The Power of Zoom: It’s Easy to Make Text Larger or Smaller!

The Power of Zoom: It’s Easy to Make Text Larger or Smaller!

Make Text Bigger or smaller When Reading Emails or Web Pages; Make Icons Bigger or Smaller on Your Desktop or in File Explorer

This tip works in Windows 10, and Windows 11

We’ve featured this tip before, but we still receive several emails each week from people asking for help because the text in an email or web page has become too small to read comfortably and asking. “How can I make the text bigger?” Or, “My text is too big in (you name the program), how can I make it smaller?”

So we thought this would be a good time to go over this again.

While each browser and email program has its own “view” options, this tip will work on almost any browser or email program. So, it’s kind of like “one size fits all”, only this one-size-fits-all really does!

To enlarge the text in your email reading pane or when using your Web browser, hold down the CTRL key and move the mouse wheel away until the text is as large as you want. You can also hold down the CTRL key and keep tapping the + (plus) key until the text is as big as you want it. This works when reading an email, as well as when composing an email. It also works on most web pages in most browsers.

Hold down the CTRL key and move the mouse wheel toward you if you want to make the text smaller. Or hold down the CTRL key and keep tapping the – (minus/dash) key until the font is the size you want. As with making text larger, this works in most email programs when reading email and when composing email. It also works in most browsers on most web pages.

Above is the compose window in Thunderbird. The text is the normal size. But, my eyes are weary and I’m having trouble reading that, so a little CTRL Key + moving the scroll wheel away from me (toward the screen) and look!

No matter how blurry my eyes were or where my glasses were, I could still read that!

And it works the same in the reading pane (window):

Above. I was feeling patriotic and decided to send myself the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. But when I received it, sans glasses, I couldn’t read it very well. But then, a little Ctrl Key magic and… look ma! No more squinting!

Now, look up there. See? Now I can see the double comma I didn’t realize was there.

So if you’re having problems reading or writing an email because the text is too small and you want a quick way to make it bigger – you got it! Or if the text is too big, you know how to make it smaller.

In most email programs the text will remain larger until you restart the programs. In most browsers, changing the text size as above only works for the current tab/page.

Note: When composing an email, you can also make your font bigger (or smaller) in your email program’s options/settings. But be careful: If your recipient has normal vision your text may look HUGE to them if you change the font size in your email program. If you use the method above, the recipient will see the normal text size set in their email program, but you’ll see the text as big as you want.

This tip works in any browser too!

This works in any browser including Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, and more. You can make page contents, including text, bigger or smaller using the Ctrl key and your mouse wheel.

You can also use this tip to make your desktop icons bigger or smaller

That’s right! You can use CTRL + mouse wheel to make your desktop icons larger or smaller. You can also use the same method to change the size of icons in File Explorer. Check out the screenshots below:

Above: Changing the size of icons in File Explorer.

Below: Changing the size of icons on the Desktop.