If you are new to Mac, especially if you are coming from a Windows PC, zooming in and out on the screen is not always the easiest thing to figure out. Even if you are an experienced Mac user, you might not be aware of all of your options when it comes to zooming with a mouse.
How to Zoom in Using Your Mouse
If you are a heavy mouse user, you will likely want to set up your Mac to zoom in with your mouse wheel. Here is how to set that up:
- Click on the Apple icon in the upper left corner of your screen.
- Click System Settings
- Click Accessibility --> Zoom
4. Switch on Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom
5. Choose which modifier key you would like to use with the Modifier key for scroll gesture dropdown list.
Now you are set up to use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom. Keep in mind that zooming in this way zooms in the entire screen(s) on your Mac. You can alter this behavior using the Zoom style dropdown:
There are three Zoom style options with the following effects:
- Full Screen - this will zoom the entire screen (including additional screens) all at once - including all windows.
- Split Screen - this will create a temporary window at the top of your screen which will show the zoomed in area.
- Picture-in-Picture - when your modifier key is held down, it will create a small window that you can zoom in on. This is helpful for reading small text in certain areas of the screen.
How to Zoom Using Keyboard Shortcuts
There are three keyboard shortcuts for zooming. Lets look at them.
Zoom In
Zoom Out
Toggle Zoom
Zoom Using Hover Text
Hover text is a handy feature for vision impaired Mac users. It is a feature that is always on and when you hover over text, it features it in a very large window in a text size that you can determine. To enable Hover Text and open the options for it follow these steps:
- In Zoom preferences, switch on the button for Hover Text
2. Click the question mark (?) to open the Hover Text Settings. Below you can see the different settings you can adjust.
