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This article is updated through March 10th, 2015.

Act! Display Issues on High Resolution Displays

This problem has been plaguing Act! for a few years now.  It seems every time someone purchases a new laptop or Windows Tablet, we get a followup phone call that their Act! is not displaying properly.

UPDATE: There is finally a fix available! Download here. This fix will be included automatically with all Act! versions 18.1 and later.

Symptoms

If you’re reading this, you probably have already experienced these issues:

• Certain menu options — such as those within Preferences — don’t fill up the window properly.
• Some text is too large for it’s text box.
• Notes & History tabs, etc., are too small.
• Menu Icons are tiny.

Cause

The cause is due to a combination of high resolution, and DPI / zoom settings.  New displays have very high resolutions, which look great.  But high res has a counter-effect of making things appear proportionally smaller.   As a counter-counter-effect, manufacturers often set the DPI (dots per inch) setting to be 125% or 150% larger.  This really throws off Act!.

The Fix

The primary fix for this issue will be bundled up and included with version update 18.1, available in May 2016.
If you don’t have version 18, you can Download and run the executable file here. (Close out all running applications before applying the fix).
Credit goes to Act! forums user JagStyles for helping out the whole Act! world for this great dev work.
Numerous users are reporting great success with the above file.

Other Workarounds

There are other ways to tinker with your display to get it workable, if the above fix did not work for you.

Fix #1:  Disable display scaling

• Close Act!.
• Right click on the Act! program icon from your desktop, and go into properties.
  • (If Act! is pinned to the taskbar, you can shift+right click to get into properties)
• Click the compatibility tab
• Check the box for “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings“
• Launch Act! and test.

We have mixed results with this one.  If you’re lucky, it’s fixed.  Often, nothing changes.  If this did not help, then go back into the properties and un-check that box to undo the change.

Proceed onto fix #2…

Fix #2:  Lower your resolution & DPI settings

• Close Act!
• Right click on the desktop, open Screen Resolution
• You’ll have different resolution options depending on your display.  I typically target something around the ~ 1600 x 900 range.
• Apply the changes, confirm changes. Keep the Screen Resolution panel open.
• Click the link for “Make text and other items larger or smaller”
• Choose the Smaller – 100%
• Apply the changes.  You will need to reboot.
• Test Act! again when it launches.

Windows DPI Settings

Lowering your resolution is, of course, not an ideal solution.  Nothing is really wrong with it — but it does limit you from using that nice fancy high-res display.  The new settings should still be usable to you though.  Test it for yourself — you can always roll back the change at any time.

As always, call us at 716-837-5727 for remote assistance!