blurred script at headlines and files

[Cliff]

Hey there,

I´m Cliff from Bavaria and work with the XChange-Viewer. I used it since many years with WIN7 on a 24" full-hd monitor. Everything fine.
2 weeks ago I added a new 27" ips full-hd to the old win7-laptop. Still everything´s fine.

Now I came around with a new dell 3591 precision workstation laptop with win11 which should replace the old win7-laptop (Lenovo tp e540). Now I have the problem (only with the xchange-viewer) that the headlines and also the files I work with are blurred when I use the win11. It´s quite difficult to work with the programm as I have to concentrate very much. It´s kind of irritating to read the text.
See the attached pictures:
1. picture is done with win11 on the 27" monitor (picture was taken at 131854)
2. picture is done with win 7 on the same 27" monitor (taken at 133703)
In both cases I had all the conditions equal (e.g. xchange-viewer in full size on the monitor)

Whats´s interesting: the very first headline ("image - PDF-XChange Viewer") is not blurred with win11. But all the rest...

Do I have to adjust something? Is there a Problem between win 11 and XChange-Viewer?

Thx for your help!!!!

2025-04-04_131854.png

2025-04-04_133703.png

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Cliff,

Welcome to our forums.
The Viewer was discontinued over a decade ago, and has not really seen any development - particularly for compatibility with Win 11.
However I believe that the issue will be with Windows itself and maybe some scaling being applied?
Or maybe your new laptop has a screen with a different resolution and that other resolution is "stretched" to fit the available space on your separate monitor?

Please check the resolution and monitor mirroring and scaling on the Win 11 Machine, and adjusting those should help!

And I would also recommend you to download and give the Viewer's replacement - the PDF-XChange Editor a try as well:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/pdf-xchange-editor

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Cliff]

Hi,

meanwhile I found another window with the same habit. It´s in MS outlook, when I tried to download some attachement. RMB to the attachement, then "Speichern unter" (Save as??) and another window came up. See the attachement. In the background you can see the clear script of outlook.
Same principle here: The very first headline is clear, the rest is blurred...

Maybe/probably a win11 problem?

Thx...

@stefan
No, the resolution is the same on the new laptop. Same screen size like the old lenovo.

[Cliff]

Another update:

If I do the same procedure (outlook) on the laptop screen, the text is as clear as the very first headline...

Further tests showed that:
- it is not a problem of the cable connection: First I worked with USB-C, then switched to HDMI. In HDMI I had the same problems. But the HDMI-test brought me to the next thing
- It depends on what you use the monitor for: When I use it to "mirror" the laptop screen (2x the same picture) I don´t have a problem on the monitor nor on the laptop. When I "add" the monitor to have more space, then I have the problems on the monitor, but not on the laptop screen...

Confused...

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello Cliff,

Again - this is an issue with the resolutions and how that monitor is used as a second screen by the laptop.
There is likely some scaling, or the resolution for the external (and likely larger) screen is not the native one for it.
So please do check your settings in windows and you should figure it out. This is certainly not an issue of the Viewer or Editor, but of your monitors set up for that laptop.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[Cliff]

Hi all,

@ Stefan
Yes, you´re right. With your tipps and with what I figured out that it not can be solved but influenced by the scaling in the screen adjustments.
If I have the recommended scaling of laptop screen and monitor it doesn´t work (100% vs. 125%). If I do the same scaling, there are no problems. I have to do some further tests, if maybe something in between might reduce the now upcoming effect, that either the laptop screen is very small or the monitor is very big.
But - what I still doesn´t get in my mind is, why the very first headline is ok and only the rest of some specific windows (some in outlook and also PDF-XChange) doesn´t work well. Also here: It is not a Problem of PDF-XChange, but a problem of all the combinations of resolution, screen sizes, scaling... Is it still not possible to adjust stuff like this in a good manner in 2025 - remember: the first headline works!? Confused...

So, anyway, thanks a lot for your tipps

BR
Cliff

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, Cliff

The biggest issue here is that you are using a 15 year old software, the Viewer was not designed with high DPI/variable resolution support in mind and has been discontinued years ago. As such, it is highly dependent on how windows chooses to modify the UI scaling, and will experience this fuzzyness in most cases.

Window title's are often handled by Windows itself, so in these areas, they will often appear perfectly formed to the scaling value, while the content is more difficult. In practice, the applications text and icons need to be implemented in a way unique to modern OS development, to avoid the fuzzyness you are seeing, and the Viewer was discontinued before there was any standard set for those practices.

In effect, this was caused by the combination of varied scaling and the age of the software in use. As Stefan mentioned in passing, I am confident that if you upgrade to our Editor, which is our current flagship product and is maintained with modern OS Compatibility in mind, you should find that the scaling capabilities are much more robust.

Kind regards,