P: Menu too small on Windows high res display

Report · Jun 19, 2014

On my monitor (2560 x 1600) the menu on CC 2014 is too small - so tiny I can hardly read it. Selecting Expereimental 2nd option makes the whole programme far too big. Either so small I can't see it unless I sit very close to the monitor or so big it is unusable.
No problems with PS CC, only PS CC 2014. Having to unistall CC 2014 and go back to CC. Support offer NO solution

Report · Aug 20, 2015

The problem listed in this topic is solved with the 200% UI Scaling.

Yes, we would like more flexible UI scaling - and we are continuing to work with Microsoft to deal with the Windows issues necessary to make that happen.

Report · Aug 21, 2015

Since “The problem listed in this topic is solved with the 200% UI Scaling”, my original question should not be merged with this topic because the problem listed in my question is NOT solved with the 200% UI Scaling. I suspect there are other users here that have been trying to say the same thing. Their problem is NOT solved either. Please unmerge my question and reopen it as a new topic so progress on the issue I reported can be tracked.

Report · Aug 21, 2015

Chris,
Thank you for the response. So what you are saying is that there is/was a compatibility problem between Photoshop software & high resolution monitors, causing my small icon problem?
And Adobe has addressed the issue with an update provided in PS CC 2014.2.x (as stated above), and I can download this update for free to fix the compatibility problem? I just click on the link above that you supplied.....this won't affect my PS CS5 in any way will it?

Thanks Again

Report · Aug 21, 2015

The new 200% UI Scaling is a new feature in Photoshop CC 2014. If you do not have a CC Subscription, then that new feature is not available to you.

And no, installing later versions of Photoshop will not affect your older CS5 version.

Report · Aug 24, 2015

This topic is marked "Answered". There appear to be at least some customers for which the "answer" (i.e. the Photoshop CC 2014 200% UI Scaling feature) did not resolve the issue.

I've opened a new, unanswered topic named "Photoshop CC 2015 UI font scaling produces font sizes too big or too small on high-res monitors (not fixed by PS CC 2014 UI font scaling feature)" in the hope that the remaining issue(s) can be tracked there until resolved. Below I've attempted to add a link to the new topic.

Photoshop CC 2015 UI font scaling produces font sizes too big or too small on high-res monitors (not...

If you are one of the customers still having problems, please go to the new topic and record your issue there.

Report · Aug 30, 2015

So disappointed at the failure of Adobe to fix the menu font and icon incompatibility in Photoshop for high resolution monitors. I have complained about this for two years (back to the CS6 days) and the user groups across the web are full of like complaints.

Now even with a new CC 2015 and Windows 10 the problem is still unresolved. The PS screen either has 7 pt labels on microscopic icons or 30% of the screen real estate is taken up by the 200% UI resolution option. I would give up all of the CC 2015 updates for solution to this one problem which makes using PS stressful and frustrating instead of the pleasure it should be.

There is nothing that Adobe talent can't fix. You can fix this, if you care to. Obviously whatever your development systems are, you are not living with this issue or you would have addressed it.

Report · Aug 30, 2015

This issue was fixed in Photoshop CC 2014 with the addition of the 200% UI scaling option on WIndows.

Report · Aug 30, 2015

Paulette, you may want to consider copying your post to the topic below.

Photoshop CC 2015 UI font scaling produces font sizes too big or too small on high-res monitors (not...

Report · Aug 30, 2015

With all due respect, if you look at the image I posted with my post earlier today, the bottom part of the image is what the 200% UI scaling looks like (the top part is what either 100% or automatic looks like. You'll notice that with 200% scaling there is no room for layers, there is no room for pallets, brushes, filters or anything else to display. It is unusable. To say that this is a fix is unconscionable.

This issue has been on the books since CS6 . At that time the Adobe developer identified a work around which involved manually setting the Windows 7 display to 151% which triggered some kind of threshold value and would allow CS6 to display properly. Unfortunately the work around will not work with CC2014 or CC2015. I actually reloaded CS6 last night but even the workaround won't work with Windows 10 (which works brilliantly with every other piece of software except Adobe).

I share the views of others, I am not (nor should I have to) hand-jam a registry fix. I am a highly experienced end user, but that is a boundary I won't cross.

I don't know what the Adobe development systems environment looks like - but I've seen all sorts of monitors mentioned in posts. Why does this plague the user base and not the developers? Trust me, if this was your day-to-day experience, this would be fixed.

