Photoshop CS4: scaling the UI?

[Paske71]

Hi,

ive got a new 40" 4K Monitor and want to use PS CS4, but its nearly impossible to look at the micro-menus now.

Is there any way to scale the UI in CS4?

As it seems, one cannot upgrade to Photoshop CS6 (which has a scaling-option integrated as i was told) anymore (since 2012? ...never needed an upgrade, never thought about this becoming a problem ) nor even buy this software stand-alone? I dont want to CLOUD, so no chance to use PS at all anymore (except buying another smaller monitor)?

[gener7 · Accepted solution]

The best answer I have is to try a lower display resolution and give up the full 4k, or as you brought up, buy an external one for Photoshop with the standard resolution.

CS4 was released when these 4k monitors did not exist. When Adobe released CS5 and subsequent versions, all fixes on CS4 were stopped at 12.0.4 There are no hacks to fix this.

Buy Photoshop Elements if you want to own.

[Paske71]

v12.0.4, hmm....how come ive got 11.0.2 and couldnt update for years?

anyhow, thx. for your fast responses, so im using Affinity Photo now.

[gener7]

My mistake. CS4 did go to 11.0.2  I deal with CS5 questions so much, I used its version number, 12.0.4.

[davescm]

gener7 has answered the question on the monitor scaling.

However you also said that "I dont want to CLOUD". If you mean you don't want a subscription - fair enough. If you mean you don't want to use the "cloud" based services, such as the library, storage etc.  - you don't have to even with CC.

Dave

[Archmond]

And an Even Better Solution FOR 4K Monitor + Windows 10 (I TESTED PERSONALLY)
NOTE: MAKE SURE PROGRAM IS CLOSED FIRST
1. Simply go into the "Properties" of "Adobe Photoshop CS4" Shortcut
      (RIGHT CLICK ON ICON/SHORTCUT > PROPERTIES)
2. Select one of the Upper Tabs named "Compatibility"
3. Second to LAST Button should say "Change high DPI Settings" Click on it.
4. Make sure to CHECKMARK the following options:
4.1 Checkmark the first box "Use this setting to fix scaling......."

4.2 From the FIRST DROP DOWN MENU Select "I open this program."
4.3 Checkmark "Override HIGH DPI Scaling"
4.4 From the SECOND DROP DOWN MENU Select "System"
5. Click "OK" and that extra window will close.
6. On the remaining window, just to be absolutely certain that the settings stick. I always Click "Apply" and "OK" one more time.

And it is Done.
It has Worked for me, Hopefully it will work for you too!
Best of Luck

Archie

[benenavi]

This worked for me!  Thanks.

[D Fosse]

Actually it doesn't work, it scales everything up including the image. In other words, it turns your expensive high resolution monitor into a standard low resolution one. You could have saved the money.

[D Schaefer]

While Archmond's solution doesn't result in a 4k CS4 experience, I'd argue that it's still preferrable to the "correct" answer insofar as...

1. The "correct" answer (reduce the monitor's resolution OR buy a separate low-res monitor) doesn't result in a 4k interface either
2. While it doesn't scale the UI, it does improve the legibility of the menus (which was Paske71's primary complaint) without
   • causing the user to have to use a lower resolution for all of their non-photoshop tasks (users still running CS4, like myself, may be more casual in their photoshop use & not necessarily need to edit in 4k, but may be interested in leveraging the 4k resolution for gaming, movies or other tasks),
   • go through the hassle of changing the resolution every time Photoshop work needs to be done, or
   • purchasing a separate monitor

[costal977942]

Thanks for the great, detailed answer! So refreshing to get an accurate response.

[RenoCasinoChips]

Thank you so much, Archmond!  I too am stuck on CS4.  I lovde the macro function, so Elemants is not an option.  I put up with this every since I upgraded to Windows 10.  I just bought a new Win11 laptop and decided to try again for better compatibility.  I stumbled on your solution and it works perfectly - giving me a normal sized UI on my high res monitor.