Why is everything pixelated and blurry in CS6?

[cngu12]

Hi,

A few months ago I installed the trial versions of Adobe Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop on my MacBookPro.  After they expired I purchased the standard student edition and used the provided key number to unlock the full versions.  However, everything (including the sample fonts list, icons and opening menu) are pixelated and blurry.  As a design student, it is incredibly distracting to see font that isn't smooth like it should be on a retina display...

I've updated Indesign to version 8.0.1 but to no avail.  What could be wrong and how might I solve this problem?

Thank you,

Cuong

[BobLevine]

I think the confusion is due to the title which is written by the OP. This is not a list of formal FAQs.

[MINM728]

@Tereyn "Since the originator has not stated that the software was tested on a non-retina display how can he/she or you be sure the display is the origin of the problem?"

Yes he does say that he is using a retina display.. Did you even read the post.

"As a design student, it is incredibly distracting to see font that isn't smooth like it should be on a retina display..."

If you have another problem why don't you create your own post?

It's still annoying for me that there isn't a retina fix yet and it's been a few years now. It's just a few menu icons. Fix the retina issue please!

[BobLevine]

This is not getting fixed in CS6. If you want retina support you’ll need to move to Creative Cloud.

[MINM728]

Many people have this issue so it's not only just his display. If can tell it's blurry, that means he saw it on a non-retina before.

[BobLevine]

This is an issue only on retina screens with CS6 and earlier. There have been no widespread reports of this on correctly set up non-retina displays.

Again, it will never be address in CS6.

[petern93002755]

Hi,

I found this to work *in Windows 8*, it makes the interface and fonts in InDesign quite small, but everything is sharp for a high DPI screen (I have a 2015 Dell XPS13). I'm not sure if there is comparable fix on a Mac.

1. Search for InDesign in Windows Search.

2. Right click and "Open file location".

3. This will open the folder where the InDesign shortcut is located. (You need to do this on the shortcut, not the program executable, as the latter does not have the Compatibility Menu option mentioned below).

4. Right click on the InDesign shortcut and select Properties.

5. In the properties, go to the Compatibility tab.

6. Check "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings".

7. Apply, and then open InDesign through the shortcut.

Again, the resolution is sharp, but the interface is *tiny* -- another problem that Adobe doesn't seem too eager to fix. In case you haven't noticed, most people's 'advice' is to upgrade to CC. Or they say "You bought a new machine without checking compatibility of the applications you use...that's on you..."

I find those answers a bit disingenuous -- when I bought CS6, NO WHERE did I see a mention of compatibility issues, that some of the programs would not display correctly on a high DPI monitor. NO WHERE did it say 'may not display properly in some hardware.' Seeing as how Adobe programs are made for designers and graphic artists, is it not questionable that Adobe has not included adequate support for high resolution displays? Plus, Acrobat Reader was updated to support high resolution displays. Of course, Reader is Adobe's free PDF reader, so of course they would want to be careful not to alienate potential customers. In contrast, those that have already purchased the last version, CS6, are pretty much SOL -- when we complain, the constant mantra from Adobe is "you need to upgrade."

[tonyw39186165]

I don't have an answer for you as I have the same problem but a bit worse (maybe.)  I, too spend a small fortune on CS 6 to find very fuzzy fonts across the while Adobe suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat.)  I have a Mac Pro and a Sharp PNK 4k screen.  Everyone's software works fine (Word, Excel, Pages etc etc) except Adobe.  Picking a point from another post, Adobe makes software predominately for designers who predominately use Macs so why doesn't Adobe support the design community (who are the people who buy their products???)

I don't want to get CC because i don't like the subscription model and don't don't it being forced on me.,  I wonder if Adobe will ever listen

[BobLevine]

If you are having problem with Illy and Photoshop I suggest you make sure they are fully patched. That will bring compatibility with retina displays. If it's still blurry you have a problem somewhere in your system InDesign CS6 will never get an update to retina. As explained already. InDesign's code simply would not allow it to be updated without being re-written from the ground-up, which is was for Creative Cloud

Nobody is forcing anything on you. Nobody forced you to buy a retina display, either.

