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I've got a Surface Book which I'm running at the default resolution - 3000 x 200 - the scaling is set at 200%. Both these settings are defaults, and everything looks fine - excuse the scribbling:

Surface Book Screenshot

I also use a monitor connected via HDMI also running at the recommended settings - 1920 x 1080 (the max for the monitor) and 100% scaling. However, I get lovely dialog boxes, like the following screenshot. This is the same dialog box, generated from the monitor now:

Monitor Screenshot

This is obviously very annoying and I haven't been able to do anything about it. I'm guessing it has something to do with the fact the Surface Book is running at 200%, but anything less than that and it's too small.

Just to make it clear, in the second screenshot the dialog box is too big, not the Chrome top bar too small.

What can be done to fix this? Apart from buying a 4K monitor obviously 😑

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  • Do you get the same dialog effect when using other programs? if this is Windows 10 (you should specify in your question/tags) try it with Edge and see if it's open dialog works as expected. Jan 25, 2017 at 16:59
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Hmm so it seems it has something to do with improper implementation then, as Edge doesn't do it. If I drag the dialog box (from Edge) between the two screens, for a split second it's the wrong size until it quickly resizes to the correct size. I guess it would be on an individual program basis then? Not a Windows setting/registry entry that can be changed?
    – CalvT
    Jan 25, 2017 at 17:09
  • Yup, it's up to the applications to implement their own dynamic DPI handling. It's always been that way and for decades most developers just ignored dealing with DPI changes affecting their GUI, as it was hard, and most people kept their monitors at 100% DPI. Now that these high-density screens are becoming more popular, as is mixing them with a 1080 monitor, the neglect is starting to show its head regularly. Jan 25, 2017 at 17:13
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Guess I'll have to splash out on a 4K Monitor then 😣 Adobe's engineers are awful... If you want to write an answer I'll make sure to upvote and accept 🙂
    – CalvT
    Jan 25, 2017 at 17:23

1 Answer 1

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Reboot your computer with your external screen connected to fix problems like this (DPI) or fuzzy looking programs.

Windows sets your system DPI scaling when you "sign in" or "log in" to match your main display.

Avoiding changing your main display also solves this problem.

With your external screen connected, set your main display back to your high DPI screen: Settings > System > Display > [Select a screen] > [Scroll to the bottom] > Tick "Make this my main display" > Apply.

Recent updates to Windows 10 mostly solved how dialog boxes (like File > Open) handle DPI, and improved things, but lots of programs still look fuzzy or wrong when main display DPI changes.

I sign out and sign in each time I dock/undock from my external screens (connected via Surface Dock). It's annoying, but fuzzy programs are worse!

Lastly, some programs try to handle high DPI and mess it up. Sometimes it's better to override DPI behavior on those programs. Right-click the shortcut or .exe for the program, go to Compatibility, and select "Override high DPI scaling behavior". This worked for me on a game (Total Annihilation) from 1997!

For anybody who wants to get into the dirty details of DPI handling in Windows, this link is everything you need and more https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/desktop/mt843498(v=vs.85).aspx

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