Powerpoint 2016 Desktop does not scale interface on multi-monitor setups

Question

Hi,

Surprised this bug is not yet fixed from PPT 2013. In does not occur in Word or Outlook.

I have a Surface Pro 3 with an external HD monitor running Windows 10. The Surface screen is scaled to 150% DPI, the HD monitor, which is the main screen, is in native 100% scaling.

Powerpoint 2016 does not scale its windows when it is dragged to the high-res Surface screen, but all the fonts and UI elements remain tiny at 100% size.

Answer 1

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that, at long last, this issue has been fixed.

The current issue of PowerPoint not automatically scaling to different monitor sizes when in edit view is addressed with Windows 10 Anniversary Update version 1607. With the updated fix, PowerPoint will adjust to the correct screen size when dragged to different monitors.

To access this fix, be sure you have Windows 10 version 1607 or later, and PowerPoint version 16.0.7341.2032 or later, released on September 21, 2016 for Current Channel customers.

To get the latest Office updates, click File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.

Again, many thanks for you patience and feedback.

Best,

-Erik, Office Newsroom

Answer 2

PowerPoint has fixed this DPI scaling issue in the latest update of Office 2016 and the application now behaves in the same manner as Word and Excel when dragged to a monitor with a different DPI. You will need both the latest PowerPoint update as well as the recent Windows Anniversary update.

The fix will be available to those in the Office Insider program in the next week or two, and will hit general availability by end of September.

Learn more about Office Insiders or join today here:

https://products.office.com/en-us/office-insider

Read more about the DPI scaling improvements in Windows 10 Anniversary Update in this blog post:

https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askcore/2016/08/16/display-scaling-changes-for-the-windows-10-anniversary-update/

Note: At this time, the fix is only available for Office 2016 click to run users, but the team is working hard to port this fix to other versions of PowerPoint.

Thanks again for your patience and feedback on this complicated issue.

Emily Tohir

PowerPoint Program Manager

Answer 3

For me the update didn't work either. Well done MS.

But this did!:

1. Search for powerpnt.exe.manifest in your office 2016 root
2. Right-click on powerpnt.exe.manifest and change the permission so you can modify the file
3. Right-click on powerpnt.exe.manifest and open with Wordpad
4. Change the line

    <dpiAware>True/PM</dpiAware>

    to

    <dpiAware>False/PM</dpiAware>

5. Save file

(at least with Office 365, you don't need to do anything in the registry as it's already looking at the external manifest file.)

Wishing ya'll a lot of success!

Answer 4

Hi, 

I also reported this exact same problem in this post with screen capture, PowerPoint is actually very sharp while zoomed in, but really it's not a great solution. Now, I am trying to use outlook on the secondary screen and it's all blurry > Sharp on 125% scaling and blurry on 100% scaling, how weird!

If I set the external screen as the main monitor (and close/re-open session), then the problem is the opposite > Sharp on 100% scaling and blurry on 125% scaling, ... !

There are more and more high res screens in laptops on the market, you guys should really find a way to improve this (sharp and properly scaled for all office app across all displays). I know different per screen scaling is a new feature in W10 but that's why we buy "Microsoft" Windows and Office together... Is this at least on your roadmap ? This has a bad impact on my productivity and on my eyes... Please update us

(some windows native apps like File Explorer work fine  -stays sharp and change size- while switching screen )

EDIT : I found some workarounds, not perfect but that's a start:

• If you prefer sharp rendering across all displays (zoomed in app on secondary display), disable DPI scaling in other apps than Powerpoint (go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16, right click each .exe, go to compatibility tab and select Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings. More details here)
• if you prefer size over sharp rendering, change the office apps manifest file in the same folder as in the previous tip and follow the instructions given here). If your primary monitor is scaled, the app will become blurry there , and sharp on the external display (with W10). 

I'll go for the big sharp version everywhere to save my eyes

Answer 5

Thanks for taking the time to report the issue.

This is a known issue for PowerPoint. The key reason PowerPoint behaves this way is - PowerPoint doesn't allow the system to auto scale the UI because we want to manage the resolution in PowerPoint, so we always get the true resolution to maintain the high fidelity of Slide Show.

We know it's not a perfect solution. But the alternative would be the slide show would not be rendered in full fidelity. 

Thanks again!