Change Adobe Audition Font Size

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 10, 2021
1 reply
4162 views

Is there a way to change the size of the font used in the Audition timelines?

I'm not a senior citizen or have eyesight issues, but the reading the font on the timeline requires a little effort.

SteveG_AudioMasters_

Community Expert

Sorry, no.

S

SpivR

Known Participant

I found that Premiere Pro has a database debug window where you can set the font size to a larger number.

It's not perfect, sometimes the text is clipped a little bit, but it helps.

I wish we could at least have the same workaround for Audition too.

Hey, Jason Levine (one of Adobe's resident guru's and long-time expert) recently mentioned on a live stream that he just hit 50.

Maybe we should solicit his help - he might be a little more empathetic to those of us even older and certainly has the influence inside Adobe to at least get the issue elevated a little higher?

S

SpivR

Known Participant

Adobe frowns heavily on using the Debug Database panel to make changes as it can be akin to the Windows Registry in that a seemingly innocuous change can cause untold problems. However, I'll share a few approaches to helping adjust text size in the apps.

First, text size is highly dependent on the OS Display DPI Scaling settings. With retina and high DPI displays, both Windows and MacOS are designed to use the full resolution for smoothest visualization, but scale the overall UI components of applications so that their size remains similar to lower screen resolutions.

On MacOS, this can be configured under System Preferences > Display > Resolution > Scaled and selecting an option that supports larger text:

On Windows, click Windows > Settings > System > Display > Scale and Layout and choose a higher scaling, such as 125% or 150%, depending on your overall screen size:

Now, while I can't share the steps for opening the Debug Database panel in Adobe desktop applications, anyone with access to Google could probably search open debug database panel adobe to discover the secret. You can also open the file "Debug Database.txt" in the Audition preferences directory to access the same information in a handy text editor. The keycode to adjust is AdobeCleanFontSize and the default size is 12. You can generally increase this to 14 or 15 without too much impact on the UI, though as mentioned, it can clip text in some places or slightly overlap with other elements.

In the Debug Database.txt file, you'll edit or add a new line that reads:

AdobeCleanFontSize 15 12
where "15" is the font size you want, and "12" is the default value. The space between each element should be a TAB, not spaces.

You'll need to relaunch the application after changing the value. Using the OS scaling is the preferred technique as it ensures ALL UI elements scale together, but the text adjustment can help address accessibility concerns specifically.

First and foremost, I appreciate receiving this feedback directly addressing the issue.

Second, As I hope you understand, changing the operating system scaling modes to address this issue is a terrible workaround. Destroying the display of all my other apps and system utilities just to try and wrangle Adobe apps to being more readable, is not a workable solution either.

Third, I appreciate the hints (and warnings) about mucking around with database debug settings. I have tried this procedure in the past, and now am grateful that I can verify or change settings also via the text file in the preferences directory and not just the magical key sequences which I have already used.

Unfortunately, this workaround doesn't work for me either. At this point, I realize I am violating the "prime directive" by indirectly asking for some support on a non-supported option. I am simple passing the following along as feedback assuming more data is always better.

I have never found the font size change to work on Adobe Audition. The procedure that I have used with Adobe Premiere Pro does not work with Audition. I have now verified the underlying text file has the changed values and the Audition version matches the Premiere version.

Having just completed a completely bare metal reload of my iMac to macOS Monterey (for various reasons not relating to Adobe apps), I now find neither app - Premiere Pro nor Audition are acting upon the font size change settings.

Obviously, from my perspective, having the apps actually support proper accessibility accomodations / font size selection that is compatible with optimal underlying operating system settings would be the proper solution and is way overdue.

Anything else in the interrim that I can try would be welcome.

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