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Zoom In On Emails In Outlook 2007

Sometimes it is necessary to be able to zoom in on electronic documents for easier viewing.  This is especially helpful for those who are visually impaired.  Like in most PDF viewers Outlook 2007 also has a zoom feature for reading and composing your emails.

Open Outlook and start a new mail message.  Make sure the cursor is in the body of the email so you can access the Format Text tab.  From there click on the Zoom button.

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This opens the Zoom dialog box where you can choose the percent of increase the size of the text.

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As you can see above there is a preview window, but the best way to judge the size is to use it in an actual message.

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The easiest way I have found to zoom in on email while your reading them is to add the zoom icon to the Quick Access Toolbar and follow the steps above.  

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This article was originally written on 12/20/07 Tagged with: Outlook, Office, Windows

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Comments (34)

  1. Tal Shahar

    You can gain the same result by scrolling the mouse while holding the CTRL button

  2. Jeanette Napier

    Is there any way to 'fix' the zoom level as a default so you dont have to keep adjusting it for every single message you want to read???

  3. Gary

    Is there any way to 'fix' the zoom level as a default so you dont have to keep adjusting it for every single message you want to read???

  4. chrissy

    like gary and jeanette, i'd like to set the default zoom level to 120%. any suggestions?

  5. Alan

    Any idea of how to set the zoom in the preview pane? I rarely open the email and can adjust the just in the preview with ctrl+ mouse wheel but I can't find any toolbar icon or indication as to what my view is set to.

  6. Ky

    I have the same question as Alan: "Any idea of how to set the zoom in the preview pane?". Thanks, Ky

  7. Jack

    I have the same question as Ky and Alan: "Any idea of how to set the zoom in the preview pane?". Thanks, Jack

  8. Pat

    May I add my request as well to be able to set the zoom as a default for all my messages please, as was possible in Outlook 2003. Thank you.

  9. mysticgeek

    @everyone:

    I know I really need to look into your questions on this one. I agree it would be great to be able to zoom in the preview pane, and keep the zoom in as default so you don't have to set it every time. I am on the case!

    Off the top of my head, one thing someone may want to look into is maybe using Ease of Access Tools in Control Panel.

  10. Andrea

    I'm with those who want to set the default zoom for messages. Somehow, mine went from 100% to 90% and it's driving me crazy. I have no idea what I did, or what happened, and I can't get it back to 100% as the default.

    Hopefully someone can find an answer. I haven't had any luck.

    Thanks..

  11. Vi Houi

    Yes, I have the same problem. The text is so small whcih I cannot read it. How can I increase the size o in the emailtext plus the attachment. Help.

  12. Dugan

    This is so frustrating. Mine got set to 90% as well. I feel like my eyes are going to bug out of my skull. grrrrrr why is outlook so convoluted?

  13. Dugan

    I tried changing the font settings in Display settings, which changed the font everywhere BUT in the preview pain (IA)

  14. Sivaram

    In Outlook 2007, if we change the Zoom size of Mail Compose Editor for one mail that is going to be the default Zoom size for all mails. So you can change the default Zoom size from "Mail Composer -> Format Text -> Zoom"

  15. Sylvia

    To make all messages more readable, just change the font size they are displayed in.

    Tools / Options / Mail Format / Stationery and Fonts / and then click on the Font buttons to increase the font sizes to your liking. Also note that serif fonts (with tails on the letters) are generally easier to read than sans serif fonts (like this one).

  16. Mark

    I've looked into Sylvia's solution…which seems to work for new messages that you create, but does not for messages received from others. I'd like to keep the question open about how to change the default Zoom so that the zoom level applies to emails received.

  17. mysticgeek
  18. Becca

    Crazy this is not included. Does anyone have a trick to keep the zoom set to the same % rather than changing in every email?

  19. Cortez

    It has something to do with MS Word, go to tools>options>mail format and uncheck use microsoft office 2003 to edit email messages and use microsoft office 2003 to read rich e-mail messages. the zoom should go back to normal and you should be able to change the default

  20. MW

    I am using Outlook 2007 and remain with the question of how to create a default view option. I would the zoom set as the % each time I open an email.

  21. CFB

    I, too, am using Outlook 2007 and remain with the question of how to create a default view option. I would like to permanently set the zoom at 100%.

    **I know how I goofed things up today (if this sheds light on what NOT to do if you aren't having this irksome problem) … I inadvertently clicked DOWN on the mouse scroll wheel, which caused an automatic little magnifying glass icon to appear and it reduced the font size in the reply email … and it wouldn't bring the font size back up to "normal".

    Now I am constantly forced to reset zoom for almost all reply emails.

