Interface scaling and properties panels issue

[mr3746448219o4]

Hi, there are some interface issue that are pretty wrong in Illustrator.

1. I'm working on 4k screen 32 inch at native resolution and scaling UI is terrible. Scaling to second setting makes everthing too big compared to first setting. It's like twice that big. I wander what the other scaling steps are for? Scaling should be made in smaller steps. Every 5% at max.  The fist setting is too small, fonts are tiny, the second is way too big. Could you please make smalles steps or give us option to scale interface smooothly by 1%? Photoshop, AE or Premiere has correct base scale. Please at last make the IU same size as in those apps.

2. Text, paragraph, transform, apperance etc properties on right panels are shortened to few options. Everytime I want to acces other options I have to press 3 dots to show remainng options. What is this? Why are you making editng hard? Please make all options visible at once.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @mr3746448219o4,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind confirming the OS/Illustrator version, the display settings (Resolution/Scaling) settings used in the OS preferences, the UI scaling settings used in Illustrator, and screenshots of the difference between the settings used so I can check it with the team?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[mr3746448219o4]

Im using Windows 11 (22631.3737 build) with latest AI (28.7.2) builds. The attached screen presents the issue.

[Doug A Roberts]

2. Text, paragraph, transform, apperance etc properties on right panels are shortened to few options. Everytime I want to acces other options I have to press 3 dots to show remainng options. What is this? Why are you making editng hard? Please make all options visible at once.

By @mr3746448219o4

Are you unfamiliar with the Properties panel? That's the purpose of it -- to present a few common options for each selection. If you want the full set, don't use the properties panel, use the main panels (Transform, Appearance, Character etc.). 

[mr3746448219o4]

@Doug A Roberts the issue is not if I'm familiar with interface or not. Same UX is in photoshop and the panel can be extended until I decide to shorten it. In Illustrator it is temporary. What's the point of making such uncomfortable solution in first place?

[Doug A Roberts]

@Doug A Roberts the issue is not if I'm familiar with interface or not. Same UX is in photoshop and the panel can be extended until I decide to shorten it. In Illustrator it is temporary. What's the point of making such uncomfortable solution in first place?

By @mr3746448219o4

In your post you mentioned having to use the three dots to show more options. That's what I was addressing. Extending the panel is a different issue.

[Bobby Henderson]

What are your scaling settings for Windows? This can be checked under "Scale and Layout" in Windows' Display Settings. Those settings can influence how user interface elements, desktop icons and other things are displayed. A monitor with native 4K resolution may need a higher scaling value than 100%.

[mr3746448219o4]

@Bobby Henderson I don't scale my display. I work at native UDH resolution on 32 inch screen.

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm not talking about "zooming" the monitor's image out of its native resolution. Windows has its own settings for how big it displays things like icons and other user interface elements. Those settings can also affect user interface elements inside of applications. Apps that are "hi dpi" aware will have their varying level of UI element sizes to correspond with OS scaling settings.

My 17" notebook at home has a 3840x2160 (UHD) 120Hz display. If I just rolled with standard default settings for UI elements every icon and menu on the monitor would be microscopic.

[mr3746448219o4]

I'm talking about Windows Interface scaling and this is at 100% which means the display's native resolutions.

The default AI UI scale is too small for UHD resolution even on big screen like 32 inch. I suggested making smaller zoom steps as now the next step is making everything 25% bigger which is way too big. Smaller steps are necessary.

[Bobby Henderson]

In my 17" notebook Adobe Illustrator's UI scaling settings are set to small. But in Windows' display settings the I have Scale and Layout set to 225%. That's one step below the "recommended" 250% setting for my notebook. Settings can be changed in 25% increments. The setting does not artificially zoom into the monitor's native 3840 X 2160 resolution. At larger scale settings the user interface will use larger higher resolution icons on the desktop, larger lettering and larger higher resolution elements in the operating system and within apps that are High DPI capable.

[mr3746448219o4]

@Bobby Henderson you probably dont get what I'm talking about. The issue is not with System scaling or display resolution, the issue is with Illustrator UI scaling. The steps should be with smaller values. Each step should be less than 10%. Preferably scaling should be adjusted without any steps like for example it is in Blender.

[Bobby Henderson]

The OS scaling settings absolutely do affect the size of UI elements within Illustrator.

[mr3746448219o4]

@Bobby Henderson, I'm not using any OS scaling.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hello @mr3746448219o4,

I understand how frustrating it must be to work with limited UI scaling options that don’t fully meet your needs, especially when the jump between steps is so large. It sounds like more granular control, or smoother scaling adjustments would be a much-needed improvement for your workflow.

Since the current scaling options don’t provide the flexibility you’re looking for, I highly recommend submitting this request through our UserVoice platform. It’s the best place for feature requests, and the product team actively reviews user feedback from there.

Once you’ve created your post on UserVoice, feel free to share the link here in the community. This way, others facing similar challenges can upvote it and help prioritize the feature.

Thank you for sharing your feedback, and I hope this feature is considered in the future! Let us know if you need assistance with anything else.

Best,

Anshul Saini