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UI Panel Scaling issue in Illustrator Illustrator 2019 and above

2 minute read • Last updated 2024-12-18

In Illustrator Illustrator 2019 (released Q4 2018), Adobe introduced a new Illustrator preference allowing the UI, including panels, to be scaled.

This change came about after some users on very high resolution displays stated that the panels and controls were too small, especially on mobile devices such as the Microsoft Surface Pro and Wacom Cintiqs.

Unfortunately, a known issue in Illustrator Illustrator 2019 that remains in 2020, means that on some systems the Astute Graphics panels do not scale correctly when first installed/launched or the display DPI setting on the Windows operating system is altered. This is illustrated below with the red hatch areas highlighting the scaling problem of the panel content not fitting to the panel in the current Illustrator UI Scale:

To remedy this, in Illustrator Illustrator 2019 and above, take the following steps:

  1. Open Illustrator > Preferences > User Interface > …

  2. Change the UI Scaling slider setting (any direction)

  3. Click on OK

  4. Restart Illustrator as instructed

  5. If the new UI scale is not comfortable after this change, simply change it back and the panels will continue to scale correctly.

This fix should now continue to work unless Illustrator's Preferences or Settings is deleted/reset or the Windows operating system display DPI is adjusted. If this is the case, simply repeat the previous steps.

In 2018, Adobe stated that they are working on a fix but this has yet to become apparent. Astute Graphics’ panels will instantly benefit from this fix when made available by Adobe.