How to Zoom In or Out in Excel – 6 Examples

This is an overview.

Example 1 – Use the Zoom Slider to Zoom In or Out in Excel

• Drag the zoom slider to the left to zoom out and to the right to zoom in.
• Alternatively, click the Minus sign to zoom out and the Plus sign to zoom in.

• You can also click the zoom level percentage.
• Enter a custom value to set a zoom level.

The zoom level is set to 88%:

Example 2 – Combining Keyboard and Mouse Wheel

• To zoom in, hold Ctrl and scroll upward.
• To zoom out, hold Ctrl and scroll downward.

Click the GIF for a detailed view

Example 3 – Apply a Keyboard Shortcut

• Press Ctrl+Shift+Plus to zoom in.
• Ctrl+Shift+Minus to zoom out.

Example 4 – Utilize the View Tab to Zoom In or Out

• Go to the View tab.
• Select Zoom.
• Choose 100%.
• Click Zoom to Selection to zoom in  or out a selection in the sheet.

Example 5 – Use the Workbook Views

There are four views available in Workbook Views.

• Select Page Break Preview; it will zoom out the Excel file.

• The Page Layout view will split the sheet into several pages.

• Select Normal to zoom out again.

Example 6 – Apply VBA to Excel Zooming In or Out

Consider the following image. The current zoom level is 80%.

• Go to the Developer tab and click Visual Basic to open the Visual Basic Editor window.

Note: You can use Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor window.

• Click Insert and select Module.

• Enter the following code in the module.

There are two subroutines. The ZoomInActiveWindow  zooms in the active Excel window and The ZoomOutActiveWindow zooms out the active Excel window.

• Click Save.
• Click Run.

Sub ZoomInActiveWindow()
    On Error Resume Next
    increase_zoom = InputBox("Increase zoom level by:")
    If IsNumeric(increase_zoom) = False Then
        MsgBox "Enter a number please!"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    ActiveWindow.Zoom = ActiveWindow.Zoom + increase_zoom
End Sub

Sub ZoomOutActiveWindow()
    On Error Resume Next
    decrease_zoom = InputBox("Decrease zoom level by:")
    If IsNumeric(decrease_zoom) = False Then
        MsgBox "Enter a number please!"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    ActiveWindow.Zoom = ActiveWindow.Zoom - decrease_zoom
End Sub

			

• You will see a dialog box with both subroutines. To zoom in, select ZoomInActiveWindow. To zoom out, select ZoomOutActiveWindow. Here, ZoomInActiveWindow was selected.
• Click Run.

• You will see an input box. Enter a number to increase the zoom level. Here, 7.
• Click OK.

• The current zoom level increased to 87%. You can zoom out by running the ZoomOutActiveWindow subroutine.

Things to Remember

• If you zoom in or out, only that worksheet will change.
• You can zoom in or out in multiple worksheets: select the sheet and perform the zoom.
• You can’t zoom in less than 10% and more than 400%.
• If you have a Named Range, and zoom below 40%, the name of the range will be displayed.

Download Practice Workbook

Zooming in Excel: Knowledge Hub

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