Making the font size in Outlook bigger or smaller – on purpose or by accident!

outlookIf you use Outlook, you may have accidentally encountered a situation where all the text in messages changes to larger or smaller size. This happens when you accidentally activate a “keyboard shortcut” but didn’t mean to (or even know you were doing so).

Outlook in particular, and almost every program in Windows or Mac systems come programmed with a whole slew of these keyboard shortcuts, which often consist of pressing two keys simultaneously, or pressing one key and doing something with your mouse at the same time.

In the case of changing text size in Microsoft Office programs, you can zoom or de-zoom the text size quickly with this keyboard shortcut:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl key, and
  2. scroll with the mouse’s center wheel

You scroll down to make text smaller, or scroll up to make things larger. You should note that this doesn’t actually change the size of the font in the message or document, just your zoom view of it.

Advertisement

wheelmouseIf you don’t use a mouse with a wheel, there is a second method to change the zoom level: In Outlook, find the View tab (or, if you are using Outlook 2010, there’s a ribbon bar at the top). Look for the item named “Zoom” and click it. You should have 100% selected, but it’s probably 75% or less if you experienced this accidentally. Select 100% and that will fix it for you.

This is actually a Microsoft Officer power users trick. In Microsoft office that Ctrl/wheel thing works for making text smaller or larger across all the Office Programs. Want to zoom in on a Powerpoint presentation? Be able to see the entire Word document to see how it appears on a printed page? It can be handy, lots of folks use this method anytime they want a closer look at text-it’s a lot faster and easier than using the menu controls.

This website runs on a patronage model. If you find my answers of value, please consider supporting me by sending any dollar amount via:

Click or tap to open a new browser tab or your Venmo app and send money via Venmo to @positek
(@PosiTek)

Click or tap to open a new browser tab or your Paypal app to send money via your Paypal account to support@positek.net
(Support@PosiTek.net)

Click or tap to open a new browser tab or your Paypal app to send money using your credit card to support@positek.net (no Paypal account required)
(using any credit card)

or by mailing a check/cash to PosiTek.net LLC 1934 Old Gallows Road, Suite 350, Tysons Corner VA 22182. I am not a non-profit, but your support helps me to continue delivering advice and consumer technology support to the public. Thanks!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.