InDesign object resize H&W popup block suddenly tiny.

Report · May 19, 2017

My designer and I have both had this issue arise on the most current versions of InDesign, both here at work and on our personal machines at home . When you drag and resize a text block, an image block etc, the shape H&W pop-up block by the anchor you drag has suddenly shrunk to a small size, such that you can't read your dimensions.

I could only find one question submitted to a forum that describes our issue and it is this: Shape Drag H & W 'live dimensions' This question is Not Answered. bingandham Level 1 bingandham Jul 26, 2016 7:10 AM Hope I can explain this... tried to take a screen shot but won't take pic of the module When dragging/resizing a shape or object you get a module that pops up near the cursor that displays the Height and Width of the shape as you drag it. However in InDesign (and only in InDesign, works fine in Photoshop and Illustrator) the box and text is so small that I can't read it and therefore useless. Anyone know how to fix this?

I updated our versions of InDesign CC and that didn't solve the issue. We both use this feature multiple times a day in our workflows... making things difficult and slowing us down.

Does anyone have any ideas on this issue?

Report · May 19, 2017

I haven't seen an answer to this either, although maybe today is the day.

In the meantime, you might note that the same values appear on the Control Panel in a more readable size, as well as in the Transform Panel. If the tiny values are driving you nuts, you can disable Smart Dimensions in Preferences and then just learn to watch for them elsewhere. (My screen shot is highlighting the X and W values, but W and H are in the column directly to the right in both panels.)

Report · May 19, 2017

Thank Barb,

Your message made me dig deeper in the preferences and I can turn this popup block off by unchecking the "Show Transformation Values" toggle.

Unfortunately, turning it back on doesn't clear the issue.

The strange thing is, we only recently had this issue arise. On both of our machines here at work. I checked my personal laptop and version of InDesign CC at home and the exact same issue is happening there. We haven't done anything to our settings and I even updated my version here at work with no fix to the issue.

It seems that this is an issue that has arisen at least one other time in the past for others and is random. The very fact that my version at home is doing the same thing and the licenses are not the same nor are the versions of InDesign CC ... baffling.

I have always found that popup block to be an easy reference when resizing rather than having to check the control panel and transform panel because you don't have to take your eyes off of the area you are working. Just a frustration.

Thanks for the response!!

Report · May 19, 2017

Hi,

I would like to add to BarbBinder response and suggest to use the "info" panel in InDesign which along with "X" and "Y" displays other useful information about the object being transformed/moved etc..

-Aman

Report · May 19, 2017

Having been armed with the correct location to toggle the feature on and off I did more digging in the forums and this is actually a very common issue and has been for more than a year and a half and across multiple versions.

I am on a MacBook Pro with an external display and I tried moving my InDesign window from my external monitor onto my laptop's screen. Wouldn't you know it... the popup displays CORRECTLY on the MacBook's screen. When it goes to my Dell external monitor the popup goes back to displaying tiny.

This has to be a compatibility issue with external monitors that Adobe needs to fix.

Report · May 19, 2017

Hi,

I totally understand the issue you are facing. Perhaps screenshots of the "H & W pop up" on both monitors can make things more clear? I would love to see the difference.

Also, you can report the bug/issue to Adobe InDesign team at Feature Request/Bug Report Form

-Aman

Report · May 19, 2017

Aman,

Thanks for the replies... I did submit a bug report at the link where I saw others were reporting the same issue.

I hope the screen shots below work OK... you can't get a screen shot while the function is active so I had to take a pic on my iPhone.

The first is the external monitor... 24inch Dell... the second is the MacBook Pro Retina screen. Even the new cursor icon is smaller on the external screen in relation to the same icon on the MacBook Pro.

Report · May 19, 2017

Hi,

Thanks for reporting the bug and posting the screenshots, makes the issue visible and more clearer. I totally understand the usability problem that you are facing.

I cannot think of any method/trick to make the "H & W pop up" bigger, except of going with BarbBinder way or using the "info" panel instead.

-Aman

Report · May 19, 2017

Thanks Aman,

The strange thing is this just started happening one day. Our hardware hasn't changed, the software hasn't changed (other than an upgrade to InDesign to try to fix it) it 'just happened'.

Guess we need to adapt to a new personal workflow to accommodate. I doubt Adobe finds this issue high priority.

Report · May 19, 2017

Hi,

If it just happened and used to be fine(bigger pop up on both screens) earlier i suggest you either clean your preferences/cache Troubleshooting 101: Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences

or.. after cleaning roll back to an earlier version

-Aman