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6

UI Scaling in InDesign | Scale user interface based on screen resolution

LEGEND ,
Oct 27, 2021 Oct 27, 2021

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Ashutosh_Mishra_0-1635350231126.gif

 

One of your most requested features has now made its way into InDesign 2022 and InCopy 2022!

 

You can now configure UI scaling preferences in InDesign to uniformly scale the user interface based on your screen resolution.

  

Select Edit > Preferences > User Interface Scaling (on Windows) or InDesign/InCopy > Preferences > User Interface Scaling (on MAC) to access the UI Scaling options. A real-time preview option has also been included with the slider to help you make your decision regarding the size of the UI.

 

Additionally, you can also do the following:

  • Scale the Cursor in proportion to the UI size.
  • Change the display size of Anchor Points, Handles, and Bounding Box for InDesign (for InCopy, you can change the display size of Bounding Box only).

 

Let's hear about this feature from one of our InDesign Engineers.

 

Ashutosh_Mishra_2-1635350231122.png

 

 

 

 

 

Points to consider when using scalable UI: 

  • UI Scaling is supported on your primary monitor only. 
  • On some monitor resolutions, the UI Scaling option is grayed out/disabled. To enable it on Windows lower OS Scaling settings in the Display Settings on your monitor. To enable it on macOS, increase Scaled Resolution under System Preferences > Displays.
  • The scaling options differ based on the resolution of the monitor. For example, on a 4K monitor you may have 5 stops, but on the Full HD monitor, you might just see 2 stops.
  • As of now, only the workspace (which includes size of tools, text in panels, UI elements like buttons, icons) is scaled. The commands in the top menu or panel menu options are not scaled. We have planned to implement this in future releases.
  • To troubleshoot issues when using this feature, please try following the suggestions in this community post.  

 

Please feel free to share any suggestions or improvements regarding the app on Adobe InDesign UserVoice.  

 

Regards, 

Ashutosh

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Participant ,
Oct 28, 2021 Oct 28, 2021

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Nice new feature, but how come on my 5K iMac, the scaling option only has 3 stops? The same feature in Illustrator has 5 stops in Illustrator on the same iMac.

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Adobe Employee ,
Oct 28, 2021 Oct 28, 2021

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Hi there,

 

We are aware of this issue on the Mac platform. The increment of jump from one stop to the next is quite big.
We've plans to address this in a future update. But right now, please select the stop on the UI slider that suits you the most.
You can also change the scaled resolution on you Mac (under System Preferences > Displays) to see if choosing another scaled resolution helps resolving this issue.

 

Please don't forget to share your feedback on our UserVoice page ( https://indesign.uservoice.com/ ).  This way, you will keep getting all the updates related to this feature and other users can also upvote, which would help us prioritize.

 

Regards,

Srishti

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 29, 2021 Oct 29, 2021

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I've been using Macs for 32 years. Adobe used to be much better at responding to customers requests. I see posts online for the last 6 years asking Adobe to fix this issue, and now they finally add UI scaling to the 2022 version. Just tried it, and it's crap. Only the first and second settings are useful, but I still can't adjust to what would help me. The other settings are massively large on my 4k setting, and therebyb useless.

I've had a 4k monitor for 2 years waiting for this feature (to get a little more real estate from my monitor), and this is what they put out? And then they say "wait for a future update". Yah, sure.....

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Participant ,
Oct 29, 2021 Oct 29, 2021

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Yes this is a real head scratcher. The fact that they were aware of this issue on day one suggests they released it knowing full well it didn't work properly.

 

Also, why add a fancy new UI feature and not also add proper support for dark mode like Photoshop and Illustrator do? Menus, window titles, open and save boxes are still white!

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Community Expert ,
Oct 29, 2021 Oct 29, 2021

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This is what happens when the Marketing Department sets release dates.

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Community Expert ,
Oct 29, 2021 Oct 29, 2021

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One of the dangers of planning to have programming completed by the annual dog-and-pony festival, aka Max. All programs must have something to hype for "the show" because it's on the Marketing Dept's schedule.

 

Adobe needs to realize that they are not selling burgers, laundry soap, or new cars so an annual hype-fest doesn't help them much.

 

Their market is established professional designers who depend upon Adobe to provide programs that work...reliably. Newbies to the field today are going to Canva and Affinity, which are really sweet, easy, frill-free programs that get the job done quickly.

 

So why hype InDesign to newbies? Why not support your current customer base that really can't go anywhere else?

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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Community Beginner ,
Oct 29, 2021 Oct 29, 2021

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Yes exactly it really shows how there's a lack of continuity between the different programs.

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Contributor ,
Jan 27, 2022 Jan 27, 2022

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3 months later, 17.1 update released today and this is still not fixed. Bravo Adobe!

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Contributor ,
Mar 23, 2022 Mar 23, 2022

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The 17.2 update finally addressed this issue. I now have 5 size settings for the UI size. Although the UI scaling has introduced a new bug for me... 

 

Next Adobe, please make InDesign a true dark-mode mac app, and bring the UI scaling to Photoshop too!

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 01, 2021 Nov 01, 2021

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Hello, Windows here.
On Full HD monitor i only have 2 stops,which should be normal but: the UI sizing is waaay bigger than it used to be!This is really uncomfortable especially using custom workspaces with many panels. Is there a workaround?

