Participant

Answered

CS5 Very small toolbar- Tried Preferences, Interface, Large and it doesn't work.

Forum|Forum|15 years ago
May 23, 2010
25 replies
194418 views

I have Win 7 and just got the CS5 Premium installed. Everything is fine in the other programs but Photoshop's toolbar and swatch pallette are so small that it is very hard to work with. The menu bar(file, edit, etc) all across the top look like they are are a 2 pt. font. They are also very hard to read. I tried setting it to large in the preferences but it didn'tchange anything. Any other suggestions?

Correct answer Mylenium

Your system's DPI setting in the display settings.

Mylenium

D

danielleb47452696

Participant

I have this same problem. I just spent an hour with Remote Support. Mujeeb, the first tech, was able to fix the problem by doing something with the manifest--bingo, I was back to a full size screen. YAY! But then...I closed and reopened the app, and it was right back to tiny. The next tech was worthless. So I still have a tiny Photoshop on my screen--but I do know that something is out there to fix it.it just can't be done by Adobe Support evidently.

I think that the subscription concept is next to criminal. Why should I have to pay $720 a year subscription for a suite of software that I originally paid $395 for the disk, which I then OWNED? I don't give a rip about the so-called "improvements". Frankly, they often make the apps far more difficult to understand and use.

A

Anonymous

Hi

If your on Windows 10 try right clicking on the Photoshop.exe or shortcut and select properties and select these options

K

Ken287629603pzl

Participating Frequently

I've had this problem several times and found two fixes. First, it is a DPI problem. There is a conflict between your Operating System, the Specific Program and your Monitor Capabilities.

1. The use of Manifest files - https://danantonielli.com/adobe-app-scaling-on-high-dpi-displays-fix/ . Unfortunately, these work with various levels of success across CS6 I use and/or other programs.

2. Working with program Properties. Recently I moved to Windows 11 and a whole lot of programs began having this problem. This was my solution across several programs.

Menu Bar Tiny Scaling

This is NOT for the Windows Taskbar. It’s for other program menu bars. If the menu bar in a program is tiny, the fix is multi-stepped, but easy.

1. Find the program start icon, not the shortcut.
2. Right click on the icon and select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab.
4. Check mark the box “Run this program as an administrator”. This isn’t require, but usually a good long term idea.
5. Click on the bar “Change high DPI settings”.
6. Check mark the top box, “Use this setting to fix...”
7. Under Use the DPI that’s set...” click on the bar and select “I open this program”.
8. Check mark the box “Overrode high DPI scaling behavior,...”
9. Select either “System” or “System (Enhanced)”.
10. Click on the bar, “Change settings for all users”.
11. Click OK to close the window, then click OK or Apply to close the dialogue box.

Hopefully, I'll be too old and die before I have to go through this again. 🙂

S

sophied2757830

Participant

This just happened to me. I have had photoshop for a couple of years and everything has been fine. I was just using it and then a random error message came up on the computer screen when I was loading a picture and the next thing the font is about a size 2 compared to probably a 10 and I need a magnifying glass to see it. Nothing I clicked changed the settings, but every other program on my laptop was normal and even clicking on a drop down box on photoshop would bring up normal font ... just the menu panels were ant size. The only thing that has worked for me, because even uninstalling and reinstalling didn't work, was to sign out altogether. Once I signed back in and it loaded up everything was back to normal. Phew!

DEKCREATE

Participant

Here's the answer:

Right click on the shortcut folder to the Lightroom or Adobe file that you're having issues with

Click on Properties

Click on Compatibility

Click on Override high DPI Scaling performed by....

Click on System

SOLVED!!!!

