My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic and makes it impossible to edit hierarchical charts

Question

My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic and makes it impossible to edit hierarchical charts

Bryan G 65

My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic. The Text is in a very large font and even when resizing the window (SmartArt Text Window) it does not show all of the fields. I have tried opening up older files (org charts) and have the same issue. This makes editing hierachical charts almost impossible. I have added some images as an example with place holder text in the org chart.

Note: this same issue is present in SmartArt on word.

MackBookPro - M4 Pro
MacOS Sequoya - Version 15.5 (24F74
Microsoft PowerPoint - Version 16.98 (25060824)

Screenshot 2025-06-23 at 6.58.05 PM

Screenshot 2025-06-23 at 7.07.41 PM

Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-23T23:10:30.1933333+00:00

Sorry for the typo should read "My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic and makes it impossible to edit hierarchical charts"

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Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-23T23:10:30.1933333+00:00

Sorry for the typo should read "My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic and makes it impossible to edit hierarchical charts"

Answer 1

So, after quite a bit of frustration, I've found the root cause and a workaround.

Yes it is a bug in Office and it relates specifically to the use of HiDPI monitor resolutions also known as Retina Display on the Mac.

The answer provided by Bryan G is correct, except that the reason why it worked for him at 1920x1200 was not only because he changed the resolution, but because the native resolution he used (1512x982) is the retina display resolution of his MacBook, whereas the 1920x1200 is a scaled resolution that does not use HiDPI.

I am working from a 2 screen setup and my primary screen can do both hidpi and scaled resolutions. My main resolution is 3008x1692. When I use that resolution in HiDPI mode, I get the bug. If I use that same resolution in non-HiDPI mode, then the smartart box displays properly. The trade-off of course is that that non-HiDPI mode is a bit more blurry on the eyes.

How to switch to a non-HDPI resolution?

Go to System Settings->Displays, click Advanced... and activate "Show Resolutions as List" and Click "Done". Then on the Displays control panel, toggle "Show All Resolutions" (at the bottom of the list). When you do that, you will see some resolutions settings duplicate, and one of the two will have "(low resolution)" after it. Those are the ones you can use to show the smartart box properly.

CleanShot 2025-07-22 at 15.03.52

Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-07-22T21:38:39.9466667+00:00

Thanks for working though this and I do hope that Microsoft fixes the issue in future updates.
Xavier 90 Reputation points

2025-07-22T23:53:07.3833333+00:00

Should be an easy one to isolate, feels like someone screwed the rendering code in the last release.
Yogesh Prasad 0 Reputation points

2025-08-03T08:15:31.11+00:00

Its frustrating. It happened on my computer in late June or Early July. Before then, everything was fine.

Answer 2

Dora-T 4,105 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Bryan G

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A Forum.

I understand that the SmartArt Text Pane is not displaying all of the content, which makes it difficult to edit hierarchical charts in PowerPoint and Word on macOS Sequoya 15.5.

Based on your description and the screenshots you shared, I tested SmartArt on my end but wasn’t able to reproduce the issue.

To help better understand the problem, could you please clarify the following:

When did the issue first start?
Does it happen with all SmartArt graphics or only specific files?
Are you using any custom fonts, or do you have any system-wide display scaling settings enabled?

In the meantime, here are a few steps you might try:

Reduce the font size in the SmartArt Text Pane to see if more content becomes visible.
Try editing the SmartArt using Outline View (if available), or switch to another layout to refresh the rendering.
Create a new file with a basic org chart to test whether the issue persists.
Resize the SmartArt Text Pane by dragging its edges to increase the visible area.
Adjust the slide’s zoom level — decreasing it may help fit more content into view.

I am looking forward to your update and I am happy to assist further if needed.

If the answer is partially helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-24T15:34:24.9933333+00:00
Hi Dora,

Thanks for your suggestions, there are options that I did not initially think of. Unfortunately no success as yet, here are answers to your questions on the issue and feedback on your suggestions.

Questions

When did the issue first start?

Brand new laptop and problem started on first use (post install) of MS PPT and Word,

Does it happen with all SmartArt graphics or only specific files?

Happens with all SmartArt types of graphics where there is a pop out for the text box

Are you using any custom fonts, or do you have any system-wide display scaling settings enabled?