Report · Aug 31, 2015

This took care of the giant menu problem on my secondary monitor in Windows 10. Thank you. Unfortunately, on my primary monitor the menu text is almost too small, but that's more of a Windows problem.

Report · Sep 04, 2015

Everyone at Adobe has 20/20vision unlike the real world. Win 10 character enlarger doesn't work because Illustrator behaves incorrectly. I use a 4x magnifier to read PS menu. Try and contact Adobe Ha Ha !

Report · Sep 04, 2015

Yes, we would like more flexible UI scaling - and we are continuing to work with Microsoft to deal with the Windows issues necessary to make that happen.

Report · Sep 09, 2015

This has NOT been answered! I have the latest MSI laptop, 4k screen with GeForce graphics card, all other software works without a problem in Windows 8.1. It is ONLY Photoshop that does not work. This affects my work every day. Adobe have known about this issue for over 18 months. WORK IT OUT ADOBE!

Report · Sep 09, 2015

200% UI Scaling for high res displays was added in Photoshop CC 2014.

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

Report · Sep 09, 2015

Wayne, I opened a new, unanswered topic named "Photoshop CC 2015 UI font scaling produces font sizes too big or too small on high-res monitors (not fixed by PS CC 2014 UI font scaling feature)" in the hope that the remaining issue(s) can be tracked there until resolved. Below I've attempted to add a link to the new topic.

Photoshop CC 2015 UI font scaling produces font sizes too big or too small on high-res monitors (not...

If you are one of the customers still having problems, please go to the new topic and record your issue there.

Report · Oct 08, 2015

Any update for PSE12 on a Yoga3 Pro?

The whole thing is soooo tiny! There isn't a Experimental option for the 200% in PSE12

Report · Oct 12, 2015

This issue has been around since Adobe first started writing Windows versions.

Adobe uses bit mapped fonts for their UI... makes it look pretty and ensures icons and related text stay the same size (the easy/lazy approach), but also makes the UI incompatible with a user's personal needs.

I won't be upgrading to any new Adobe product.

Report · Oct 12, 2015

No, Adobe uses the OS standard fonts for it's UI, which are vector. I'm not sure where you got bogus information about using bitmapped fonts.

But Windows had some problems with UI scaling until relatively recently - when we worked with Microsoft to get 200% UI Scaling working in Photoshop, as described above in the official answer at the top of the topic.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

I beg to differ. Here's an example from my desktop... Desktop small font is 9 pixels for a lower case. The CS menu font is only 5 pixels. I'm not even sure I have any 5 pixel fonts installed (and this install doesn't have any Adobe fonts).

Here's two UI menus together: top is MS Excel, bottom CS. CS is NOT using the standard system font.

One other usability point, with the UI this small, finding the corner of the eye-dropper is more than painful. It's tedious and even my mouse squirms.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

And while I'm beating this dead horse... Windows Apps allow changing the UI font:

Which yields this Excel vs CS menu comparison. One more strike proving CS isn't using standard system fonts.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

The OS controls the menu font size on Windows. And you can count the 9 pixel hight of the fonts in Photoshop --- which is the same as Excel's menu type.

Photoshop is using the OS standard fonts for it's UI, and those are vector fonts, not bitmaps. Excel is turning off the OS LCD color filter antialiasing for their menus (and I'd love to know how, since that is drawn by the OS) - but that is the only major difference.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

That just shows that Photoshop doesn't allow the OS to override the menu font - because we know of problems in that situation that would make the menu bar not work correctly.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

As a user, and as a past Product Marketing Manager for software, the CS design team made a bad choice. You should have fixed the menu problems for the sake of usability. Now you're living with disgruntled customers and can't fix it without major pain. My case is only a 120DPI monitor; can't imagine users with 2k displays. And a simple patch to explode the UI features 200%? Well, that's a knee jerk panic mode approach; another sign of questionable decision making.

Report · Oct 13, 2015

We released the update for 200% UI scaling in Photoshop CC 2014, as noted in the official answer at the top of this topic. That was as soon as we could release it after working with Microsoft to address the Windows issues that caused problems for UI scaling in complex applications. We are continuing to work with Microsoft to address the remaining issues in Windows to allow more flexible UI scaling.

Report · Oct 14, 2015

My question is: how is it possible that all other Adobe software work fine - Illustrator, InDesign, Fireworks, Dreamweaver all no problem...ONLY Photoshop has the issue. it is therefore NOT a windows problem - stop blaming Microsoft and fix your bloody software!

P: Menu too small on Windows high res display

1 Correct answer