#NiftyKeyboardShortcuts: Zoom (CTRL + mouse wheel)

Zooming in and out is one of those all-purpose techniques, the shortcut for which prevents you searching for the magnifier in a dull version of Where's Wally? - and even when you find the icon the repeated clicking quickly becomes as irritating as a texter who doesn't know how to turn off the bleeping sound of each and every keystroke on their phone.

CTRL + mouse wheel

Having called this series 'Nifty Keyboard Shortcuts', it seems like a medium-sized fail to recourse to the mouse so soon. However, although there are keyboard-only options, the CTRL + mouse wheel option does feel incredibly slick. It's possible that you will shoot past the required magnification faster than a bolting horse, but the ease of moving back and forth provides a reassuring sense of control.

In addition to personal use, the quickness of the zoom shortcut is especially handy if needed to enlarge or reduce displays being projected for audiences. Whack your screen up to 300% to zoom in on the crucial figure or chart, then back down for the rest of your presentation. Don't forget the under-used PgUp and PgDn buttons to move around at higher zoom levels without the tedium of waiting for the scroll bar.

Slider

For those who still like to click, the slider at the bottom right of the page is still a decent option. My preference is to click on the displayed percentage to bring up the zoom dialogue box, where you can type a custom zoom or pick one of the defaults.

VBA

Anyone wanting to zoom as part of a macro will be interested in the code line:

ActiveWindow.Zoom = x

where you can substitute x for the desired magnification.

The split screen shows this having been executed (200%) in the Immediate pane:

You could say that navigation shortcuts don't actually do anything with your files. But these are some of the easiest wins in improving your productivity. They put you in position, pronto, which is why this is at the top of my shortcut recommendations.

#zoom #mousewheel #magnify