Your computer screen is set to a fairly high resolution and you think this is the best solution in the vast majority of cases. Nevertheless, when you find yourself reading small texts, you encounter difficulties and would therefore like to understand if there is any way to fix it immediately, without having to go through the operating system settings. If this is indeed the case, you should know that zooming the screen with the keyboard might be a great idea.
By resorting to the use of some special key combinations it is in fact possible to increase (as well as decrease) the zoom level of the screen, in such a way as to be able to easily and immediately view even the smallest elements. How do you say? Are you not a great expert in computer science and you fear that it is all too difficult for you? Don’t worry, you have absolutely no reason to be alarmed. Contrary to appearances, it is a really simple operation, to the point that everyone, even those who do not consider themselves a “geek”, can succeed “in the enterprise”.
If, therefore, you are actually interested in learning more, I suggest you take ten free minutes or so and concentrate carefully on reading the information I am about to give you. Are you ready? Yup? All right, then let’s ban the chatter and let’s get busy.
Index
- How to zoom the screen with the keyboard: PC
- Settings
- Zoom in and out of the screen with the keyboard
- How to zoom the screen with the keyboard: Mac
- Settings
- Zoom in and out of the screen with the keyboard
How to zoom the screen with the keyboard: PC
If you are using a PC with Windows and you want to zoom the screen with the keyboard , the instructions you must follow are those below. It’s that easy, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Settings
To zoom the screen with the keyboard on the PC, I recommend that you first of all go to adjust the appropriate settings , then acting on those relating to Magnifier , which is the default Windows tool for the purpose in question.
If you are using Windows 11 , click on the Start button (the one with the Microsoft logo ) that you find on the taskbar , select the Settings icon (the one in the shape of a gear wheel ) in the menu that opens and, in the window you see appear on the desktop, choose Accessibility from the side menu, then click on the word Magnifying glass on the right.
After completing the above steps, bring the switch located next to the Magnifying glass item to Activated , in order to enable the use of keyboard shortcuts, in fact, to zoom the screen.
If you deem it necessary, you can also define the default zoom level by adjusting the Zoom level section and the type of view to set using the View section . For example, you can decide whether you want the magnifying glass to follow the mouse pointer, whether to keep the text cursor in the center of the screen, etc.
If you are using Windows 10 and earlier versions , however, you have to act directly from the Magnifier toolbar. So first call up the tool by clicking on the Start button , typing “magnifying glass” in the search field and selecting the relevant suggestion .
Next, click on the gear wheel button and adjust the settings available in the window that opens, defining the degree of change in the view when using zoom in or zoom out, inversion of colors and choosing how apply the use of Magnifying Glass to follow the mouse, insertion point, or keyboard.
Zoom in and out of the screen with the keyboard
Once you’ve made the settings for zooming the screen with the keyboard on Windows, you can take the real action. So, use the following hotkeys to zoom in or out on the screen with the keyboard , calling up the aforementioned Magnifier tool .
- Use Win + (+)to zoom in on the screen.
- Use Win + (-)to zoom out and combine.
- Use Win + Escto close the Magnifying Glass tool.
Alternatively, you can press the Ctrl + Alt keys and scroll the mouse wheel up or down , depending on whether you want to zoom in or out.
If you then want to change the type of display used for Magnifier, use the key combination Ctrl + Alt + F to switch to Full Screen mode which allows you to zoom the entire screen, Ctrl + Alt + L to switch to Lens mode which allows you to enlarge the screen only in correspondence with the precise area where the mouse pointer is located and Ctrl + Alt + D to switch to Anchored mode to display the zoom only in the special bar visible at the top of the desktop.
If, on the other hand, you want to zoom the screen with the keyboard on Windows by intervening only and exclusively on the Web pages open in the browser , know that you can use the following keyboard shortcuts.
- Use ctrl + (+) to zoom in on the page.
- Use ctrl + (-) to decrease the zoom level of the page.
- Use ctrl + 0 to reset the page zoom to 100%.
- Use ctrl + mouse scroll wheel up to zoom in on the page.
- Use ctrl + mouse scroll wheel down to decrease the zoom level of the page.
How to zoom the screen with the keyboard: Mac
Do you have a Mac and would like to understand how to zoom the screen with the keyboard in this case? Then follow the instructions on what to do that you find below. It’s not complicated, you have my word.
Settings
To be able to zoom the screen with the keyboard on macOS, you must first of all worry about enabling the appropriate settings on the operating system, going to intervene on the preferences relating to accessibility .
So, click on the System Preferences icon (the one with the gear wheel ) that you find on the Dock bar and, in the window that appears on the desktop, select the Accessibility item and the Zoom item in the list on the left.
At this point, if you intend to control the magnification level with the keyboard only, select the Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom option , while if you prefer to use a combination of keyboard and mouse you must select the Use swipe gestures option with modifier keys to zoom . In the second case, you can also select the key to use from the appropriate drop-down menu (by default it is ctrl )
Then intervene on the Magnification style drop-down menu to determine the type of enlargement, selecting the one you prefer from: Full screen to enlarge the entire screen, PIP (Picture in Picture) to intervene on a specific area of the desk or Split screen to view only one half of the screen is magnified.
If you deem it necessary, you can make further adjustments, both relative to the zoom that you have commands to use, by pressing the Advanced button . Through the window that opens you can choose whether to use keyboard shortcuts to adjust the zoom of the window, whether to use the trackpad to zoom in, you can define the interval for fast zoom etc. Then remember to save any changes made by pressing the OK button .
I also point out that if you want to make the text on the screen be enlarged when the cursor is hovered over, you can select the option Enlarge text when the cursor is hovered and press the adjacent Options button to make any extra adjustments, for example by going to change the size of the text, and save the changes made by clicking on the OK button .
Zoom in and out of the screen with the keyboard
Once you’ve configured your macOS zoom settings, you’re finally ready to go zoom in on the keyboard , as well as zoom out . To do this, use the following key combinations.
- Use option + cmd + 8to call up zoom options.
- Use option + cmd + 0to increase the screen magnification level.
- Use option + cmd + (-)to zoom out the screen magnification level.
Also, if you’ve set up keyboard and mouse control, hold down the ctrl key (or whatever you choose to set) and go up with two fingers on the trackpad, Magic Mouse touch surface, or scroll up the scroll wheel. another type of mouse to zoom in. To zoom out, on the other hand, always hold down the ctrl key (or whatever you have decided to set), go down with your fingers or scroll down the mouse wheel. Note that the zoom will follow the mouse pointer when it reaches one of the visible edges.
If you then established that the text visible on the screen is enlarged when the mouse is hovered, you can use this function simply by pressing the cmd key on the keyboard to enlarge what is under the cursor.
Even in the case of macOS, if you are interested in zooming the screen with the keyboard, however, intervening only and only on the Web pages , you can resort to the use of the following special hotkeys which, in fact, allowing you to zoom in and out what is shown in everyone’s windows the main browsers.
- Use cmd + (+)to increase the zoom level of the page.
- Use cmd + (-) to decrease the zoom level of the page.
- Use cmd + 0 to reset the page zoom to 100%.
- Use option + cmd + (+)to enlarge the text size only.
- Use option + cmd + (+)to reduce the text size only.
