CS5 Very small toolbar- Tried Preferences, Interface, Large and it doesn't work.

[Honeydew56]

I have Win 7 and just got the CS5 Premium installed.  Everything is fine in the other programs but Photoshop's toolbar and swatch pallette are so small that it is very hard to work with.  The menu bar(file, edit, etc) all across the top look like they are are a 2 pt. font. They are also very hard to read.  I tried setting it to large in the preferences but it didn'tchange anything.  Any other suggestions?

[Chris Cox]

We have seen some utility programs cause Photoshop to draw it's UI smaller than normal.  If the icons look resampled, not smooth - then something is wrong and you need to check your system for utilities that might interfere with drawing.

[CinemaPlugins]

well its november 2013

today i subscribed to CC and downloaded ae on my 27 inch imac.

i am shocked at the size of the interface font and found no way to make it more readable.

i am 47 years old, my eyes have seen better days, but this, as an interface is just damaging, to me. After 20 minutes, my eyes hurt ! are there no regulations defining what what makes a software interface acceptable at work? if i suffer injury because of this, who is paying the bill?

its the end of 2013, we are looking at 4k monitors for next year. I will need a magnifying glass to be able to use adobe software on these screens.

its incredible to me that they can become the market leader with this interface flaw at the core of all of their software.

[station_two]

We have been utterly unable to move either Adobe or Apple with our vigorous complaints about this over time.  Just look at what Apple has done to Safari, it's even worse than Adobe's totally unacceptable user interface.

[j_larson]

I'm using Illustrator CS4 on a Cintiq Companion and I've got the miniscule UI problem too.  I have perfect eyesight and I too feel the UI is absurdly tiny despite the bizarre denial and pushback of some of the users here.  Trying to pick out an anchor point the size of a dust mite, even with the fine point of the pen, is basically impossible.

I tried the external manifest file solution but it didn't work for me.  Incorrect manifest settings maybe.  I tried several, most resulted in Illustrator crashing with nasty error messages.  I had to remove the manifest file.

The suggestion to use the Magnifier in Windows is the only solution that has worked for me so far, though it is not optimal, I can get by with it

Yet another reason to switch to Inkscape!

[TTeddyau]

I have Adobe CC on my Windows Desktop PC and just recently acquired a MACBOOK PRO and have been working on that. Just this week I went into Illustrator to finish an illustration on my PC and I was shocked at the size of the interface.

I thought I would search to see what was going on and stumbled on this.. Why is my Illustrator so large??!

I cannot remember if it was like this before..one would think I would have noticed it?!

I run Window's 7,  have a 21.25" monitor. For my text size I have that set at custom 130%, resolution is set at 1920 x 1080 (recommended). I doubt if it has anything to do with that as why wouldn't photoshop and indesign be the same? hhmmm, but then maybe not!?

In would be great to get some uniform on this adobe software!

I would post a screen shot of Illustrator, photoshop and Indesign to show you the difference but when I to go insert an image, the box is black and won't load!

[JPG123]

Please can someone help as I'm stumped.

Brand new Window 8 laptop running Adobe CC. In Dreamweaver my toolbar icons and icons are a sensible size, in Fireworks they are tiny, almost unreadable. How do I change the settings for Fireworks?

Not had this issue on previous versions of Adobe.

thanks

[Noel Carboni]

Adobe is currently working to catch up with the technology of high ppi / scaled displays.  Not every application is at the same level of support.

-Noel

[Jaxilon]

I'm just adding my .02 cents to this so the powers that be are hopefully made aware.

I have a Wacom Cintiq Companion (so monitor size is what it is) and I am running current up to date PS (I'm subscriber) and the fonts and icons are VERY small. I am 48 years old and I wear glasses so I can make them out if I force my eyes to focus on them but honestly I NEED these menus/icons to be adjustable and not by changing the resolution of everything. At this point I just use the icons I need the most by memorizing where they are and the basic shape of them and/or mapping them to the cintiq buttons. I don't even bother trying to figure out anything "new" inside PS because it's so wearisome to my eyes. I am hopeful that this will be an option somewhere but so far I haven't found it.

Due to this "tiny menu" issue, I am finding myself wondering if another software package might offer me a better painting experience. I'm not ready to jump ship yet because I know how to use a lot of PS already and would rather make art than waste time learning another tool. Right now I feel like I'm paying for aspects of PS that I can't really enjoy because exploring the software equals an eyesore and that's not good for me or Adobe.

I would be very thankful if the UI elements could be size customizable. I would love it better than a new filter you guys might be working on.

Regards,

Jaxilon - www.rivengard.com

[Jesper Storm Bache]

If you are on Windows, you can go to "preferences> experimental features" and turn on 2x UI. You will have to restart Photoshop after changing this value.

See 2014 release of Photoshop CC: Experimental Features

[Jaxilon]

I am happy to attempt this but I'm not seeing "preferences>experimental features" yet.

I open PS, click Edit>Preferences but there is no "experimental" anything that I can see...granted it's still small type.

What am I missing?  my adobe photoshop version is 14.2.1 x64

[Jesper Storm Bache]

This is available in Photoshop CC 2014. If you are a subscriber you are able to download this version from the "Adobe Creative Cloud" application

[webzomboss]

I am so happy this was finally addressed. This fix solves the problem. Thank You!

