P: Font sizes in UI are small and unreadable - we need to be able to resize with greater granularity

[zones30]

I’m writing about a problem I’ve encountered that seems to have a lot of people frustrated on the forums, but that Adobe apparently hasn’t done anything to address. This pertains to both LR Classic and PS 2002.

I use LR Classic CC and Photoshop 2022 on a new Macbook Pro (OS 12.1, M1 max chip), connected to an external monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1440. The problem is that the fonts in the drop-down menus (and to a lesser extent, on the panel labels) are spidery and difficult to read, and there’s no way to adjust them or make them larger and clearer. From what I’ve read on the forums, this problem is even worse for those who have upgraded to 4K monitors.

The usual solution (and the only one offered by tech support) is to use the Mac’s system preferences to change the monitor display settings to a lower resolution. This isn’t a workable solution because external monitors don’t work well when they’re not at their optimal resolution. If you try to scale them to something other than the default setting, you lose sharpness. I’m a professional photographer and I can’t work on a blurry monitor.

In the “preferences / interface” panel of LR, there are options to make fonts larger, but these have no visible effect on drop-down menu fonts (and in fact I still don’t know what they actually adjust). Some responses on the forums suggest that people think these DO affect those fonts, but they’re mistaken. Whether the efficacy of those settings is affected by monitor resolution, I don’t know—but it shouldn’t be.

What's really needed—and will be even more important as people transition to 4K monitors—is the ability for the user to adjust font size and sharpness in the panels and menus without rescaling the monitor resolution. This should be well within the technical capabilities of the Adobe programming team. It could simply be part of the "preferences" panel -- an option for "Font sizes in drop-down menus" and another for "Font sizes in panel labels." It may require some collaboration between your engineers and those at Apple, but I assume there’s precedent for that.

With all the griping about this problem on the forums—complaints that go back years, mind you—it’s hard to understand why nothing’s been done about it. I’d appreciate it (and so would a lot of other people) if you could look into this and come up with a fix.

Thanks.

[Jao vdL]

The easiest way to change the size of all UI elements including all the sliders in Mac OS X  is to go to the Displays panel in System Settings and change the UI magnification from "Default" into the direction of 'Larger Text". This scales ALL UI elements and not just the text. Windows has equivalent settings but I don't know where those are not being a windows user. Annoyingly these settings do not appear in accessibility or anything else like that but only show up in the Displays settings panel. Note tthat this setting is only available if you have a retina display on your Mac or are on a 4k or higher display.

[Jerry5EEC]

And how about the many of us using windows.  It is badly needed there too, so it needs to be an Adobe Fix to work across all their device users.

[johnrellis]

"And how about the many of us using windows."

If you set LR's Preferences > Interface > Font Size to Automatic, then you can increase the size of all LR's user-interface elements via Windows' Settings > System > Display > Scale And Layout:

You can change the size of LR's user-interface elements independently of other Windows apps by changing Preferences > Interface > Font Size to something other than Automatic (though note the discussion above that there isn't much difference between Small and Medium).

[dougt1944]

Font Size in LR Classic

The font size in LR Classic in the Library Module is smaller than I can read. I need a magnifying glass to see the speed (e.g., 1/1000 sec) at which the image was captured. I increased the Font Size to LARGE within the INTERFACE Settings/Preference. this did not increase the font size - small and large are the same size on the computer screen. I have attached a capture of the issue I am discussing.

I do not what to change the font size of the whole computer, so please develop the ability for us to change the font size within the LR Classic interface.

Thanks

LR Classic 12.1

ACR 15.1

MacOS 13.1

[James252835145ru4]

Proposed solutions don't work on Windows for menus. There is currently (12.4) no way for users to increase the font of Lightroom menus without affecting the entire computer display. Photoshop does not have this problem, only Lightroom. It is a sad commentary that Adobe has not fixed this yet. 

[ACEkin]

Thank you, I followed the instructions and changed the percentage to 175 and I can see things better now. Anyone reading this should realize that the dropdown for size selection now shows nothing selected as 175 is not among them!

