Indesign scale incorrect.

[TyBB]

When I preview my indesign document (A5 page size) at 100% the document is showing on screen at a size larger than a4. This is a problem as I need to know what the document will look like at actual size. The scaling was fine before the last update. I have the latest adobe CC updates and am running this on a windows 11 PC (also fully up to date) Any ideas?

[Ged_Traynor]

Moved to the InDesign forum from Using the Community

[Steve Werner]

There's nothing in the latest updates to InDesign that would change how InDesign scales a page.

If this is happening to only one file, there could be corruption: Save the file as IDML (File > Save As > InDesign CS4 or Later [IDML]. Open the IDML to see if it's fixed.

If this is happening to all files, try restoring your InDesign preferences and caches:

https://www.rockymountaintraining.com/adobe-indesign-rebuilding-preferences-cache/

[TyBB]

Thanks for the reply, however I have tried the solutions you have detailed to no avail. I have also checked on other files, all the same. I have checked with another windows 11 user and found the same issue, so this may be a windows thing. The only way I can check the file at actual size is to output it to PDF which does show the file at correct page size.

While I still have the problem I would like to thank you for your assistance.

[Steve Werner]

Can't help then. I'm on a Macintosh, sorry.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

I believe you can tweak display scaling to an odd figure (e.g.not one of the standard settings) to achieve precise 100% display.

"Close enough" on the screen has long been good enough for me, so I've forgotten the details. 🙂 But if  you go to (Windows) Display | Custom Scaling you should be able to find a setting that produces a more precise display size in ID. It may affect other apps and the overall UI, though, as well. Win has developed quite a few low-level, granular display settings, so you should be able to re-tweak until everything is suitable.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Or, even simpler, leave your system settings alone and work out an ID value that produces an effective 100% display. I have an oddball display setup (a 4K over a 5K ultrawide) so scaling is always a little bit of a juggling act. Rather than try to rebalance system settings that are visually optimal for me, I just discovered that 113% produces a precisely 8.5" page width.

Find your scaling value. ID is not one of the apps that lets you edit the zoom list, but here's a script that will let you do it quickly:

https://creativepro.com/custom-zoommagnification-settings-in-indesign/

ETA: I just installed this script — here is the whole thing, to save future readers time:

try {app.layoutWindows[0].zoomPercentage = 139 } catch (e) {};

(Edit the '139' to your tweaked zoom value) —

and assigned it to Ctrl-* (the numpad multiply) so that Zoom in, out and 100% are right in the same group.

And I'm not even a script guy. 🙂

[Mike Witherell]

InDesign's View menu > Actual Size (since CS6 and later) displays the actual print size when you view at 100% by trying to figure out your monitor's resolution to display the physical print size. Further adding to confusion is that Windows can scale the screen to percentages like 150%, 200% etc. which is often used by folks with 4K monitors. And further further adding to the confusion is that now in InDesign preferences you can scale the user interface up larger. All of these features tend to make InDesign do unpredictable things. I find that View > Actual Size is really never correct on my Windows machine while being usually correct on my macbook pro. The simple script that James cites is an effective work-around.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

ID needs a zoom factor adjustment that *should* work over/above/irrespective of all other settings. It seems as if it would be trivial to shift the zoom factors to a variable base.

But hey, everything is easy from over here in the cheap seats. 🙂

I think it's been decades since there were enough "standard" systems and setups for one scale to be even mostly useful.

[rob day]

Hi @TyBB , This has been coming up lately, I think only from Windows users.

Adobe changed the 100% view for InDesign to the actual print size view starting with CS6, but in order to display the print view accurately it has to get your main monitor’s metadata from the OS—the physical dimensions and the display’s pixel dimensions. If you are not getting a 100% print view ID is not getting the monitor specs from the OS.

There are some general preferences, which are not included in the UI, but are accessible via scripting. This gets my 27" iMac’s main monitor’s resolution—I have the display set at 3200x1800 pixels and my rulers display accurately.

alert("Main Monitor Resolution:\r"+ app.generalPreferences.mainMonitorPpi + " PPI")

If your OS is reporting the wrong resolution, you can also set a custom resolution via scripting. This would force 135 no matter what the OS reports:

app.generalPreferences.customMonitorPpi = 135;
app.generalPreferences.useCustomMonitorResolution = true;

. 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

My sense is that Windows long ago wandered away from any firm connection between monitor scale and actual display scale. Too many combinations of hardware, monitor, user preference, etc.

So all these methods of custom adjustment to the scale are the only route, I think.

