How do i stop the strokes being included when measuring in illustrator?

When I draw a rectangle and check the measurements the strokes are included. I need the measurements to be what the actual rectangle is and not to add the stroke of say 2mm or whatever.How do i stop the strokes being included when measuring in illustrator?
Greetings,





Contrary to what you may think, a stroke weight or ';measurement'; is not measured in relation to the shape it confines. This means that when you create a rectangle, the dimension of that rectangle is listed in the top portion of the program, right under the menu bar. (to the right hand side) Those values are UNCHANGED even after applying a very heavy stroke. you might want to check this out for yourself as i have just done.





stroke weight is moderated in the stroke palette...here you key in a value of the stroke, such as 1mm and this value is ADDED onto the existing dimensions of the rectangle. However, this does not mean that the dimensions of the rectangle and stroke are calculated together...the stroke is simply omitted when telling you the rectangle dimensions.





I would suggest that you disable the stroke by setting its weight to zero, if it bothers you. But don't worry about the rectangle size itself cause that's always unchanged after you create it.





I have a feeling that you are trying to create a rectangle of a specific size, but the stroke is ';jutting out'; of that size. By default a stroke is set to move outward from the rectangle...what you could do is change it to move inward, and therefore away from the outer edge of the rectangle. to do this, there is an option in the stroke palette, just under the stroke weight field. there are three little thumbnails of what appears to be boxed paths. by default the first thumbnail is selected. if you choose the second however, you will see that the stroke, rather than being placed outside the box, suddenly moves to the ';inside edge.'; That should keep the stroke from bothering your meticulous calculations.





hope this helped.





extra tip: a single object can have MORE than one stroke! By using this technique you can have one shape with several outlines of different colors and weights. research about ';the appearance palette + strokes'; for more information.