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 01, 2021 Nov 01, 2021

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Hey Windows,

I don't think so, from our friends (?) at Adobe.

But you have Scaling settings under Display, right? You could scale all views at one time. It's under Scale and layout.

Which is another thing that I was hoping Apple would incorporate.

But no, that's not in the Monterey "update" either.... Maybe they've been hiring "engineers" from Adobe...

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New Here ,
Nov 17, 2021 Nov 17, 2021

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I have the same issue.. The interface fot bigger after I updated to 2022 version and I couldn't solve it.

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Explorer ,
Nov 08, 2021 Nov 08, 2021

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  • As of now, only the workspace (which includes size of tools, text in panels, UI elements like buttons, icons) is scaled. The commands in the top menu or panel menu options are not scaled. We have planned to implement this in future releases.

 

Well, at least I know that the text size may be coming eventually.  Without the text being readable, all the rest is not so helpful. I'm one of those people who have been asking for YEARS. 

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New Here ,
Nov 16, 2021 Nov 16, 2021

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Hello,

After the Adobe update, Indesign has some blurred interface icons - with Photoshop or Illustrator, the interface is ok!

This is extremely uncomfortable for the eyes.

PC - Windows.

Hope have a solution soon.

 

Regards,

Sofia

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Community Expert ,
Dec 22, 2021 Dec 22, 2021

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WIndows scaling and interface looks and responds better now that I've updated 2 systems to Windows 11.

Still not perfect, especially with 2-3 external monitors, but greatly improved nontheless.

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer & Technologist for Accessible Documents
|    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

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New Here ,
Feb 02, 2022 Feb 02, 2022

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With my bad eyesight I am really thankfull for this update. I waited many years for this!

Still there are bugs and shortcomings.

 

The guides and grid lines are still hairlines that I can hardly see on a 5k Monitor. (This problem is not new. When will Adobe adress it?)

UI Scaling Mac Catalina Guides Bildschirmfoto 2022-02-02 um 13.40.56.png

This is at 600 per cent.

 

With the larger settings some Element are not scaled correctly. This still persists with the 17.1 Update:

UI Scaling Mac Catalina Bildschirmfoto 2022-02-02 um 13.37.31.png

How do you read that? You can only use that feature with UI scaling off.

 

In genaral the User Interface lacks quality control:

UI gray med Bildschirmfoto 2022-02-02 um 13.44.28.pngUI gray dark Bildschirmfoto 2022-02-02 um 13.44.40.jpg

Compare medium gray and dark gray UI: can you see the arrows and the Text in the little box? I cant.

I hope you keep working on this!

Kind regards

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Contributor ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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UI setting grayed out/can't use at necessary screen resolution

I use a very large TV monitor, so I can see all my work, and as such, the screen res is higher, but your UI scaling feature is grayed out, and info says it's because of my screen res, so does not allow those settings. It's the only software I own that does not enlarge UI along with everything else. Do you not think that if we need a larger screen, we don't also need a larger interface? We are not all squinting at laptops when we design books. As such, I can't make out the panel and menu options/ text. My eyes aren't what they used to be, and it causes lots of eyestrain and headaches (literally) and is the reason I stopped using ID years ago. I came back hoping that in 2023, they'd have fixed this, but NO. I pay for the use of Adobe products, and I expect them to be usable, and this is not the case with ID.

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Community Expert ,
May 06, 2023 May 06, 2023

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Well, note that this is a somewhat dusty thread, which is both a year and a half old from origin and has been superseded by a number of "better" ones that go into more detail about the options and alternatives for every system variation.

 

But no, no overwhelming majority of InDesign users is completely happy with the UI scalability. I think most, except some in certain niche situations, can use a combination of system, OS and app settings to achieve a harmonious balance, especially by setting multiple saved workspaces focused on different workflows. While it would be nice to have one master menu to rule them all, I can't think of many complex apps (even games) that do.

 

I share your bafflement at people who do this on a laptop screen, and agree that any system interface scaling and management system should accommodate secondary and multiple monitors gracefully. As someone who's been using multiple monitors since such advancements were written up in the magazines, and dealt with any number of "incompatibilities" from era to era and system to system, such things should be as transparent as they are at most modern OS/system levels. And, IME, they are, even when (as until recently) a monitor array was more complex than two or three current-generation devices and GPUs.

 

That said, I'd have some questions about your "TV sized display." TVs are TVs. Computer monitors are computer monitors. Using a device optimized in many ways for TV viewing for a computer, especially for the super-detailed, fine-control end of computer use, and not for (say) mega-gaming) is not always a satisfactory option. Size alone doesn't bring display clarity, and TVs often lack intermediate resolutions and detail enhancement necessary to get things like fonts and guidelines optimally crisp at a reasonable display scale.

 

Maybe I am misreading your post, but if you aren't running at least 4K resolution, on a screen no bigger than 30 inches, of a monitor that has optimized support for computer display... in 2023... then I'd mildly suggest your problems may not be with InDesign, as constricted as some of its abilities still are.


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New Here ,
Oct 13, 2023 Oct 13, 2023

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LATEST

Hello, 

Here is one question how is this scaling connected to system scaling for example in Windows? 

In which way are the stops calculated? 

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Norayr

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