External monitor scales some elements

kathrinev · ‎2022-12-14

Hi!

My external monitor scales certain elements in Archicad in particular. It does this every time I use my monitor, no matter if I reboot or reconnect and no matter which AC version I've used. I have tested the resolution and scaling in Windows, but nothing helps. The weird thing is, text and icons are perfectly sized, but my scroll bars are HUGE. Also, it won't let me scroll the overhead toolbar, so there are certain tools I can't use unless I pull AC over to my laptop screen (where everything looks normal).

This is mostly a problem in Archicad. In Adobe, everything is scaled okay, except my cursor is enormous when working in Indesign or Illustrator. Also, my Windows taskbar is unnecessarily big.

Nothing I have seen on Windows forums have been of any help, so I wondered if any of you know how to customize sizes in Archicad or know a solution to this?

Batu Gezer · 2 weeks ago

Hi everyone,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. I've identified it as a known display scaling issue in how Archicad manages dialogs across multiple monitors with different scaling settings, logged as DEF-22535 in our system. This is responsible for problems regarding the dialog sizes and interface.

The issue arises when dialogs are displayed on a secondary monitor with a scaling factor different from the primary monitor. While the main application window respects internal scaling settings, dialog headers, and borders inherit the primary display's scaling. For example, if your primary monitor uses 250% scaling and the secondary uses 100%, dialog headers may appear oversized, leading to a mismatched interface.

Workarounds:
Until a permanent fix, here are some suggestions to mitigate the issue:

Change the laptop display to a smaller scale. If the scales are the same then the problem disappears.
Use an UHD external display. This way the external display can have a larger scale (that should be equal to the laptop scale so the problem goes away)
Set the external display to be the Main Display. This way the scrollbars on the laptop display will be too small, but this may be the easiest way to get rid of the problem.

Kind regards,

Batu Gezer
Technical Support Engineer | Graphisoft SE

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kathrinev · ‎2022-12-14

It also happens to the title and the scroll bars in the Teamwork Palette, but the rest of the palette is fine.

Barry Kelly · ‎2022-12-14

I would suspect a Windows setting for accessibility or maybe a theme?

But I am not sure why it would affect just your external monitor and not every application.

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11

Marc H · ‎2022-12-15

It may be settings, but if not, I'll relate a similar esoteric issue I had a few years ago with (Windows based) MS Access when running it on a large, high-resolution, extended monitor. (In this case, it was enormous checkboxes showing within input forms. Everything else was normal size.)

My research turned up that some software code is/was 'hard-coded' to launch on specific display specifications. I used a workaround wherein I would open the application on my 'home' (device) screen, then drag the session window over to the external monitor for use. It was kind of inconvenient, but it worked. If this is the case, you may want to relate the issue to GS.

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AC27 USA on 16” 2019 MBP (2.4GHz i9 8-Core, 32GB DDR4, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8G GDDR5, 500GB SSD, T3s, Trackpad use) running Sonoma OS + extended w/ (2) 32" ASUS ProArt PAU32C (4K) Monitors

Rubia Torres · ‎2022-12-19

Hi @kathrinev,

If the previous replies cannot solve your problem and it requires deeper investigation from the Graphisoft team, please contact your local distributor. You can find their contact information here: Get in Touch – Graphisoft.

Regards,

Rubia Torres

Community Specialist | GRAPHISOFT SE
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kathrinev · ‎2022-12-19

Thank you for your replies! Nothing has worked so far, so I'll contact Graphisoft and see if they have a solution.

martin-b · 3 weeks ago

Hi @kathrinev, I know this is an old post, but I seem to have the same problem. As well as my colleagues who have recently migrated to Win11. Did you get any help with this?

martin-b · 3 weeks ago

I have a problem with text size and icon sizes on context menus in Archicad 26 and above when running AC on Windows 11. The problem appears only on external monitors and it is possible that it is a Windows issue, but so far I've seen this behavior only in Archicad.

I've set my external monitors to 100% zoom, but the scaling of the context menus seem to be a little random. Some text sizes get larger and some icons get smaller in context menus when displayed on an external monitor.

Has anyone come across a similar problem?

Operating system used: Windows 11 Pro 23H2

runxel · 3 weeks ago

If the scaling is set to 100% this should usually not occur. However GS ist still using the deprecated, bug ridden, old File Dialog from Win 95, which should not be in use, but alas... So in short: I don't think there is much to be done here from your end.

martin-b · 3 weeks ago

Thanks, at least I won't waste my time looking for a solution that does not seem to exist.

@Minh Nguyen is it maybe a compatibility issue, such that is not mentioned under https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Installation-update/Windows-11/ta-p/306971?

External monitor scales some elements

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