T

tamerak61338131

Participant

I needed to scroll through this whole thread and then took all of the information and figured it out. If you go to Edit>Preferences>General selected Interface and under the option for UI Scaling, select 200%. Then Ok and restart PS. That seemed to fix the issue. I wish someone would change the correct answer so users don't need to spend 20 min reading the whole thread. cc Honeydew56

rayek.elfin

Legend

tamerak61338131 wrote
I needed to scroll through this whole thread and then took all of the information and figured it out. If you go to Edit>Preferences>General selected Interface and under the option for UI Scaling, select 200%. Then Ok and restart PS. That seemed to fix the issue. I wish someone would change the correct answer so users don't need to spend 20 min reading the whole thread. cc Honeydew56

That will not work for older versions of Photoshop: only the newer versions have that option available. CS5 and CS6 do not (the versions this thread originally was about).

E

Empty101

Participant

New Computers Have a Very High Screen Resolution | Change to 1920 x 1080 and your problem is fixed.

Go to your systems (computer) advanced display settings and bring the resolution down to 1920 x 1080.

or

search Display Settings on your system (computer) find Advanced Display Settings and bring the resolution down to 1920 x 1080.

K

kampfhamster

Participant

This "dan-antonelli-fix" doesn't work on Win 7 64 bit Xeon Laptops. Truly sad. I also used photoshop since decades plus a lot of other stuff which had been bought by Adobe in the past (btw, I loved Freehand, and ah, remember, someone else bought Altamira Composer to make it disappear). Anyhow, if the bugfixing is to change the resolution of an expensive display (3840 x 2160) to something some developers knew 15 years ago, the solution is worse than the problem. it is also fact that Adobe seems to be too big to fail now - ah, sorry, too fat to move... I can watch similar things in other software companies, as soon as they start behaving like global players, things like a "scalable user interface" are of minor importance then ...

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tiasl

Participant

I've used this solution, and it works perfectly on my Photoshop CS6:

Adobe App Scaling on High DPI Displays (FIX) | Dan Antonielli

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Jaxilon

Participant

I'm just adding my .02 cents to this so the powers that be are hopefully made aware.

I have a Wacom Cintiq Companion (so monitor size is what it is) and I am running current up to date PS (I'm subscriber) and the fonts and icons are VERY small. I am 48 years old and I wear glasses so I can make them out if I force my eyes to focus on them but honestly I NEED these menus/icons to be adjustable and not by changing the resolution of everything. At this point I just use the icons I need the most by memorizing where they are and the basic shape of them and/or mapping them to the cintiq buttons. I don't even bother trying to figure out anything "new" inside PS because it's so wearisome to my eyes. I am hopeful that this will be an option somewhere but so far I haven't found it.

Due to this "tiny menu" issue, I am finding myself wondering if another software package might offer me a better painting experience. I'm not ready to jump ship yet because I know how to use a lot of PS already and would rather make art than waste time learning another tool. Right now I feel like I'm paying for aspects of PS that I can't really enjoy because exploring the software equals an eyesore and that's not good for me or Adobe.

I would be very thankful if the UI elements could be size customizable. I would love it better than a new filter you guys might be working on.

Regards,

Jaxilon - www.rivengard.com

Jesper Storm Bache

Adobe Employee

If you are on Windows, you can go to "preferences> experimental features" and turn on 2x UI. You will have to restart Photoshop after changing this value.

See 2014 release of Photoshop CC: Experimental Features

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Jaxilon

Participant

I am happy to attempt this but I'm not seeing "preferences>experimental features" yet.

I open PS, click Edit>Preferences but there is no "experimental" anything that I can see...granted it's still small type.

What am I missing? my adobe photoshop version is 14.2.1 x64

TTeddyau

Inspiring

I have Adobe CC on my Windows Desktop PC and just recently acquired a MACBOOK PRO and have been working on that. Just this week I went into Illustrator to finish an illustration on my PC and I was shocked at the size of the interface.

I thought I would search to see what was going on and stumbled on this.. Why is my Illustrator so large??!

I cannot remember if it was like this before..one would think I would have noticed it?!