[rob day]

I’m not sure if it’s happening for all Windows users? My understanding is InDesign asks for the EDID from the OS in order to set the 100% view to the print actual size.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identification_Data

On OSX I can change my Display resolution preference setting and InDesign will detect the change—my rulers are accurate at the 100% view whether I set the resolution to 1600x900 or 3200x1800.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Well, no question that the Mac world has maintained much tighter control on such things, and that such consistency is integral to most systems.

And it's for the opposite of that that I'd believe that not many Windows systems are automagically scaling displays correctly. Too many systems, too many different monitors, too many variables overall for me to place more than a nickel bet that auto correlation is matching what the system thinks is correct and the actual physical measurement on the screen.

Which is why high-level tweaks like that script, and a lower-level one of being able to scale ID's zoom, are/would be nice to have around. I'm never much cared if what I was seeing on screen was precisely 100% scale — I do have some visual and esthetic judgment around here, some place — but it's not a bad thing, either.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Just read this more closely —

On OSX I can change my Display resolution preference setting and InDesign will detect the change—my rulers are accurate at the 100% view whether I set the resolution to 1600x900 or 3200x1800.

— and maybe you meant something else, but of course the rulers will remain in sync with the view; all of that is inherent. It's whether the view represents the exact physical dimensions of  "100%" that's being questioned here.

That is, the ruler intervals might shrink or grow with resolution changes, but will always (of course) be inherently correct for the visual layout.

[rob day]

That is, the ruler intervals might shrink or grow with resolution changes, but will always (of course) be inherently correct for the visual layout.

I meant that if I set my view to 100% and measure my displayed rulers with a physical ruler 1" always measures as 1" no matter what resolution I’m running at because InDesign picks up my monitor specs from OSX in order to calculate the Actual view. This is what the 100% view should be relative to a physical ruler, which is what I think @TyBB is looking for:

I’m still using 2021, but as Brad @ Roaring Mouse notes the problem seems to be with the InDesign UI scaling preference, which was introduced for the Mac with CC2022.

[TyBB]

You are correct, it is the scaling screen v real world which is the issue. If I output to PDF and open the document in acrobat the scaling is spot on. I can work around by setting indesign to 68% but it's just odd that it used to be right at 100%. Tricky to identify what caused it to go awry as I had a windows update and an Indesign update at about the same time.Sent from my Galaxy

[rob day]

If I output to PDF and open the document in acrobat the scaling is spot on.

Hi @TyBB , What is your Acrobat Page Display>Resolution Preference setting?

And what is your InDesign User Interface Scaling Preference setting?

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Mine is set to system, and isn't even close (about 85% actual). But see, right there next to it is a custom zoom scaling. Hmm.

Measure, adjust custom value... spot on. Without having to give up any UI scaling I prefer or juggle five different settings/sliders. I'd love to see that in ID.

(And my Windows screen zoom is 100%, so that's not a factor.)

[rob day · Accepted solution]

I'd love to see that in ID.

It’s actually there, but for some reason they have not included it in the Preferences UI. You can get at it via scripting—the link below has a script that lets you set a custom res or reset to the default system res. In your case you would multiply the system res by .85. Can’t test on Windows, but it works on OSX. You only have to run it once to set your preference:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/51f617ff-7859-4527-72bc-77da4c408840

The dialog:

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Works perfectly in Win11. Thanks! I'd bet quite a few users would find this useful, the more so as a more accessible menu item.

[TyBB]

A stupid question. How do I run this script? I have never used one before.

Many thanks.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Download from the link I posted and copy the file into your InDesign Scripts Panel folder:

⁨Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 202X⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts Panel⁩

Open your Scripts panel and it should be listed under Application—double-click to run. Your Custom Resolution should be the reported system resolution x .68.

[TyBB]

That worked perfectly! Thank you for your assistance.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

It's boggling (okay, slightly odd) that the feature exists but is not available on any of the UI adjustment menus. I think most users like having a good 1:1 correspondence if the system settings don't give it, and obviously a number of users consider it essential.

[rob day]

I’m not sure if this is the reason, but when they changed the CS6 100% View from the 1:1 monitor to image pixel—the Photoshop’s 100% View—to a 100% print view, the forum went crazy. The subject is complex, see this thread from 2012:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-cs6-resolution-for-pixel-documents-not-...

Adobe also resisted UI Scaling forever (it doesn’t exist in my Mac CC2021 version) which obviously adds yet another variable to the ruler display.

Personally I have no use for UI scaling—I value screen real estate over menu size—but I’m not sure why they don’t just add a multiplier to the reported OS resolution when UI Scaling is being used. That seems like a bug.