InDesign Scaling/Percentage View

[lubalbs]

I am using Windows 10 on a 4K screen, scaled at 175%.

If I create a 500 by 500px artboard for example and view it at 100%, it is huge on the screen. I have to veiw it at 21.5% to see it at its actual size (ie. the size it comes out at upon export to JPG or PNG etc). 

Why 21.5%? This makes absolutely no sense to me, and it's frustrating to have to enter that manually as it's not a saved preset (also absurd we can't save a custom % in the view box). It doesn't even represent the percent that the screen is magnified by, ie. if I'm viewing artwork in InDesign at 1.75 times its actual size because of my screen scaling, I could see why I'd need to zoom out an inversely proportional distance (100 divided by 1.75 = approx. 57%), but 21.5% is way less than that!

And before you ask, yes the UI is scaled for High PPI displays.
Please help!

[BobLevine]

InDesign doesn't do pixels...it fakes them by assuming them to be 1/72 of an inch.

So, your document is effectively 6.95 inches square. Scaling on Windows is pretty wonky but they're working on that.

I'm curious, though. What are you working on that requires pixel measurements?

[lubalbs]

Ah right, that's interesting to know. So how does that explain the 21.5% though? Surely given they have a web doc setting they shouldn't be calculating backwards from inches? And also, it exports correctly? It just doesn't display correctly in ID. 

Web banners - prefer to do simple ones in ID over Illustrator/Photoshop, plus the original print artwork for the ad was in InDesign, so easier to bring the elements in. But also often use it for IG socials artwork etc.

[BobLevine]

Yes, it exports correctly but if you export it as a PDF you'll see what I mean.

[rob day]

Hi Bob, by default Acrobat also shows the 100% view as the print ouput size, but it has a Custom resolution preference where I can override the screen resolution that the System is reporting and get a 1:1 ratio 100% view

Here I’ve exported a 500px x 500px page, and if I set the Custom resolution to 72 and screen capture the page area I get a 500 x 500 pixel capture.

[BobLevine]

Sorry, Rob. I was just referring to the inches vs pixels thing, not the view.

I had forgotten that this could be scripted in InDesign. 

[rob day]

I just upgaded to a retina display, which makes the 1:1 view even less useful. Photoshop’s 1:1 view looks like it’s using the retina’s native display resolution and not the screen resolution reported by the system. Modern web browsers are going to detect a retina display and scale the page up—the 1:1 Photoshop 100% view doesn’t represent a typical web view anymore.

[rob day]

Hi @lubalbs, Starting with CS6 InDesign changed the 100% view from the 1:1 monitor:image ratio that Photoshop uses, to the actual print output size—it is the equivalent of Photoshop’s View>Actual Size.

The 1:1 100% view isn’t as important anymore because almost all web sites are now responsive—the image or banner usually gets resized to fit in the screen’s available space. If you really want the 1:1 100% view there is a preference available via scripting that can’t be set via the UI. This would set the 100% view to the pre CS6 1:1 view:

//100% view as 1:1
app.generalPreferences.customMonitorPpi = 72;
app.generalPreferences.useCustomMonitorResolution = true;
app.activeWindow.zoomPercentage = 100;

And this would set it back to the current print view:

//reset to print version
app.generalPreferences.useCustomMonitorResolution = false;
app.activeWindow.zoomPercentage = 100;

[lubalbs]

Great, thank you for this - really helpful. I haven't used scripting before, but I'll look into it. 

[rob day]

Here are the scripts for web 1:1 and the default print view:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/149b6ffc-bd7e-4b25-6165-c8a16a0ac289

Copy the 2 scripts into your scripts folder and they will show in your Scripts panel under Application. Double click to run or you can assign key commands:

Applications⁩ ▸ ⁨Adobe InDesign 20XX ▸ ⁨Scripts⁩ ▸ ⁨Scripts Panel⁩

[lubalbs]

Champion, thanks so much!

[Ashutosh_Mishra]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. In addition to the helpful responses shared earlier, you may also try the InDesign Prerelease build by following the steps suggested on this community post. Hope it helps with your worklfow.

Regards,

Ashutosh