If you’re having trouble reading undersized or oversized text comfortably on a website in Google Chrome, there’s a quick way to change text size without delving into settings. Here’s how.
The answer is zoom
Chrome includes a feature called Zoom which allows you to quickly enlarge or reduce text and images on any website. You can zoom a web page to anywhere between 25% and 500% of its usual size.
Better yet, when you exit a page, Chrome will remember your zoom level for that website when you return to it. To see whether or not a page is already maximized when you visit it, look for a small magnifying glass icon on the far right of the address bar.
Once you’ve opened Chrome on your platform of choice, there are three ways to control Zoom. We will go through them one by one.
Zoom method 1: mouse maneuvers
On a Windows, Linux, or Chromebook computer, hold down the Ctrl key and turn the scroll wheel on your mouse. Depending on which direction you spin the wheel, the text will get bigger or smaller.
This method does not work on Macs. Instead, you can use pinch gestures to zoom on a Mac trackpad or double-tap to zoom on a touchscreen mouse.
Zoom method 2: menu option
The second zoom method uses a menu. Click the Vertical Ellipses (three vertically aligned dots) button in the upper right corner of any Chrome window. In the menu that appears, locate the “Zoom” section. Click the “+” or “-” buttons in the Zoom section to zoom in or out the website.
Zoom method 3: keyboard shortcuts
You can also zoom in and out on a page in Chrome using two simple keyboard shortcuts.
- On Windows, Linux or Chromebook: Use Ctrl ++ (Ctrl + Plus) to zoom in and Ctrl + – (Ctrl + Minus) to zoom out.
- On Mac: Use Command ++ (Command + Plus) to zoom and Command + – (Command + Minus) to zoom out.
How to reset zoom level in Chrome
If you’ve zoomed in or out too much, it’s easy to reset the page to its default size. One method is to use one of the zoom methods listed above, but set the zoom level to 100%.
Another way to reset the size to default is to click on the tiny magnifying glass icon on the far right of the address bar. (This will only appear if you zoom to a level other than 100%.) In the small pop-up window that appears, click the “Reset” button.
After that, everything will return to normal. If you ever need to zoom in again, you’ll know exactly how to do it.