I run Window's 7, have a 21.25" monitor. For my text size I have that set at custom 130%, resolution is set at 1920 x 1080 (recommended). I doubt if it has anything to do with that as why wouldn't photoshop and indesign be the same? hhmmm, but then maybe not!?

In would be great to get some uniform on this adobe software!

I would post a screen shot of Illustrator, photoshop and Indesign to show you the difference but when I to go insert an image, the box is black and won't load!

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JPG123

Participant

Please can someone help as I'm stumped.

Brand new Window 8 laptop running Adobe CC. In Dreamweaver my toolbar icons and icons are a sensible size, in Fireworks they are tiny, almost unreadable. How do I change the settings for Fireworks?

Not had this issue on previous versions of Adobe.

thanks

Noel Carboni

Legend

Adobe is currently working to catch up with the technology of high ppi / scaled displays. Not every application is at the same level of support.

-Noel

A

Anonymous

I have a solution for Windows 7 users! It's not perfect but it works pretty well.

Windows 7 users, go to your start menu and type "Magnifier". An option for a software program called Magnifier will appear. Click it. Zoom to 200% (or more, whatever your preference) then click the "Views" button. From the Views drop down menu select either "Lens" or "Docked". Lens gives you a floating square that enlarges everything it passes over. Docked creates a wide bar across the top of your screen that magnifies everything your mouse passes over. Once you've selected your favourite option, minimize the magnifier program (but don't close it) and start using Photoshop.

Now you should be able to see everything magnified!

I also suffered from tiny text in Photoshop and this helped me SO MUCH.

G

gambist1

Participating Frequently

Since posting this problem back in May 2010 I have just, as you all have, learned to live with the rottenly small size of the menu items in Photoshop. In all this time Adobe has not done anything to rectify this - shame on them.

But recently I stumbled upon an odd side effect of an iPad 2 app. Splashtop is an app that streams content from your desktop pc to, in my case, an iPad. When I open the app on the iPad, it finds my pc and links to it. If I was using e.g. Photoshop on my desktop pc, I get a mirror image of it on the iPad, so I can edit Photoshop images on the iPad (sometimes easier than endless mousing).

But, when running Splashtop from the iPad it causes my desktop monitor to display EVERYTHING much larger. Yes, folks, even the Photoshop menu bars, and the drop down items. I have no idea why it does this or if it is just something I have set without knowing it. I just downloaded the app and set it up and it magnifies the whole display on my pc. When I close the app on the iPad the pc monitor just reverts to its normal display size.

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/splashtop-remote-desktop-for/id382509315?mt=8

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

I don't know if it has already been suggested back up the thread (too many posts to trawl through) but would one of the specialist keeyboards help?

View larger

I use a 30inch Dell 1920*1200 monitor, and I have very poor eyesight, but get by OK because like most folk here, I use the shortcuts for tools, or just know where they. But I think a 2560*1600 pixel screen would prove difficult for me, and my 19 inch 1920 x 1200 laptop is already unusable for Photoshop for me.

Tom's hardware was discussing 4K and even 8K televisions recently. That's 3840*2160 for 4K, and 7680*4320 for 8K. 4K is bound to filter across to computer monitors within the next few years - that is to say, possibly within the lifetime of CS6. They are already talking about a 10 inch display with a 2048*1536 resolution for the iPad3. I sounds like a bit of a leap for the graphic card manufactuers, but it is obviously doable.

So bottom line here, CS6 will have the tool icons issue fixed.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

I'd like also to point out this feature request thread, where users that would like to see resolution independence could vote fo the support of resolution independence: http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/problem_with_hi_res_monitors

With reports of future intel chipsets supporting up to 4k x 4k pixels http://www.anandtech.com/show/4838/ivy-bridge-gpu-to-support-resolutions-of-up-to-4096x4096, and ongoing rumors of "HiDPI" Mac Displays: http://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/14/apple-to-launch-2880x1800-resolution-retina-display-macbook-pro-in-q2-2012/ this is definitively an issue that should be on the radar of Adobe's User Experience team.

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