Your only choices:

1. Bite the bullet and move to CC

2. Deal with the blurry mess

3. Buy a new, non-retina display.

[tonyw39186165]

How do you check if the software are fully patched?

True that "nobody" is forcing anything on" me but Adobe would be aware that they, more than less, have a monopoly of graphic editing and manipulation market and a big part of our business is being compatible with others

[Peter Spier]

Help > Updates....

[tonyw39186165]

Thanks

--

[personal info removed by moderator]

Sent by iPhone

[Sammy05]

I was having the same problem but I checked for updates, installed and everything looks fine now

[Sammy05]

or 4. just install the latest software updates

worked fine for me

[BobLevine]

Which will do NOTHING for InDesign CS6 as far as retina compatibility.

[chrisuren]

"Nobody forced you to buy a retina display, either."
I just wanted to point out that it's pretty impossible to find out in advance that Retina/CS has this compatibility problem. I recently bought a new machine and have the same issue. I checked in advance to make sure my CS5 software would work with the new machine, in a basic sense, but it didn't occur to me to make sure it would look okay on the new monitor, since that has never been a problem before. When Apple pitches the Retina display, they say that everything will look better on it, and Adobe is not exactly going out of its way to warn people about compatibility problems with old software.

[chrisuren]

But thanks very much for letting us know the status of InDesign 6 with regards to Retina displays. I've been trying to decide whether to buy the upgrade to 6, or knuckle under and finally go to the Cloud.

[davidd79238692]

Follow link below and update. Problem solved. Photoshop and illustrator is no longer pixelated. However, indesign is still pixelated, but not as bad.

Do I qualify for a free upgrade?

[NDanJohnson]

I had the same problem, and I think I fixed the issue I was noticing regarding the appearance of the lines and edges in my work.

**I found the solution was to uncheck "GPU Perfomance" in the Preferences window under the GPU Performance Section. Everything started looking normal again after I unchecked that box.**

I upgraded to a bigger MacBook Pro, slightly newer than the one I was using previously. It's been a fight getting all my settings back the way I had them, despite the fact that I accepted the prompt to have my settings ported from Illustrator on my old machine. I think this is the last of the major gremlins i was battling and I am finally settling into my new workspace (Whew!)

[hollyb30558162]

Hi there, I transferred my illustrator and photoshop programmes to my new Mac and the images and text are all pixelated, I tried to follow your update option but had no luck and also this- **I found the solution was to uncheck "GPU Perfomance" in the Preferences window under the GPU Performance Section. Everything started looking normal again after I unchecked that box.* which I couldn't find in my preferences...please help!

[joycatalyst]

Where can I find this to uncheck it?

[Guest]

same case here...

[evytteo77980197]

I have the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and I've had this issue. The fonts and icons on my screen are at 175%. If you bring it to 100%, the dreamweaver CC won't be pixelated anymore.

[adobeanwen]

Try this:

1. Download Adobe Creative Cloud at Download Adobe Creative Cloud apps | Free Adobe Creative Cloud trial

(Free and it's like a desktop Adobe softwares manager)

2. Sign in your account and the previous versions of softwares that you bought will be displayed, click "Update"

Ps. Hope this can help. I had the same issue since I restored my Macbook (Os Sierra) and re-installed the CS6. Lots of troubles with CS6 installation. First of all if you can't install you might wanna see this CS6 - MAC OS Sierra (if the problem still happens you wanna close everything and restart your computer and try again). Secondly, if you can't open illustrator you wanna download this Download Java for OS X 2015-001 . Finally, I solved the pixelation problem as I mentioned above.

[Max_Crichton]

Does this require you to sign up and pay for CC? Having already brought Cs6 i do not want to then have to pay for CC.

[Test Screen Name]

Getting new feature support has always needed you to upgrade.