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Photoshop Interface is too small for my screen size [2017]

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
January 14, 2017
18 replies
98836 views

Hi

I have a Photoshop CS6 edition and just started it for the first time. Sadly I can hardly see any of the elements of the user interface. The Menu bar, the Panels - everything is way too small. I have a Laptop with a high resolution screen, so probably the size of the user interface is meant to be used on a larger screen. I did change Windows 10 settings to scale up all the elements of other software I use - so all Icons and user interface elements of other software does indeed scale up, but Photoshop does not react to any changes there. Also I tried to increase the setting in the Photoshop settings (preferences/user interface/font size), but it is already set to "large" and there is no numeric value or additional options I could find. Here is a picture to compare the size of a regular window I use and the Photoshop Window - the font size seems to be about half and the elements are really hard to click.
Thanks for helping.

Windows

Correct answer Derek Cross

You need to upgrade to Photoshop CC2015/17 as these versions have been designed to work on hi-definition screens.

Show previous replies

J

jerryh13426344

Participant

I teach photoshop and a person attending my workshop this morning had the tiny font situation which is making her mad. It happens on her laptop and her desktop for work where she uses Photoshop as part of her job. She asked me to find out how to change it. She is paying monthly for the subscription service.

She is using a Windows computer. This has been a problem for other students as well. Has Adobe come up with a solution for this very big problem of almost 7 point type on the screen?

D Fosse

Community Expert

There has been an option to scale the UI to 200% since CC2014. You'll find it under Preferences.

150% UI scaling is currently under beta testing.

R

ronaldc2362

Participant

Had same problem: bought new 64 bit computer with 27" external monitor and although I could download my original CS6 because I had misplaced my original disc but had registered it with Adobe so they were able to give me my key number to re-download CS6 for new machine. Download and install went OK but PS tool and menu bars were operational but TINY. After much fiddling and reading posts about this problem, I was able to fix this issue by lowering the resolution of my big, new monitor drastically to1280 x 768 and restarted. Then when I got CS6 as full screen, it was just a tad too big so that I didn't have any desktop margin showing behind PS. However, I was able to grab the lower right corner of the outermost CS border and use the diagonal double arrow to shrink PS a bit to my liking. CS6 will automatically give you two versions of CS6---a 32 bit and a 64 bit. I made the mistake of thinking that because I now have a 64 bit machine I should use the 64 bit app version. Wrong. When I bought CS6, I bought the 32 bit version, so that's the one I should have run. 32 bit runs just fine on 64 bit machine, minus a couple "can-live-without-it" features.

PhotoRon

Terri Stevens

Legend

there is absolutely no reason not to run 64 bit Photoshop on a machine with a 64 bit processor. Sure 32 bit will work but you will have a memory ceiling of 4GB which is useless these days for Photoshop unless you only do web graphics. Maybe as you registered a 32 bit copy Adobe supplied a 32 bit serial but I'm sure they would change that to 64 bit if asked.

D Fosse

Community Expert

There's never been separate serial numbers for 32 and 64 bits. It used to be that you got two separate installers, and you could install one of them or both, but nowadays the appropriate version just installs automatically. On a 64 bit machine, you get the 64 bit Photoshop and that's it.

Anyway, Ronald, what has changed here isn't Photoshop, but your monitor. You apparently have a high resolution monitor now. These didn't exist when Photoshop CS6 was made. Later versions (CC2014 onwards) have an option to scale the UI to compensate for this, but CS6 is obsolete and left behind, and will never have this option. It is simply not supported in CS6. All you can do is reduce the monitor's resolution - or upgrade to a current version.

anja_wuAuthor

Participating Frequently

Well since nowadays monitors come in a lot more different sizes and resolutions than some years ago it makes a lot of sense to have a sliding resize option for everything. There are 12" Laptop screens with the same resolution as a 18" or 21" desktop screen ... But there also is everything possible in between. Some years ago it was basically 14, 15 or 17" and 1024 or 1440 pixels - thats way outdated now.

