P: Introducing scale the UI 200% for high-density displays for Windows

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The Photoshop team welcomes your feedback on this experimental feature. Let us know what you think!
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Photoshop user interface controls may appear small and hard-to-read on high-density displays. Also, on touch-enabled screens, you may have trouble clicking the smaller controls. 200% scaling solves this issue by doubling the size of the user interface.

Since the user interface elements increase in size by 200%, depending on the size and resolution of your display, you may need to adjust the layout of existing workspaces. For example, on a 1080 px screen at 200%, the Tools panel extends off the bottom of the screen. You can change to double-column orientation in order to fit the panel on the screen.

Note: This feature is only for Windows users. HiDPI on Mac has been available for high-density Retina displays since Photoshop CS6.

Caveats

You may encounter some cosmetic issues while using this feature. While many Photoshop dialogs have been reworked so that they fit on the screen at 1080 px, viewing some dialogs (such as Smart Sharpen) completely may require you to collapse sections.

Disable 200% UI scaling

If you need to return to the default 100% scaling, do the following:

1. Select Preferences > Experimental Features.
2. Deselect Scale UI 200% For High-Density Displays (Windows Only).
3. Restart Photoshop.

[J453]

Did you enable it? Go to Edit>Preferences>Interface... and set UI Scaling to 200%.

[Parrotdise]

There is no UI Scaling option, only UI Font Size and I only have the option to choose SMALL MEDIUM or LARGE.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

There is such an option in Photoshop CC 2014 and CC 2015.

[palenpointe]

Where is the 150% feature like that found in Illustrator? Also, when I have it on auto, it just stays at 100% on my 4k monitor. Why?

[J453]

Support in Photoshop is currently limited to 200% or 100%.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi, I am using Photoshop CS6 for Windows and from reading some threads it appears that this new scaling feature should be there... but even with the latest updates there is no experimental menu in my preferences.
Am I missing something, or is this feature not getting rolled back to the CS6 Windows version?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

No, this feature was added in Photoshop CC 2014 - several versions after CS6.

[palenpointe]

When is Photoshop going to get 150% like Illustrator?

Why doesn't Adobe make their apps consistent?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I have already purchased adobe master collection cs6 out right! Am I to believe that there will not be a scaling patch for cs6?!

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I think Adobe just recommend moving your face closer to the screen 😉

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi all I love my new portable work horse but cs6 doesn't have scaling and I spent around 3,000$ for the master collection software. So far I'm being told I'm out of luck and to just buy CC?! will there be no option for legacy users on this matter? HELP!

[J453]

CS6 is nearly 4 years old. There are no plans to add features to old versions of Photoshop.

[palenpointe]

I realize HiDPI support is limited to 200% only in Photoshop, but it is enabled for 150% in Illustrator. What is the plan for making these consistent as they should have been all along?

[J453]

Support for scaling at different percentages is something that is still being explored/considered.

[ICannotUseMyOwnName]

Well that's a crock, pure and simple. There is just no way I can justify the monthly cost of CC for the few times I actually use it at home, nor can I afford the bandwidth required to keep it all up to date. It just means I'll have to uninstall CS6 from my new Surface Book. After all, it's not like there aren't much better alternatives at far more reasonable prices. e.g. I'd rather pay $99 a year for my Xara Designer Pro upgrade, keep using the 7 year old version of Soundforge I have and the totally FREE Fusion 7 than pay $600 a year for something I probably will only get 40 hours of use from, most of it not billable.

Adobe needs to understand that their subscription model simply doesn't suit every user. They need to be more flexible, they need to do a better job of catering to casual users. I'd like to see a per hour model, where I only pay for the products when I am actually using them, rather than paying serious money for it to simply be installed.

And make no mistake, the cost of subscription is twice the price of my mobile phone/data plan, more expensive than my internet and even my electricity. It's even more than the cost of comprehensive insurance on my brand new car! It would be the single largest recurring cost I have, which is completely out of proportion to the amount of use I'd get out of it. So if I can't 'keep using CS6, then I won't use Adobe's products at all. Pretty simple, really.

[palenpointe]

So is it not even in the roadmap at this point? This makes no sense. Why is it in one app and not in the other?

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Hi,

I'm running a Surface Pro device and it is a bit annoying that the preference Windows is just too big enough to fit the screen at 200%.

Having the possibility to set the scale factor at 150% like the operating system would have been a better choice.

Are we going to have this option?

regards,

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Again, we are continuing to work with Microsoft on the issues necessary to allow more flexible UI scaling on Windows.

[ICannotUseMyOwnName]

If you are on CS6, there is a workaround for this problem. Follow the instructions here - http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2013... - and you shouldn't have too many problems. It warns you about playing with the Registry but you are just adding a new key, not editing an existing one, so you can be confident you will not break anything. You can also get detailed instructions on how to create the key in the correct place from a link to a Microsoft help page included in the instructions. It must be 7 or 8 years since I've touched the Registry and it worked fine for me. It only took 15 minutes, too.

I used the code for Illustrator to make an After Effects manifest file and it worked, too. You can probably use it for any of your CS6 applications. Don't use the Photoshop one, it refers to the application by name, where the Illustrator one is generic.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

HIS copy is not 4 years old, he bought it recently. It's most certainly not like he's asking for "new features" - he's simply asking for a SETTING to make a very expensive software package USABLE on monitor technology that has also been available for years.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

The 200% UI Scaling feature was added in Photoshop CC 2014. Photoshop CS6 is much older than that, and will not get new features.

[ArtisticScientist]

I'm confused about this as well. If a lot of people are having this issue (and they obviously are), why wouldn't you want to fix it ASAP? The fix seems simple to me: just add more options. Am I missing something?

[ArtisticScientist]

As I'm also on a Surface, I'd love to see this option as well.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Again, we are continuing to work with Microsoft on the issues necessary to allow more flexible UI scaling on Windows.

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

Why do you people keep calling it a "new feature" - it's not like adding a new design tool, it's a FIX for something that was coded somewhat poorly in the first place. It's not adding new functionality, it's just making it work properly with different DPIs. (And it's also giving the Windows version parity with the Mac version, that has had this "feature" for some time, right?)

It's not like adding a totally new powerful tool, such as a going back and adding "layers" to an old version of Photoshop before layers were invented or something - totally different here!