Options bar too short [Photoshop UI on Cintiq as Second Monitor]

[Scowling Elf]

Just updated to 25.0 from... 23.something and I have regrets. I figured out how to get my old gradient tool behaviour back (phew!), but now for tools with lots of options (such as the gradient tool), the options bar is not long enough and the share/end items overlap some of the options. Not the end of the world because I don't usually use the ones at the far end, but would like it to display correctly if I do need them.

Resetting my worspace and enable narrow options bar does nothing. Docking the options bar or putting it in an application frame fixes it, but I cannot seem to get the bar to dock on my second monitor and I hate the application frame with all my soul. Am I doomed to having either overlapping items or whiplash from contantly looking back and forth between monitors? Should I report it as a bug? Thanks!

[Trevor.Dennis]

What is the pixel resolution of your main screen, and do you run the Photoshop UI at 100% or 200%?

Thank you for the screen shots, but they are not useful without the rest of the workspace.  Could you show us a full res screen shot of your main screen?  That's going to answer some questions for us.

You mention a second monitor.  How do you distribute your workspace?  

Do you use a custom workspace, and does the Options Bar issue persist in other workspaces?  Especially the default Essentials workspace.

I am a Windows user and not an expert on Mac systems, but I believe there have been issues with Mac systems with multiple monitors.  Do you think that might be happening with your system?

[Scowling Elf]

My main screen is technically 4480x2520, but I don’t use any part of Photoshop on it; I run PS on a 1920x1080 secondary Cintiq. I don’t think Macs have the option to scale the UI (or at least it’s greyed out on my machine)?

The attached screenshot is my entire (custom) workspace. I went through all the Photoshop workspace options, and all of them move everything to the main screen (off this one) and dock everything, and when I undock the options bar it snaps back to being too short (despite the fact it now has twice the width to deal with).

It is possible it’s something to do with my system? I’m a newbie with this two-screen setup so I’m not entirely sure myself, but it’s an old cranky Cintiq that the Mac and PS fights with regularly. Someone on here in my quest to find an answer to this did mention not being able to dock anything on a secondary monitor, only the main one, though, so you could be onto something.

I did manage to find a sort of work around while checking for the settings you mentioned: changing the UI font size from small to tiny shrunk everything enough to make it useable. Not ideal, but better than nothing.
Thanks for your help!

[Trevor.Dennis]

You should be more than OK with a 1920 pixels wide screen, but I can't help but think your issue is linked to the fact that the Cintiq is effectively a second monitor, and we know there have been display problems with Mac systems using multiple displays. 

I generally leave the Mac threads to people who know them better than me, but I think what I might do is edit your Subject to show this has a second monitor component.  We might get you some more informed help that way.  From the Known Issues help pages I thought those issues had been resolved with Photoshop updates.  What OS version are you running?

https://helpx.adobe.com/nz/photoshop/kb/photoshop-and-macos-ventura.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/nz/photoshop/kb/known-issues.html

[Trevor.Dennis]

BTW  Are you not able to expand some of your workspace onto the Mac screen?  

[Scowling Elf]

I can expand onto the Mac screen, I just don’t want to unless absolutely necessary (the two are about two feet apart in my setup and all the head moving involved is not comfortable).

I poked through your links and I’m wondering if it’s a new issue (or, at least, new since the version I was running earlier this week) and something to do with system compatibility (since it does it on the Mac’s main screen, too). I’m running Monterey/OS12, and when you open PS2024 it warns you that that’s not the optimal system for the program. Since upgrading isn’t in the cards right now, I’m thinking I might just live with the tiny text/application frame/docking it on the main screen and submit a bug report.

And don’t worry, even with not knowing Macs well, you’ve helped me more than the half an hour of googling I did first did! 🙂