Tip 878: Outlook dialogs don't display properly

We see questions like these each week:

The Options dialog does not fit on the screen, so many of the functions remains hidden.

The scroll bars are missing from the notes field in Contacts

This is the result of the display settings in Windows. Either the screen resolution is set too low or the PPI percentage is set too high.

In Windows 7, right click on the desktop and choose Screen Resolution; you should use 1024×768 or greater screen resolution. Next, right click on the desktop and choose Personalize, then Display to check the PPI % setting. If the screen resolution is over 1024×768, a 125% PPI should be mostly Ok, with most, if not all, dialogs on the visible screen. Don't use 150% unless the screen resolution is much higher.

In Windows XP, you can access this setting by right clicking on the desktop: choose Properties, Settings tab to check your screen resolution. Click the Advanced button on this screen to check the DPI settings.

Published June 17, 2011. Last updated on June 18, 2011.

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