No System wide Display Scaling (see image below)

No Custom Fonts

On your suggestions;

Reduce the font size in the SmartArt Text Pane to see if more content becomes visible.

How to I do this? even if I select the text in the text pane, it does not allow me to change size.

When I select ext in the text pane and try to change font size, the text pane disappears.

Try editing the SmartArt using Outline View (if available), or switch to another layout to refresh the rendering.

This has no effect on the issue - issue still present

Create a new file with a basic org chart to test whether the issue persists.

Have done this, word and PPT, issue presents itself at each occasion.

Resize the SmartArt Text Pane by dragging its edges to increase the visible area.

Have done this and while it does show a bit more text when I get to a layer 4 in an org chart I can no longer access even when in edge to edge mode on my screen.

Adjust the slide’s zoom level — decreasing it may help fit more content into view.

Have done this and it has no effect on the size of the text in the SmartArt (pop-out)Text box

Again thanks for your ongoing support.

Image 1 (System Text Size)

Image 2 (365 Web Version of PPT)

This is what it's supposed to look like.
Dora-T 4,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-25T04:06:15.66+00:00

Hi @Bryan G

Thank you so much for your detailed response and for providing additional information. It’s greatly appreciated and really helps us better understand the situation.

I’ll continue testing on my end based on the details you’ve provided to further investigate the issue. Please rest assured that as soon as we have any findings or updates, I’ll get back to you immediately, you’ll be the first to know.

Thanks again for your cooperation and understanding. If there’s anything else you’d like to share in the meantime, feel free to reach out.
Dora-T 4,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-25T06:50:54.24+00:00

Hi @Bryan G

Thank you once again for your detailed feedback and for your patience throughout this process.

Based on the information you shared, I did some additional testing on my Mac. It turns out that the font size in the SmartArt Text Pane can’t be adjusted directly. Even when selecting the text, formatting options like font size changes aren’t available. I appreciate your patience regarding the earlier misunderstanding, and your clarification was very helpful.

This behavior appears to be by design, and while it may not be ideal for editing deeper hierarchical levels, you can try expanding the Text Pane by dragging its edges to improve visibility. I understand this may not fully resolve the issue, and I’m really sorry for the inconvenience it’s causing.

We truly appreciate your patience and understanding as we continue to look into this. If you have further questions, or if I’ve misunderstood anything, please feel free to correct me, I’m happy to assist further.
Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-25T15:09:49.5633333+00:00

Hi Dora,

thanks for your feedback, unfortunately the solution you provided does not work, Its there a way to link a video to my response in order to walk you, or others though my issue?

Please note that I do not have this issue on my MacMini (M2) running the same version of MacOS and MS PPT and Word.

Thanks

Bryan
Dora-T 4,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-26T07:05:59.04+00:00

Hi @Bryan G

Thank you so much for your patience and for taking the time to respond.

I wanted to let you know that the font size in the SmartArt Text Pane can’t be adjusted directly. This is actually a design limitation in the current version of the product, it’s working as intended, even though it might not be ideal in every situation. I know this can be frustrating, especially when working with more complex charts, and I’m really sorry for the inconvenience.

The best workaround for now is to manually resize the Text Pane to make the content more visible. I’ve also looked into Microsoft’s documentation, and so far, I haven’t found any official guidance that suggests font size in the Text Pane can be changed.

If this feature is important to your workflow, I’d definitely recommend submitting feedback to Microsoft via the Ideas · Community. User suggestions are incredibly valuable and often help shape future updates.

Thanks again for your patience and understanding. If you have any other questions or run into further issues, feel free to reach out, I’ll happy to help.
Anderson, Amy 10 Reputation points

2025-06-27T14:12:16.21+00:00

I am encountering the same issue - it is impossible to re-size the smart art text pane to a size that will accommodate showing all info with the (default) display font size. I use this tool all. the time, and the bug is new within the past 2 weeks or so. This needs a fix at it severely limits the usability of smart art. Now I am going into other programs to design and importing as PNGs instead, which I really do not want to do for versioning control reasons. Please fix this.
I should also add the text pane cursor movement and clicking is not working properly either. I cannot click into a prior level or text row at all - thus editing is not possible. When I attempt to edit a prior row by clicking on it, the cursor does not move or insert and the text is not highlighted. I cannot edit anything and instead need to delete the whole row using the +/- icon and re-type the whole thing.

