Zoom-In and Zoom-Out in Excel (Shortcuts)

There is often a need to zoom in or zoom out when working on an Excel spreadsheet.

I often zoom in on a specific area in Excel while I’m presenting my data in a workshop or in calls. I also need to zoom in a lot of times when taking screenshots of my Excel data.

And in terms of situations, I have a need to zoom out from the current 100% zoom level so I can see more data on my screen.

By default, Excel has a 100% zoom level which can easily be changed using simple shortcuts. you can zoom in to 400% (four times the default zoom level) and zoom out to 10%.

In this tutorial, I will give you the keyboard shortcut to Zoom In and Zoom Out in Excel.

Table of Contents

Shortcut to Zoom-In and Zoom-Out in Excel

Below is the keyboard shortcut to Zoom-In in Excel:

CONTROL + ALT + Plus Sign

Below is the keyboard shortcut to Zoom-Out in Excel:

CONTROL + ALT + Minus Sign

How to Use the Keyboard Shortcut to Zoom In and Zoom Out in Excel

Below are the steps on how to use the above keyboard shortcuts:

Hold the Control key and the ALT key (keep them pressed)
To zoom in, press the plus key (+) once, and to zoom out, press the minus key (-) once
To zoom in (or zoom out) further, press the plus key (or the minus key) multiple times (while continuing to hold the Control key and the ALT key)

Alternate Methods to Zoom in and Zoom Out in Excel

While the above-mentioned keyboard shortcuts are quite convenient when you want to zoom in or zoom out in excel, these are not the only ways to do it.

Let’s have a look at some other ways you can use to quickly zoom out or zoom in in Excel

Using the Zoom Dialog Box

Use the below keyboard shortcut to open the zoom dialog box in Excel:

ALT + W + Q

To use the keyboard shortcut, press these keys one after the other.

This will open the zoom dialog box where you can choose the pre-defined zoom level that you want for your worksheet, or you can specify your own zoom level by entering manually in the ‘Custom’ option field.

Note: Another keyboard shortcut that also works is ALT + V + Z. This has been kept from older versions of Excel.

Using the Zoom Level Option in the Status Bar

Another quick way to open the zoom dialog box is by clicking on the zoom option in the status bar (as shown below).

as soon as you click on it, it is going to open the zoom dialog box, but you can either choose from the predefined zoom settings or you can specify your own custom zoom value (in %)

Using the Zoom Option in the Ribbon

And finally, you can also open the zoom dialog box using the following steps:

click the view tab in the ribbon
Click on the Zoom option

Important things to Know

Zooming is a worksheet-specific setting, which means that if you change the zoom levels in one worksheet, the other worksheets in the same file would not be affected
If you want to zoom in or zoom out multiple worksheets or all the worksheets in a given workbook, you first need to and then specify the zoom-in or zoom-out levels. Always remember to ungroup the worksheets once you’re done
If you want to quickly reset the zoom level settings and bring it back to 100%, you can use the keyboard shortcut ALT + W + J (press these keys one after the other)
If you have the function keys enabled, there is a possibility that the above keyboard shortcuts may not work for you. in such a case, either disable the function key, or additionally hold the function key while using the above keyboard shortcuts. in most cases, the numeric keypads are not impacted by the function key so if you have a numeric keypad, you can use the above keyboard shortcuts with no issues

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