Use the Zoom accessibility tool on your Mac’s desktop to enlarge the area of the screen you need if you’re having difficulty seeing specific components. The accessibility features in macOS by Apple offer a variety of methods to personalize the user experience to make the Mac usable by as many people as possible. One of the most practical tools is Zoom, which enlarges the monitor.
For daily tasks, this is useful for individuals with perfect vision and those with visual impairments. The enlargement of the view is very helpful because, on some high-resolution monitors, the text and other elements may be too tiny to read clearly.
How to Zoom Out On Mac
Here’s how to use zoom in and out to your benefit in your workflow.
Enabling the Feature
Users must activate Zoom in the Accessibility menu in order for it to be available by default in macOS.
To use the feature you must:
- Select System Preferences by clicking the Apple icon in the Menu Bar.
- Then select Accessibility.
- Pick Zoom from the left-hand column. It will be near the head of the list, under the Vision section.
- Put a check in the option next to Zoom using keyboard shortcuts.
- Click Use scroll motion with modifier buttons to zoom as an alternative.
- The feature is instantly usable after being enabled.
Simply access the same option and uncheck the appropriate boxes to in case you ever wish to disable the features.
Zoom Control
There are two main methods to launch Zoom, depending on the checkboxes you selected. You can use one of three commands if you decided to activate keyboard shortcuts:
- In order to turn Zoom on and off, press Control-Option-8.
- To raise magnification or zoom in, press Control-Option-=.
- To reduce the magnification or pan out, press Control-Option-Minus.
To change the magnification, use the mouse scroll wheel or a one-finger vertical scroll gesture on a trackpad if you decided to use the scroll gesture. If you chose to use the scroll gesture, you could choose from a number of modifier keys to hold down in order to activate Zoom. Control, Option, and Command are the possible modifier keys in the dropdown box where you can change it. You may also click in the box and hit several modifier keys to create a unique shortcut combination even though it isn’t labeled.
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Styles
There are three different Zoom designs available, and each has advantages and disadvantages.
For Full screen:
When choosing Full screen, the complete screen will be magnified, with the cursor serving as the magnification’s focal point. If more than one monitor is in use, the Choose show option will show a list of the available displays on a Mac. When a display is chosen, the other screen’s enlarged version will be shown on that monitor. If you choose All, you can continue to use numerous monitors while having each of them zoom in to appear as a single screen on your desktop.
For Picture-in-picture
The second choice, which is a rectangular overlay that moves with the cursor around the screen, offers a much more localized magnification than the other two. The overlay rectangle only experiences a change in zoom when the magnification is changed, not the complete display. For occasional fine detail work, like properly placing a cursor when editing a document, this is a really helpful option.
For Split Screen
By selecting Split Screen, the main display will be divided into two areas: the bottom area will show the desktop, and the upper area will show a magnified screen with the emphasis once more on the cursor. To use all of the desktop space, the bottom desktop section will scroll up and down.
Other Advanced Options
Apple offers numerous additional modification options in the Advanced Options pop-up, many of which can alter all three Zoom versions while others are restricted to just a few. Users can set the zoomed-in screen image to move continuously with the pointer, only when the pointer reaches the edge of the zoomed-in section, or to move when the pointer is relatively close to the center of the zoomed image. These options are available under Appearance in the top section.
Additional choices include features like smoothing zoomed-in images, maintaining the zoom level at startup, not moving the zoom window, and tracking the keyboard focus. You can also choose to have the hues in the zoomed-in area be reversed. Even when a notification banner shows outside of the zoomed-in view, you can configure the screen to flash.
You have the option to adjust the size of the zoomed-in screen while using the Adjust Size and Location icon, which is present for both Split Screen and Picture-in-Picture.
Additional keyboard and trackpad controls are available in the Controls tab, including the ability to switch between Full Screen and Picture-in-Picture modes as well as briefly toggle zoom using a keyboard shortcut. Using another key will also temporarily detach the zoom view from the pointer.
Trackpad movements for zooming and changing choices can also be activated, in addition to keyboard shortcuts for changing the zoom window’s size. Additionally, controls are provided to determine the maximum and minimum magnifications of the zoom range.
Hover Text
The “Enable Hover Text” option is part of the Zoom menu but does not explicitly magnify the display. The function allows users to hit the Command key to momentarily magnify only the text underneath the pointer and is accessible without Zoom needing to be enabled.
Additional customization options are available in the Options menu, including the ability to alter the typeface, the size of the zoomed-in text (which can range from 14pt to 128pt), the font’s appearance around the cursor, and the modifier key that activates the feature. Additional color configuration choices include text colors, the color of the insertion point, backdrop, border, and element highlights.
On your Mac, you can zoom in or out in a variety of methods. Short key combinations, your trackpad, or your cursor can all be used for this. On the desktop, Mac also offers extra customizable zoom in/out options.