Guess I will be creating my slides in Canva from now on.... grrrr
Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-27T14:49:10.3+00:00

Hi Amy,

I am also having this problem, on top of all the others, but was unable to verbalize it as well and as clearly as you!

“the text pane cursor movement and clicking is not working properly either. I cannot click into a prior level or text row at all - thus editing is not possible.” - Amy A.

@Dora T. I do believe these issues are all related Is there a way to rollback ?
Praga 5 Reputation points

2025-06-30T08:08:40.94+00:00

I too am encountering the same issue. Surprised to hear from @Dora-T that it is Microsoft's design. Indeed, it's clearly a product issue.

Pls provide a fix asap, already many users got impacted with this.
Dora-T 4,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-06-30T10:09:50.35+00:00
Hi @Bryan G

Thanks again for your follow-up.

I truly appreciate your patience and the information you’ve shared. I’ve tested this issue thoroughly on both macOS and Windows to cover a range of environments, but my testing setup is still somewhat limited. As a result, I may not be able to fully replicate what you're experiencing across all devices or configurations.

As a forum moderator, my role is to support discussions and share insights based on publicly available Microsoft documentation and community knowledge. While I don’t have access to internal tools or channels to directly investigate or escalate technical issues. I’m here to help guide you toward the most appropriate resources and support options.

Here are a few options that might be helpful:

Submit feedback via the Microsoft Feedback Portal. This helps the product team better understand the scope of the issue and prioritize it for future updates.

If you still believe this is a product issue that requires closer attention, you can raise a support ticket directly with Microsoft Support for deeper investigation.

If you’d like to contact Microsoft directly, here are your options:

For business accounts: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn.

For personal accounts: Contact Us - Microsoft Support.

Customer service phone numbers: Customer service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

If there’s anything else I can do to support you, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m happy to help.
Bryan G 65 Reputation points

2025-06-30T13:13:32.06+00:00

Hi Dora,

Thanks I will reach out to MS support and if they can provide the answer to the issue I will update the people on this post who appear to be having the same issue.

Kind regards,

Bryan
Dora-T 4,105 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-02T06:47:57.96+00:00

Hi @Bryan G

Thank you for your reply and for being willing to share any updates with others in the thread.

I believe that will be helpful for those facing the same issue. I hope your support experience goes smoothly and leads to a good resolution.

If there’s anything else I can assist with in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Yogesh Prasad 0 Reputation points

2025-08-03T08:16:42.11+00:00

None of this works.

Answer 3

Quite a few other Mac users have been having the same problem, so it's a bug in a recent update. But your temporary fix is new. Please report this to Microsoft so they can fix it in the next update.

Start by making a sample slide with your screen shots. Then choose Help>Feedback>Report a problem. Describe the issue and your temporary workaround. That should help them debug this more quickly. Include a screen shot of your sample slide. Submitting sends the report to the Mac programming team. They are unlikely to reply, but they do fix bugs when they get enough reports.

Answer 4

Hi All, I believe I have found the cause of this issue, however the solution (until Microsoft Fixes it) does require you to live with a different resolution on your laptop's built in display or use a secondary monitor for your SmartArt to work.

Just as a reminder I am running a 14" MacBook Pro M4 and my (default) resolution is set to 1512 x 892 which from my understanding is optimized for visual clarity and readability.

If you change the display setting to 1920 x 1200 ..... the issues compltely dissapears! its like magic. Note to test this please close PPT before changing the resolution on the display.

I have not tried this at the higher settings, and for now will need to resort to running PPT on my secondary display when I am in need of this functionality.

Please let me know if this works for you or if there is a clearer way of explaining it to others.

PS. I like my 1512 x 892 settings and will have to make do until MS fixes this issue in upcoming updates to the Office Suite.

Praga 5 Reputation points

2025-07-02T12:59:44.3433333+00:00

Thanks @Bryan G . That works but other fonts are too small to read. Yes, we have to wait until Microsoft fixes the bug.

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My SmartArt text pane is not showing all the contents of the graphic and makes it impossible to edit hierarchical charts

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