    Grrr … :(

  22. ECD

    Hi, Okay, I've been having this same problem on occasion and not sure if I'm actually doing something to make it happen or not; but I think I have a little fix (maybe not a cure but it worked for me) that may also work for some of you having this same problem. OK so I noticed that with emails that I receive in HTML format I can't even change the "zoom" view percentage cause when I click on "Tools" the option for "view" is not even there in the drop-down menu- which is OK cause they all seem to automatically open in 100% view. But when I receive an email that is received in "Rich Text" format it mysteriously opens up with 54% Zoom view. I've tried changing the default to 100% but the next time I open the same email or other emails in Rich Text format they all still open up with 54% Zoom (Grrr…). So but this time I changed the zoom manually to 101% and whala! it stayed and the next time I opened up the same emails it stay at the 101% zoom view as the default. But now get this, not sure why this happened but just for the heck of it I went back in opening up the same email and this time I changed the zoom to 100% then closed the email and opened it back up again and for some strange reason this time the view default stayed at 100%. So then I started to think this may have something to do with the document I created in Microsoft Word. Sure enough I had saved my last document in 48% view (OK it wasn't 54% but it wasn't 100% either) and I changed the zoom view in Miccrosoft Word in the last document I had opened to 100% view and saved the document, and I'm thinking since I use Microsoft Word as my editor in Outlook they somehow effect each other. So for those of you who are still having this same problem, try opening up Microsoft Word as if you're going to create a document and make sure the view is changed or set to 100% then save the document and close the program. Then go back again into Outook and change the views in the emails giving you problems and see if this time they stay at the percetage you change them to. I really believe it has something to do with the last zoom view setting you used in Microsoft Word if its not set at 100% I think it somehow effects the Outlook email views. Hope this helps others.

  23. James D

    I was able to successfully change the default zoom level in new emails in Outlook 2007 (using Outlook as the editor) as follows:
    1. Open up a new email.
    2. Place the cursor in the body of the message.
    3. Click on the "Format Text" tab then on the "Zoom" button.
    4. Change the zoom to the desired level and click "OK."
    5. SAVE THE MESSAGE, which will now show up in the "Draft" folder, and close the email.
    6. Create a new email to verify the new default zoom level.
    7. You can then delete the email in the "Draft" folder.

  24. Sammy

    Cortez,

    Legend, I followed your instruction's and have now changed the zoom by default back to where I originally set it. Thank god was driving me mad.

    Thank you for saving me anymore time searching through Menus !!!!

  25. Paul

    NONE of this really tells us now to set the default zoom size at which we can READ INCOMING MESSAGES without constantly having to click the zoom button and adjust size for each one! This is so BASIC.

    I'm convinced Microsoft's recently declining revenue has led the company to invest in Lens Crafters and they're deliberately trying to ruin everyone's eyesight. This is egregious…………

  26. Jill

    I can be typing along on a message and the zoom will suddenly change to 50%. So far the Microsoft/Lens Crafters conspiracy makes the most sense. I will try all the draft saves, etc, because I have no choice but to use Outlook. It is doing wonders for my telephone skills, though. I have given up and called several people because I can't read to type them a reply to their email.

  27. Jill

    I did just find out that it was my touchpad on my laptop that was causing the adjustments to the zoom. If you are using a laptop, it is sure worth looking to see if your touchpad has a zoom option on it - I unchecked that option and haven't had a problem with the last several emails.

  28. Aloha

    Thanks so much for the help! I had it "stuck" at 120% and the zoom in was straining my eyes! Thanks again!

  29. Jessica Kinsey

    I just accidentally zoomed in on an e-mail message using the keystroke command. I couldn't figure out what I did so I asked our IT guy. If you hold the CNTRL button down and roll the scroll on your mouse, you can zoom in and out of a message at will and it's easy enough to do if you don't necessarily want all your messages to appear at a larger setting. You can also do it on messages in the preview pane. You just have to make sure the cursor is in the message part of the e-mail. Hope this helps.

  30. Dobri

    How many people are working on this software (Microsoft Outlook)? You are not capable to think, that some time you need to zoom in to a page or a picture file to read! Very well done!

  31. Lisa

    Thank you SO much for the help!

  32. Gene

    To permanently change the email zoom scale in MS Outlook 2007, take these steps:

    Open MS Outlook 2007 and select "Mail"

    Tools -> Options -> Mail Format -> Stationery and Fonts

    Click on the "Font" button, located below "Composing and reading plain text messages"

    Increase the scale setting to suit

  33. Sarah

    Gene, thank you. My boss' zoom level was stuck on 200% and it was driving her nuts!

    I just want to add that when following Gene's instructions, you must go to the Character Spacing Tab once in the "Font" tab.

    So: When in Outlook, go to Tools->Options->Mail Format->Stationary and Fonts->any or all of the three "Font" buttons->Character and Spacing Tab->set the scale under "Scale" (100%, 150%, etc).-> Click OK!!

  34. Dave

    So the final answer the the issue of changing the DEFAULT view on new emails was fixed by James D.'s answer on April 29, 2009 9:11 am James D

    THANKS - this will change the default view and you're a hero! =)


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