[ACEkin]

My reply above did not include the original solution provided by arielmartini more than a year ago on July 05, 2022. I thought my reply would be attached to that, but it did not. This was the recommended solution I used. Thank you arielmartini!

Ok I just fixed this manually by editing the "Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs" setting the "AgPanel_baseFontSize" value to "scale125". Hope this is helpful to someone until Adobe fixes this in 2028.

[Eyalr]

Hello,

Edit -> Preference -> Interface -> Font Size

Is there a size between Medium and Large – 150% ?

Medium too small for me and 150% too large.

Thank you, Eyal

[Per Berntsen]

There are no other options than those listed in Preferences, I'm afraid.

[Eyalr]

Thank you. How to ask Adobe to add such option ?

[Per Berntsen]

I will ask a moderator to move this thread to Ideas, which means it will be a feature request.

[Eyalr]

great, thank you

[LionheartPix]

fully agree with OP on the problem of font size in the panels and menus. It addition to the option of making the text bigger, it would also help if there were some way to make the text more contrasty. Grey on grey is harder to see than, say, black on white. Maybe allowing a "light theme" instead of the dark mode employed would help?

[zeraphoto]

On the Mac OS with Lightoom Classic, all we get are two options for text size, and there is really no discernable difference between the two options. Hope this can be changed; it's been an issue for the 19 years this app has existed.

[anant0418]

Bro, look at arielmartini's reply above. He has fixed the 125 scaling.

My reply above did not include the original solution provided by arielmartini more than a year ago on July 05, 2022. I thought my reply would be attached to that, but it did not. This was the recommended solution I used. Thank you arielmartini!

Ok I just fixed this manually by editing the "Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs" setting the "AgPanel_baseFontSize" value to "scale125". Hope this is helpful to someone until Adobe fixes this in 2028.

Thanks. I hope it help.

[anant0418]

For everyone to find Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs

Press Win + R  > Enter %Appdata% > Lightroom Classis > Main Panel Preferences.agpf open in Notepad.

Thanks.

[James252835145ru4]

This solution has no effect for me on Lightroom menus' font size, version 13.0.2.  Using Windows 11, and the monitor resolution is 3840 x 2160. The file path is "C:\Users\****\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Preferences\Lightroom Classic CC 7 Preferences.agprefs".

[anant0418]

You changed AgPanel_baseFontSize to scale125?

[James252835145ru4]

Yes.

[OursoulsDad]

I may have missed all the other replies that might solve this, but I did not see anything running through.  Windows 11.

The font size has been too small for me since some change a few months ago.  I found this and other threads and changed the font size to a larger one in the preferences.  Great.  But it was too large.  Now,every time I set it to a smaller font and restart, it reopens with the same larger font.  The font is so large (200) it is unworkable.  Am I missing something?

[ryans97066424]

Opening a new thread on this as Adobe seems to not have anyone over 30 working on the UI. I use a 32" 4K monitor and sit back enoough to see the take in the whole thing. I have a bunch going on and like to see what I'm doing. The font size in Lightroom is close to 8pt font, maybe smaller at this size. The font size that I'm using in this post is, on my screen, TWICE the size of the LR UI fonts. The ONLY option Adobe gives you is is small or large, and the large is stilll way too small. I want more options here. No I do not want to adjust my monitor's display setting or any system adjustments in my OS.That is not a fix.  Every other application allows me to increse the fonts, why is Adobe not allowing this? I look at older threads about this going back 10 years and the issue has only gotten worse as the screens have gotten better. I've been using Photoshop since 1995 and even with my reading glasses on this font is straining my eyes to use.  Hey Adobe, hire someone over 30 to design your UI for a change.

[RobStPete]

Thanks. Much appreciated

[LionheartPix]

To make this BAD situation even worse are the color of the too small font and the background. Medium grey text on a darker grey background compounds the problem.

[Willa38537597dwb4]

Checking in on September 2024, this is ridiculous. My neck hurts and I have 20/20 vision. I just want to make it bigger 😞

[Chris Kern]

Admittedly, I don't know how the Lightroom UI is coded, but this seens to me like it ought to be one of those "just do it" fixes.