Inspiring

P: PS 27.4 Setting the default in Preferences > Units to "inches" is ignored by Canvas Size

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
February 25, 2026
30 replies
1229 views

Adobe Photoshop Version: 27.4.0 2
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

When I go to Image → Canvas Size, the default is always pixels. I want it to be inches.

Note: I have checked in preferences, units and measures, and the default is inches. Also when I go to image → Image size, the default is in fact inches, which is what I expect.

Is the default unit for image → canvas size now different? Is there a different place to set it?

thanks

Show previous replies

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Pixels are more precise because our screens consist of pixels.

Inches are used for printing, not measuring objects on a screen.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

M

Muir Beach

Participating Frequently

It doesn’t matter if they are more precise if you are working in inches it is a huge pain to have to click on every image you need to adjust canvas size and change from pixels to inches. It used to work fine either way pixels or inches. Now for those of us who do work in inches it’s a mess.

jane-e

Community Expert

@Muir Beach

Until Adobe fixes this, see if the answer in the highlighted reply helps:

https://community.adobe.com/bug-reports-711/p-ps-27-4-setting-the-default-in-preferences-units-to-inches-is-ignored-by-canvas-size-1551535?postid=7515103#post7515103

Alternatively, try inputting inches and let Adobe convert to pixels. Type (for instance) 6”. If you only type 6 without the inch marks, it will register in the default measurement of 6 pixels.

Jane

jane-e

Community Expert

@jnwbr

This is a known issue and Adobe is aware. See this primary thread:

https://community.adobe.com/bug-reports-711/p-ps27-4-beta-manipulating-the-transform-values-in-the-properties-panel-causes-the-path-to-be-duplicated-1554445?postid=1554445#post1554445

Jane

c.pfaffenbichler

Community Expert

I cannot reproduce the issue at current (on Photoshop 27.4.0).

J

jnwbr

Inspiring

I’m on 27.4 as well. Happens every time for me.

jane-e

Community Expert

@jnwbr 27.5 was just released. I haven’t heard if this issue was fixed or not. See my earlier link for the Primary thread.

Jane

J

jnwbr

Inspiring

If I have my rulers set to Inches, why does the Canvas Size dialog box default to Pixels?

M

Muir Beach

Participating Frequently

Good question. I just spent three plus hours with Adobe and all they did for me was without asking click to update my system which was already on 26.2 to 26.4 and then they disapeared and it still does exactly what you took a screen shot above.

J

Jom3000

Participant

Together with this error, the decimal separator is also not following the global setting. When your decimal separator is a point, you will not experience the issue, but I use a comma and that global setting is not respected in the Canvas Size menu alone.

jane-e

Community Expert

@Tazing “My default units is millimetres…”

Adobe is aware and is investigating. The workaround until it is fixed is to disable “Modern User Interface” in Preferences > Technology Previews.

Jane

Rosh33691786wu7i

Participant

this helped. tysm

jane-e

Community Expert

You’re welcome @Rosh33691786wu7i . I’m glad this works for you!

Jane

Legend

Participant

My default units is millimetres and canvas size always displayed as millimetres but now going to canvas size, its default display is pixels, I think this happened with the recent update, so each time I have to go and make a change, I need to change the units. Any ideas on how to permanently change it back to the default to millimetres?

D Fosse

Community Expert

This has been reported several times recently. Apparently it’s a bug in the “Modern User Interface”, which you can disable in Preferences > Technology Previews. Then you get the old dialog back.

R

randyo38460393

Participant

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!! Was driving me nuts. And thank you for pointing out where to look for the setting in the Preferences sub settings / section.

A

ArtScrollCreative

Known Participant

Recently, possibly since a recent update, the Canvas Size dialog in photoshop looks different: smaller, uglier, and defaults to pixels no matter what my units are set to.

Was always on my default unit settings.

Seems Adobe cant resist making changes for worse?

Show more replies

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded