What did I learn today: How to zoom out in Word

Such a simple feature. But there is more to it…I just learnt it.

I needed it all along.

I am sure you need it as well…

Estimated reading time 3 min

The Need

After creating a document, it is a good idea to zoom out and look at it. This way some not-so-obvious things are easily seen…

• Pages which have very little matter
• Tables / Images improperly aligned
• Inappropriate page breaks
• Layout
• Missing header/footers
• and many other things, depending upon the type of document.

Unfortunately, when a page is zoomed out, it shows a vertical set of pages. The page size does become smaller but the pages are shown one below another.

Due to this, the overall picture of the document is still difficult to see. The space on either side of the pages is completely wasted.

I found a solution to this problem.

The Solution

It is so obvious, but I never noticed it. Imagine!

The reason is – we usually zoom out using one of the two methods:

1. Press CTRL key on keyboard and use mouse wheel OR
2. Use the slider on the status bar to zoom out.

In either case, there is no scope of noticing this brilliant feature, because it is lying in the View tab – where we rarely go and explore.

In 2010  Go to the View tab – choose Two Pages and then zoom out. It shows two columns containing pages instead of one. It is still a limitation, but it is better than seeing just one vertical set of pages.

But in 2013, this problem was solved once and for all. There is a brilliant option called Multiple Pages. Choose this option and then zoom out.

Now that is what we wanted for soooooo long!

Further Zoom Out is possible. The image above shows 22% zoom. Minimum is 10%. Here is the same image at 10% zoom.

Enjoy.