InDesign is an HiDPI aware application. It is aware of different monitor Dots per inch (DPI) settings and dynamic DPI changes. The User Interface (UI) looks consistently good across a wide variety of DPI display settings. With support for DPI awareness in InDesign, the UI is in a predictable state on hidpi display, sharp and clear UI elements, visually appealing under various scaling factors.
Feature |
Windows XP |
Windows Vista |
Windows 7 |
Windows 8 |
Windows 8.1 |
Control Panel setting of DPI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
DPI virtualization of DPI-unaware applications |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
DPI virtualization of system DPI-aware applications |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
API to declare DPI awareness |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
APIs to retrieve system metrics and DPI |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Window message for DPI change |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
APIs to retrieve monitor DPI |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Requires a restart/log off for monitor DPI change |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
No |
Requires a restart/log off for system DPI change |
Restart |
Restart |
Log off |
Log off |
Log off |
Per user DPI setting |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Auto configuration of DPI at first logon |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Auto configuration of DPI at every logon |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Per-monitor DPI |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Viewing distance incorporated in default DPI calculation |
No |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Windows calculates the system DPI value on first logon for selecting the DPI that provides the best experience for the given hardware. You can override the default system DPI in Control Panel to make the UI larger or smaller than the default.
To change the DPI setting in Windows 7 and Windows 8, follow these steps:
-
In the Custom DPI Setting dialog box, in the Scale to this percentage of normal size list, enter the percentage you want, and click OK. In this case, the percentage value of 150% of the default value of 96 DPI is equal to 144 DPI. Notice the check box Use Windows XP Style DPI Scaling. Selecting this check box disables DPI virtualization.
The Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays checkbox determines whether Windows 8 (not selected) or Windows 8.1 (selected) scaling behavior is applied:
- Windows 8 behavior: DPI-unaware desktop applications are scaled according to the DPI of the primary monitor. Users can change this system-wide scaling factor by selecting a different radio button or entering a custom value.
- Windows 8.1 behavior: DPI-unaware desktop applications are scaled according to the DPI of each monitor individually. Users can further adjust by using the desktop scaling override.
If you do not check the Let Windows manage my display settings checkbox, the Windows 8 functionality is active. The Control Panel displays the Windows 8 radio buttons for applying a system-wide scale factor. In other words, per-monitor scaling is disabled.
If you check the Let Windows manage my display settings checkbox, the Windows 8.1 per-monitor scaling functionality is active, and Control Panel replaces the radio buttons with a Smaller/Larger slider control. This control sets a desktop scaling override. The slider can have several settings depending on the range of DPI plateaus in the current machine configuration.
If you apply a new desktop scaling override value, the scaling of each monitor is adjusted up or down accordingly, if possible. If a monitor is already at the minimum (96 DPI = 100% scaling) or maximum (192 DPI = 200% scaling) the override has no effect for that monitor. If scaling up for a monitor would result in its virtual size being less than the minimum resolution of 1024x720, the override has no effect.
When you apply a change to the Smaller/Larger slider control (via the Apply button), the rescaling takes effect immediately. This bitmap rescaling affects all applications. DPI-aware applications can have some content blurriness until the next sign-in when they reread the DPI and render themselves accordingly.
To set a custom DPI setting in Windows 8.1 without per-monitor scaling, perform these steps:
- On the Start menu, click Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, and then click Display.
- Check the Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays box. The Windows 7 and Windows 8 screen is displayed. The familiar radio buttons allow you to change the DPI.
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