100% Display Inaccurate (With or Without Display Print Size Setting)

[Marley C.]

This issue has been marked as Completed multiple times in the Feature Requests forum, but it is still not working for many. Here's my particular issue, maybe you guys might have a suggestion for a workaround...

When viewing my artwork at 100% Display, it is not accurate. The document I will refer to for this example is a 6"x9" postcard. The settings I have tried and the actual results are below:

1. Edit>Preferences>Display Print Size at 100% Zoom is checked

Result: ≈7.5"x11"

2. Edit>Preferences>Display Print Size at 100% Zoom is not checked

Result: ≈5.25"x8"

3. Tried both of these settings with the "View Actual Size" shortcut, they rendered the same results. 

So currently, the only way for me to actually see the true size of the document I'm making is to zoom and measure with a ruler until it's accurate. With the first setting, 81% zoom is the actual size. With the second setting, 113% zoom is the actual size. 

Any input is appreciated!!

[Monika Gause]

How is your display set up in the system? 

Do you have any scaling turned on?

[Marley C.]

Thank you for your reply. 

For the first question: I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Are you referring to my monitor's display settings? Or display settings within Illustrator? Please specify.

For the second question: Are you referring to the UI scaling slider? If so, to my knowledge, there is no way to turn this on or off. It's set to small by default, and no, I have not changed it. 

[Monika Gause]

I'm referring to monitor settings in your system. 

You can scale it there.

[Marley C.]

Thank you. I do not have any scaling set here, I am at the recommended 100%. There are warnings about changing this, understandably due to the reprocussions it can have on other apps and text. Are you recommending that changing this will fix the issue?

[Monika Gause]

No. This might just be the cause for the scaling issue you experience.

So Illustrator might just have detected the wrong monitor resolution. You might want to report this as a bug: https://illustrator.uservoice.com 

[Marley C.]

Ah, I see! Thank you for the suggestion. I will submit as a bug as you recommend.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

It does sound like a miscommunication between Illustrator and your monitor setup...  Out of curiousity, what's your System? What's your Monitor model, and default resolution? Can you screen grab your monitor settings? Is this a secondary monitor in a 2-monitor setup? 

The reason I asked about secondary monitor is that I found reports that apps can only detect the primary monitor for proper scaling, and any secondary monitor added to the canvas will be sacrificed as it can't do two scalings at the same time. I can attest to this as my secondary monitor exhibits this.

A test: if you open your 6x9 document as a PDF in Acrobat and display it at 100%, is that accurate or are you getting the same "wrong" size as in Illustrator?

[Jane30375549mm8u]

It seems like there might be a miscommunication between Illustrator and your monitor setup. I'm curious about some details regarding your system and monitor setup. Could you please provide the following information:

1. What is your system configuration?
2. What is the model of your monitor and its default resolution?
3. Could you provide a screen grab of your monitor settings?
4. Is this monitor the secondary one in a two-monitor setup?

I asked about the secondary monitor because there have been reports suggesting that applications can only detect the primary monitor for proper scaling. Adding a secondary monitor to the canvas might result in sacrificing accurate scaling since two different scalings cannot be achieved simultaneously. I can personally confirm this issue as I have experienced it with my secondary monitor.

As a test, you can open your 6x9 document as a PDF in Acrobat and view it at 100%. Does it appear accurate, or do you encounter the same "wrong" size as in Illustrator?

Gathering this information and performing the suggested test can help us better understand and address the sizing issue you're experiencing.