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Participant
January 28, 2015
Answered

How to fix small menus and icons on 4k display in Photoshop? [2015]

  • January 28, 2015
  • 51 replies
  • 377755 views

 

[This 7-year-old question from 2015 about CS6 and Windows 8.1 is now locked.

Please start a new thread about the current version if you have a similar question]

 

Hello,

 

So I have seen that I am not the first one to ask this question, but I have yet to find any true resolutions.  I recently bought anew laptop, a Lenovo with a 4K UHD display which I already love for so many things.  But, like a few other programs, the high resolution means the icons and menu text of PS CS6 are incredibly small, which may be alright on a TV, but on a laptop screen, it make it incredibly difficult to work.  I have tried all sorts of different approaches in Windows, such as changing the OS font sizes and icon sizes, which do indeed change everything else on the computer, but PS is still the same tiny size.  I have also increased the text size under the interface preferences to large, but with little real change.  I understand why this is happening, but I am hoping that there is some sort of workaround, beyond just bumping down my screen resolution, which defeats the whole purpose of using UHD to edit photos.  I have heard rumors of being able to code in some UI changes manually, but have found no concrete examples of how to actually do that. 

I am sure that it would not take Adobe too much time and effort to create an update to help with scaling, but they are very set on pushing forward with Creative Clound, leaving the rest of us loyal customers to the dust until we pay up.  If anyone has found any resolutions or workarounds, I'd really appreciate it.  Thank you. 

Correct answer riggitynick

This is a little late,

but for windows, I found that if you navigate to where the actual application file(.exe) is,

right-click it and select properties,

choose the compatibility tab and select "Change high dpi settings" under the settings section,

in the next window, select the checkbox that says "High DPI scaling override",

and choose "System" from the drop down.

-Hit ok to save the changes, and then re-open Photoshop(i've only tested it with photoshop and illustrator).

That fixed it for me.

 

 

 

51 replies

Participant
August 17, 2020

@riggitynick

Thank you! Your reply fixed my issue (same as OP). I was kind of regretting getting a 4k monitor if I can't use it for photoshop! ❤️ 

Participant
July 6, 2020

same works with Lightroom 5.7

Participant
June 14, 2020

Ahh THANK YOU! I've just lived with this issue for years but this fix was perfect and now the program looks the way it should on my Surface Pro 5. Thank you!!

SoreWrist
Participant
June 5, 2020

Uh dosnt work for me...

Participant
May 21, 2020

Worked for me on CS6 and PS Elements 11

Participant
April 26, 2020

Thanks, riggitynick! This work perfectly.

Participant
April 16, 2020

That fixed it for me too. Thank you riggitynick

Participant
April 3, 2020

thx man it works!!!

Participant
March 22, 2020

WOW!!!!1    I have beend ealing with using photoshop broken like that for a few years now...  and made graphics like the one you see below having to squint and hope I hit the right icon or filgter LOL      THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!   I love you, stay safe

Participant
February 24, 2020

thank you so much...worked for me too!