Windows Magnification

Introduction

Every version of Microsoft Windows comes with two built-in magnification tools available to use immediately. These tools are already installed on your computer and with this guide you will learn what exactly they do and how to use them.

Magnifying Webpages

This first magnifier wasn’t created by Microsoft but is rather a standard feature of almost every web browser. A web browser is an application that is used to view websites and includes programs like Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. When you put a web page address like http://www.cnn.com into a browser the browser receives a set of instructions that tells it how the webpage should look. These instructions include where text and images should go and how large they should appear.

With a simple keyboard command you can tell the web browser to make the text and images appear larger or smaller. Web page text, even at larger sizes, will appear very clear but some images will get blurrier as you make them larger. Some web sites will notice you are making them larger on the screen and will shift content around to make it fit better at a larger size while others will get larger than what will fit on the screen and may require you to scroll left and right to read all the content. Experimenting is the best way to learn.

Keyboard Command

To perform the magnification command you use the following keyboard combinations:

Make larger: Control and the plus (+) key

Make smaller: Control and the minus (-) key

If you have never used a keyboard command before here is a detail description on how to use this one.

  1. Press and hold the Control key on the keyboard. On many computers the Control key is the leftmost key on the bottom row.
  2. While keeping the Control key held down press and release the plus (+) key. The content on the website will get larger with every press and release the plus (+) key. Just remember that the Control key must be held down this entire time.
  3. When the content is the size you would like, release the Control key and you are done. To make the content smaller follow the same steps but use the minus (-) key instead of the plus (+) key.

Using the Mouse

If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel on it you can utilize that instead of pressing the plus an minus keys. Some people using the scroll wheel is easier to do than finding the plus and minus keys on the keyboard.

To perform the magnification command do the follow:

Make larger: Hold the Control key and spin the mouse scroll wheel forward

Make smaller: Hold the Control key and spin the mouse scroll wheel backwards

Magnifying the entire screen

This second magnifier is an application that Microsoft includes in every copy of Windows and can make anything on the screen larger regardless of what you are doing or where you are on the computer. There are two main differences between this system wide magnifier and the webpage magnifier.

  1. It magnifies either the whole screen at one time or just a section through a window. The magnifier follows the mouse cursor as you move it around and magnifies the area surrounding it.
  2. Both text and images will become blurrier the more you magnify.

While the webpage magnifier tells the browser to show the text at a larger size, the system wide magnifier is simply stretching out the pixels on the screen which results in pixelation that makes things appear blurry. Think of how a painting can look flawless from a distance but when you step close to it the picture appears less clear and full of brush strokes. The good news is this blurriness is really only an issue at very large magnification levels.

Another thing that makes this magnifier different is you have a little more control over how the magnification appears. Once the magnifier is turned on an image of a small magnifying glass will appear on the screen. When you click on this magnifying glass you will be presented with a window that lets you control the magnifier settings. This includes:

  • Buttons for increasing and decreasing the magnification level
  • A menu for changing the magnifier from full screen, to a floating lens that follows the mouse, or a docked window which places a magnification window on a corner of the screen.
  • An Options menu that allows you to invert the colors in the magnification window
  • And a few more additional settings

Since the system magnifier is an application it can actually be found with the other applications on your computer. Depending on the version of Windows you are running the location can be different. It most commonly can be found by either going to the Control Panel – Ease of Access Center, or through the Start Menu – All Applications – Accessories/Windows Ease of Access. But to make things simple, like the webpage magnifier, it can be activated with a keyboard command.

Keyboard Commands

To start the system Magnifier use the following keyboard combinations:

Make larger: Windows (logo) key and the plus (+) key

Make smaller: Windows (logo) key and the minus (-) key

If you have been following along since the beginning you probably noticed that this keyboard command is almost exactly the same as the webpage magnifier. To help remember the difference try to remember that the Windows key is used to magnify all of Windows while the control key gives you control of webpages.

Cheat Sheet

Don’t want to read through the entire explanation? Just want to know the shortcut keys? Here they are again:

Magnify Webpages: Cheat Sheet

Open a web browser and press the follow in keyboard combinations:

Make larger: Control and the plus (+) key

Make smaller: Control and the minus (-) key

or

Make larger: Windows (logo) key and the mouse scroll wheel forward

Make smaller: Windows (logo) key and the mouse scroll wheel backwards

Magnify Entire Screen: Cheat Sheet

Anywhere on the computer use the following keyboard combinations:

Make larger: Windows (logo) key and the plus (+) key

Make smaller: Windows (logo) key and the minus (-) key

Help!

If you have more questions or cannot get these magnifiers to work for you correctly Microsoft has a special support line just to help with accessibility features like this. Here is how to contact them:

Microsoft Disability Answer Desk

Voice Call: 1-800-936-5900

ASL Call: 1-503-427-1234

Chat Online: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/answerdesk/accessibility\#