with Google Earth or other applications?

How can I stop bouncing with multiple monitors?

How can I fix a mfc71.dll error with launching Acrobat Reader?

Tips on Measurement

When I select the Inches unit the Calipers don't exactly measure an inch on my screen, can I change that?

The Calipers measure an inch as it would be printed on a standard printer. There's no way for the Calipers to automatically know how big an inch would be on your monitor, but you can configure a custom unit to measure an inch as it is on your monitor. To do so follow these instructions: Set the Caliper to measure pixels. Move the Caliper so that it measures exactly ten of your new units, in this case inches. Note the pixel readout. Open the "Calibrate Units" screen. Click 'Add' to create a new unit. In the "Number of Pixels" box type the number of pixels that you noted earlier. In the "Length in Units" box type "10". Click "Ok".

I am using the Calipers to measure a map or scale drawing, how do I define a custom unit to show the correct number?

If you have a map, architectural drawing, blueprint or any image that you would like to measure to scale then the Caliper's custom units can be configured to show this. To do so follow these instructions: Set the Caliper to measure pixels. Move the Caliper so that it measures a known distance on your diagram, for example you might have a map, so set the Caliper to measure 100 miles. Note the pixel readout. Open the "Calibrate Units" screen. Click 'Add' to create a new unit. In the "Number of Pixels" box type the number of pixels that you noted earlier. In the "Length in Units" box type "100", as we are measuring 100 miles on our diagram. Click "Ok".

Can I easily double the gap that the Calipers measure?

Is it possible to measure the physical distance on my monitor using Screen Calipers?

The Screen Calipers cannot actually measure the physical distance on your monitor automatically, it’s simply not available in the software. If you think about it you could have a projector hooked up to your computer and the screen could be shown at any size on a wall, and obviously in this situation the software could not “see” the physical distance. Therefore the Calipers need to be calibrated if you want to measure the exact physical distance on your monitor. To do this extend the Calipers to a very wide distance, say 11 inches, and hold up a ruler so you know that the distance is accurate. Set the Calipers to use “Pixels” as its measurement unit. In the custom units box create a new unit called “My Monitor”. Type in the number of pixels currently shown in the “Number of Pixels” box, in the example below this is 1006, but yours will be different. In the “Length in Units” box type in 11 for your eleven inches measured. Click OK and you’ll now be measuring your exact screen size.

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