
If you’re trying to resize an image in Illustrator and you can’t seem to get it to work, there are a few possible explanations. Why can’t I resize images in Illustrator? You can also enter specific values in the W and H fields in the Control panel at the top of the screen. Then, click and drag one of the corner handles to resize the image. Once you’ve selected the Scale tool, click on the image you want to resize. The Scale tool is located in the Toolbox, which is on the left side of the screen by default. You can’t resize images using the Transform tool, you need to use the Scale tool. When you set the ppi to 72, you are basically telling Illustrator to ignore the PPI.If you’re trying to resize an image in Illustrator and it’s not working, then you’re probably using the wrong tool.

If you don't want Illustrator to resize the image, then in Photoshop, set the PPI to 72 (making sure you don't resample the image), then Illustrator won't resize it when you place the image. Here's an example: Note the size shown in pixels in Illustrator is not the actual size of the image You will see that it's still 900px x 701px. Select the image, and in the tool options along the top, click on the "image" link, hit the tiny menu icon and choose Link File Info, select the Camera Data tab, and scroll down until you see the pixel dimensions of the image. You can check that the image is still the same size as it was originally in pixels. Essentially, 9.375" x 72ppi = 675px to make the image appear at 9.375", which is the physical size indicated by the ppi of your original image (which is 96ppi). What Illustrator is doing here is calculating the pixels according to Illustrator's default 72ppi. You can ignore this, since it's not the true size of the image file. You will notice that if you set the General Units to pixels in the preferences, it will now display the size as 675px x 525.75px.

But it uses 72ppi as its default for displaying images. Illustrator technically has no pixels, since it's a vector image editor, not a raster image editor. This is what it is designed to do.ĭon't confuse Illustrator's "pixels" with the true pixel dimensions of the image. Illustrator is scaling the image to the physical size calculated by the pixel dimensions divided by the PPI. Select the image, and it should show at the above size, displayed in inches, and Illustrator has done its job properly.

In Illustrator change your General Units in the Preferences to "Inches". To demonstrate what is happening, try the following exercise: What you describe is exactly what is supposed to happen.