[lady_luxembourg]

Adobe App Scaling on High DPI Displays (FIX) | Dan Antonielli

Thanks to Dan Antonielli I fixed the problem. I cannot believe that I finally found the sollution. It works without modifying computer resolution.

[Noel Carboni]

14.2.1 is the old version.  Photoshop CC 2014 is an entirely separate download, install, and runnable application.

-Noel

[tiasl]

I've used this solution, and it works perfectly on my Photoshop CS6:

Adobe App Scaling on High DPI Displays (FIX) | Dan Antonielli

[Empty101]

New Computers Have a Very High Screen Resolution | Change to 1920 x 1080 and your problem is fixed.

Go to your systems (computer) advanced display settings and bring the resolution down to 1920 x 1080.

or

search Display Settings on your system (computer) find Advanced Display Settings and bring the resolution down to 1920 x 1080.

[kampfhamster]

This "dan-antonelli-fix" doesn't work on Win 7 64 bit Xeon Laptops. Truly sad. I also used photoshop since decades plus a lot of other stuff which had been bought by Adobe in the past  (btw, I loved Freehand, and ah, remember, someone else bought Altamira Composer to make it disappear). Anyhow, if the bugfixing is to change the resolution of an expensive display (3840 x 2160) to something some developers knew 15 years ago, the solution is worse than the problem. it is also fact that Adobe seems to be too big to fail now - ah, sorry, too fat to move... I can watch similar things in other software companies, as soon as they start behaving like global players, things like a "scalable user interface" are of minor importance then ...

[tamerak61338131]

I needed to scroll through this whole thread and then took all of the information and figured it out.  If you go to Edit>Preferences>General selected Interface and under the option for UI Scaling, select 200%. Then Ok and restart PS.  That seemed to fix the issue. I wish someone would change the correct answer so users don't need to spend 20 min reading the whole thread. cc Honeydew56​

[rayek.elfin]

tamerak61338131  wrote

I needed to scroll through this whole thread and then took all of the information and figured it out.  If you go to Edit>Preferences>General selected Interface and under the option for UI Scaling, select 200%. Then Ok and restart PS.  That seemed to fix the issue. I wish someone would change the correct answer so users don't need to spend 20 min reading the whole thread. cc Honeydew56

That will not work for older versions of Photoshop: only the newer versions have that option available. CS5 and CS6 do not (the versions this thread originally was about).

[DEKCREATE]

Here's the answer:

Right click on the shortcut folder to the Lightroom or Adobe file that you're having issues with

Click on Properties

Click on Compatibility

Click on Override high DPI Scaling performed by....

Click on System

SOLVED!!!!

[sophied2757830]

This just happened to me. I have had photoshop for a couple of years and everything has been fine. I was just using it and then a random error message came up on the computer screen when I was loading a picture and the next thing the font is about a size 2 compared to probably a 10 and I need a magnifying glass to see it. Nothing I clicked changed the settings, but every other program on my laptop was normal and even clicking on a drop down box on photoshop would bring up normal font ... just the menu panels were ant size. The only thing that has worked for me, because even uninstalling and reinstalling didn't work, was to sign out altogether. Once I signed back in and it loaded up everything was back to normal. Phew!

[danielleb47452696]

I have this same problem. I just spent an hour with Remote Support. Mujeeb, the first tech, was able to fix the problem by doing something with the manifest--bingo, I was back to a full size screen. YAY! But then...I closed and reopened the app, and it was right back to tiny. The next tech was worthless. So I still have a tiny Photoshop on my screen--but I do know that something is out there to fix it.it just can't be done by Adobe Support evidently.

I think that the subscription concept is next to criminal. Why should I have to pay $720 a year subscription for a suite of software that I originally paid $395 for the disk, which I then OWNED? I don't give a rip about the so-called "improvements". Frankly, they often make the apps  far more difficult to understand and use.

[Guest]

Hi

If your on Windows 10 try right clicking on the Photoshop.exe or shortcut and select properties and select these options

[Ken287629603pzl]

I've had this problem several times and found two fixes. First, it is a DPI problem. There is a conflict between your Operating System, the Specific Program and your Monitor Capabilities.

1. The use of Manifest files - https://danantonielli.com/adobe-app-scaling-on-high-dpi-displays-fix/ . Unfortunately, these work with various levels of success across CS6 I use and/or other programs.

2.  Working with program Properties. Recently I moved to Windows 11 and a whole lot of programs began having this problem. This was my solution across several programs.

Menu Bar Tiny Scaling

This is NOT for the Windows Taskbar. It’s for other program menu bars. If the menu bar in a program is tiny, the fix is multi-stepped, but easy.

1. Find the program start icon, not the shortcut.
2. Right click on the icon and select Properties.
3. Click on the Compatibility tab.
4. Check mark the box “Run this program as an administrator”. This isn’t require, but usually a good long term idea.
5. Click on the bar “Change high DPI settings”.
6. Check mark the top box, “Use this setting to fix...”
7. Under Use the DPI that’s set...” click on the bar and select “I open this program”.
8. Check mark the box “Overrode high DPI scaling behavior,...”
9. Select either “System” or “System (Enhanced)”.
10. Click on the bar, “Change settings for all users”.
11. Click OK to close the window, then click OK or Apply to close the dialogue box.

Hopefully, I'll be too old and die before I have to go through this again. 🙂