Anyways - anyone has any ideas on what would happen if I updated that Photoshop CS6 with the update function? It says it can update to presumably the last CS6 version that was still made, but I worry a bit that I will loose that "hack" for resizing, as it was mentioned in the article.

jbm007

Community Expert

Windows 10 Creator is supposed to help with is variable UI settings.

Its not perfect but it does help..

The hack works , but ever time you get a update I believe it blows out the hacked settings.

I for one am more upset that you do not have true 1:1 scaling in the preview windows which would give you a better sense of image proportions as the appear on a image.

anja_wuAuthor

Participating Frequently

Well, I did not yet try it on a separate monitor. For now I just started in on the Laptop screen. With the mentioned hack it works, not sure what would happen if I update the product though... the article is not very clear about what happens then. Either it does not work at all to increase size afterwards or it actually does what it is supposed to do an obey windows resizing rules - if the latter is true, I could just update it and it would work, but if I do that, I also risk that the hack does not work anymore and then I would be stuck... hmmm

jbm007

Community Expert

Just giving you another option to work with.

jbm007

Community Expert

You could always get a cheap second monitor that you could use and set the resolution to a lower setting that would allow you to run PS without the hack and have the UI larger.

anja_wuAuthor

Participating Frequently

Ok, I fixed it with the following Tutorial>

Wie ich die Benutzeroberfläche in Photoshop vergrößert habe | Sylvis Blog

It required some hacking into the Windows registry and adding a script file to the photoshop directory. I hope it is safe, but it works. Apparently I should not do updates to the software though, as it is described in the article that this would undo this hack.

anja_wuAuthor

Participating Frequently

Ok, sad to hear this. I will have to live with it then, I guess. I bought it because I did not want to pay several hundred euros for a product that I only use twice a month and there was a teacher version available for 100 EU via Amazon. I guess using it on a big screen makes more sense anyways, so I will need to connect my Laptop to a larger screen to use it properly.

Terri Stevens

Legend

This is a problem a lot of people have with new ultra high definition displays. As Derek says the latest version of Photoshop does allow you to scale the interface, but most people feel that 200% is too much and 150% is needed.

One possibility might be a 'screen magnifier'. I should stress I have not tried this so cannot endorse a particular product, but basically it is a lens that attaches to a laptop screen which makes everything bigger. There are lots of suppliers:

MaxiAids | 3x Laptop Screen Magnifier- 15-inch

Computer Screen Magnifiers | LS&S, LLC - Laptop Screen Magnifier - Fits 15.4" Widescreen

They are not all that expensive, but ideally it's best to buy one that can be returned if it doesn't fit your needs. A lot will depend on the quality of the lens and chromatic aberration could be a problem, but maybe it would be a temporary solution.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Terri Stevens wrote:
most people feel that 200% is too much and 150% is needed

This is partly a real and legitimate request, but also in part new expectations.

Let me remind everyone that an MBP retina screen at 2880 x 1800, with the Photoshop UI set to 200%, shows the UI at exactly the same size as a traditional laptop screen at 1440 x 900. And a 24 inch 4K desktop monitor shows a 200% UI at exactly the same size as a traditional 24 inch desktop monitor.

Nobody complained back then. But now people want it just a little bit smaller.

However, now there's also things like 24 inch monitors at a resolution traditionally seen in 27 inch models - 2560 x 1440. For these, a 150% option would be natural, or even 125. If I had such a unit, I'd probably run it at 100% and accept the small text. At 200% it would look very 1995...

Derek Cross

Correct answer

Community Expert

You need to upgrade to Photoshop CC2015/17 as these versions have been designed to work on hi-definition screens.

anja_wuAuthor

Participating Frequently

Is there no way to use the version I just bought? I am reluctant to now spend more money again just to use the product I just bought properly. I am very used to Photoshop CS6 as I used it for a while already and like the way it works and am accustomed to it. I would prefer not to change the version because of being used to that product and because I do not really want to invest more money at this point. I am using the product privately and for education/teaching purposes to design slides and images for classwork, but I am not a heavy user of it.

D Fosse

Community Expert

Not what you want to hear, but - this is why obsolete software is obsolete. The rest of the world has moved on.

Adobe has made a well publicized point of CS6 being obsolete for a long time now. They have emphasized for years that it will receive no further updates.

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