Use the Mouse to zoom in or out

Here’s a general computer tip – obviously not specific to Word or WordPerfect – that I distributed this week at the Department of Justice in Los Angeles. I’ve edited the tip slightly before posting here.

People often ask me “How did you do that?” when I’m teaching and, without thinking about it, I use the mouse to increase the magnification of a sample document so that everyone can see it better. Once you know how to zoom in or out with the mouse, you’ll do it all the time. It works whether you’re working in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint; reading an e-mail message; or viewing a web page on the Internet.

Just press and hold the Ctrl key, then use the scroll wheel in the middle of your mouse to zoom in / make text larger (push the wheel away from you) or zoom out / make the text smaller (pull the wheel toward you). Each individual “click” of the wheel changes the magnification by 10%, although most people scroll faster than that.