How to Zoom In, Zoom Out and Change Font Size in Google Chrome?

There are many reasons you want to adjust the display of your browser. It could be due to visibility or readability of the content on specific website. You may also have eye problem in reading the content. In this article, we will explain how to use zoom functions in Google Chrome so that you can setup the browser for your need.

Full Screen Mode with F11

If you want to use the browser in full screen mode, you can use keyboard shortcut or select the option from the menu.

In Chrome Windows version, simply press F11 key to view the browser in full screen mode. Again, press F11 to go back to the normal window or move your cursor over the top of the browser and click on the close button.

Unfortunately, on chrome Mac version, you have no keyboard shortcut for full screen viewing.

Full Screen from Menu

You can also make the browser full screen from the menu.

Click on the three dots “Customize and control Google Chrome” button.
Click on the full screen icon showing against the “Zoom” option.

Zoom Settings from Menu

If you want to setup to any specific zoom level then you can increase or decrease the percentage value in the “Zoom” menu item. Chrome will instantly change to the new zoom level.

Zooming with Keyboard

Other option control the zooming in Chrome is to use keyboard shortcuts.

Press “Control and +” keys for zooming in and increase size
You can use “Control and –“ keys for zooming out and reduce the size
When you want to reset the browser zoom to 100%, press “Control and 0” keys.

When you zoom in or out, Chrome will show you the lens icon on the right end of the search box. You can quickly click on the icon and set the zoom level or reset to default view.

Settings Up Default Zoom Level

The problem in using keyboard shortcut or menu settings for zooming is that Chrome will apply the changes only to that tab and the site you are viewing on the tab. When you open a new site on the same or new tab, