Windows Tip: Magnifier

Provided by the FMS Development Team

Most Microsoft users do not know that the Windows Magnifier exists! This is an easy way to zoom in and out of a screen. It’s something that would help people with screens that are high resolution with letters getting smaller and smaller. And a temporary use rather than changing the resolution at the display level.

Magnifier Views

The Magnifier allows you to have greater control over the type of Magnifier view you would prefer. You can change the Magnifier View to Full Screen, Lens and Docked View.

Full Screen

Enlarges the entire screen, where only part of the screen will be visible at a given time.

Normal View - 100%

Full Screen View - 200%

Lens View

This option allows you to move a magnify glass around your screen and enlarge the area directly under your mouse pointer.

Normal View - 100%

Lens View - 200%

Docked View

The area directly under your mouse pointer is magnified and is visible in the docked section located in the top of the screen. Below the docked screen, the rest of the screen remains in normal view.

Normal View - 100%

Docked View - 200%

Turn on Magnifier

To quickly turn on Magnifier, press the Windows Logo Key + Plus (+) Key.

To turn off Magnifier, press the Windows Logo Key + [Esc].

To manually turn on the Magnifier using a mouse, follow the steps below:

Click Windows Start and select "Settings"
Click "Ease of Access".
Click the "Magnifier" option.
Turn on Magnifier.
The Magnifier menu will immediately open on your screen, once turned on.

Magnifier Zoom

Customize Magnifier Zoom Level with Mouse

Users can change the zoom increments by pressing the Plus (+) or Minus (-) buttons.

Or, press and hold the [Ctrl] + [Alt] keys and rotate the wheel on the mouse up to zoom in or rotate the wheel down to zoom out.

Customize Magnifier Zoom Level through Settings

Press and hold the Windows Logo Key + [Ctrl] + [M] to open the Magnifier Settings.

Locate the following Zoom options:

Zoom Level - Control how much larger or smaller your selected text or image will appear using the Plus (+) or Minus (-) keys.
Zoom Increments - Control the zoom in increments of 5%, 10% 25%, 50%, 100%, 150%, 200% and 400%.

Magnifier Shortcuts

	Keyboard Shortcuts
Turn On Magnifier	Windows Logo Key + Plus (+) Key
Turn Off Magnifier	Windows Logo Key + [Esc]
Zoom In/Out	Windows Logo Key + Plus (+) or Minus (-) Keys
Zoom In/Out using Mouse Wheel	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + Mouse Scroll Wheel
Open Magnifier Settings	Windows Logo + [Ctrl] + [M]
Open Magnifier Settings	Windows Logo + [Ctrl] + [M]
Move in direction of arrow keys	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + Arrow Directional Keys
Full Screen View	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [F]
Lens View	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [L]
Docked View	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [D]
Cycle through Views	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [M]
Resize the lens with Mouse	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [R]
Resize the lens with Keyboard	[Shift] + [Alt] + Arrow Directional Keys
Quickly View the Entire Desktop when using Full Screen View	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + Spacebar
Invert Colors	[Ctrl] + [Alt] + [I]