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Applies to all editions of Windows Vista.

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Make the text on your screen larger or smaller

You can make the text and other items, such as icons, on your screen easier to see by making them larger. You do this by increasing the dots per inch (DPI) scale. You can also decrease the DPI scale to make text and other items on your screen smaller, so that more information fits on the screen.

Picture of the DPI Scaling dialog boxChange the size of the text on your screen

  1. Open Personalization by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Personalization.

  2. In the left pane, click Adjust font size (DPI). Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

  3. In the DPI Scaling dialog box, do one of the following:

    • To increase the size of text and other items on the screen, click Larger scale (120 DPI)–make text more readable, and then click OK.

    • To decrease the size of text and other items on the screen, click Default scale (96 DPI)–fit more information, and then click OK.

    To see the changes, close all of your programs, and then restart Windows.

Show all

To create a custom DPI scale

  1. Open Personalization by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Personalization.

  2. In the left pane, click Adjust font size (DPI). Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

  3. In the DPI Scaling dialog box, click Custom DPI.

    Picture of the Custom DPI Setting dialog boxCustomize the size of the text that displays

  4. In the Scale to this percentage of normal size list, enter the percentage you want, and then click OK.

    To see the changes, close all of your programs, and then restart Windows.

To make text and on-screen items clearer in programs that aren't designed for high DPI

If you set the DPI higher than 96, and you are running Windows Aero (the premium visual experience of Windows Vista), the text and other items on the screen might appear blurry in some programs that are not designed for high–DPI display in this version of Windows. You can avoid this issue by using Windows XP–style DPI scaling for these programs.

Detail of the Custom DPI Setting dialog boxSome programs display better using Windows XP style of DPI scaling

  1. Open Personalization by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Personalization.

  2. In the left pane, click Adjust font size (DPI). Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

  3. In the DPI Scaling dialog box, click Custom DPI.

  4. Select the Use Windows XP style DPI scaling check box, and then click OK.

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