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FeedbackCommunityMember
Inspiring
May 2, 2014

P: Introducing scale the UI 200% for high-density displays for Windows

  • May 2, 2014
  • 339 replies
  • 4329 views

The Photoshop team welcomes your feedback on this experimental feature. Let us know what you think!
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Photoshop user interface controls may appear small and hard-to-read on high-density displays. Also, on touch-enabled screens, you may have trouble clicking the smaller controls. 200% scaling solves this issue by doubling the size of the user interface.

Since the user interface elements increase in size by 200%, depending on the size and resolution of your display, you may need to adjust the layout of existing workspaces. For example, on a 1080 px screen at 200%, the Tools panel extends off the bottom of the screen. You can change to double-column orientation in order to fit the panel on the screen.

Note: This feature is only for Windows users. HiDPI on Mac has been available for high-density Retina displays since Photoshop CS6.

Caveats

You may encounter some cosmetic issues while using this feature. While many Photoshop dialogs have been reworked so that they fit on the screen at 1080 px, viewing some dialogs (such as Smart Sharpen) completely may require you to collapse sections.

Disable 200% UI scaling

If you need to return to the default 100% scaling, do the following:

1. Select Preferences > Experimental Features.
2. Deselect Scale UI 200% For High-Density Displays (Windows Only).
3. Restart Photoshop.

    339 replies

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    cyberwasp
    Inspiring
    June 4, 2015


    I just finished scanning the forum and found several responses. Although they were old I feel it needs to be brought up again.

    Adobe, Please put in a way for the user of your program to adjust the size of the menus. I'm using a 22" monitor and I have the screen set to the default resolution 1920X 1080. All my settings for screen sizes and menus is default. I am still having a difficult time seeing them. The menus in all of my programs I can see fine except for Photoshop. The menu size is smaller than that of the windows default which is 9.

    Under preferences > interface, I have UI text set to large and it is still smaller than the windows size 9. Please fix this, maybe a slider or font size box.
    D
    denniR
    Participating Frequently
    June 1, 2015
    Cool!
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 29, 2015
    It is true, even if you do not know where to find the errors yourself.
    The application authors and Microsoft do know where to find the errors.
    Photoshop is far from the only application on Windows to not support arbitrary UI scaling. Many applications still support no UI scaling, or use the broken scaling built into Windows.
    While we may be on the cutting edge of these issues, we greatly prefer to minimize the bleeding. But we also continuously work with OS vendors to move things forward.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 29, 2015
    Thank you for the quick reply Mr. Cox and I appreciate your working with Microsoft on the issue. With due respect, however, as I stated in my original feedback, the claim that 'other programs are having this issue' is not true in my world of software use. I have numerous other software programs that are not suffering from this 'tiny font' issue... and...Lightroom is fine! Why would PS be the shrinking-font violet? Help!
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 29, 2015
    We've been working with other developers and Microsoft -- we all know where the bugs are, and are all working with Microsoft to get them addressed.

    No, we can't list who else we're working with or what bugs we know about due to multi-party NDAs. But yes, much of the software you use is probably having problems with UI Scaling on Windows, which you may not notice if you aren't looking closely or having to deal with accurate mouse/tablet input.

    Again, 200% UI Scaling is already available in Photoshop. Yes, we would like more flexible scaling, but that is dependent on the continuing work with Microsoft.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 29, 2015
    I have read feedback from numerous PS-CC users and they all have the same complaint. The only 'excuse' I see from Adobe is to blame Microsoft as 'other programs are having the same problem'. I consider myself an extensive user of a variety of programs and have NO OTHER software suffering from this issue. Can I get a reference list of the 'problem programs' from Mr. Cox that are experiencing the same issues? I successfully use all MS Office Pro programs and a variety of industrial-based software without suffering this terrible scrunch-eyes-to-read issue.
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    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 27, 2015
    Hmm, targeting (clicks) may be off by a pixel or so - but I can't think of any significant problems in Bridge (no painting, no tablet support, no precise lines - so it might be ok).
    D
    denniR
    Participating Frequently
    May 27, 2015
    Chris, are there any downsides to using that approach with Bridge? It seems to be doing the trick for me (I'm using the 200% in PS).
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 25, 2015
    Thanks Chris, just needed your confirmation. I checked myself and it seems to be scaling not only the UI but the actual images which it shouldn't. I leave this in your good hands to fix with Microsoft for at least a 150% scale, thanks.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 25, 2015
    How many times do we have to say "it does not work correctly"?
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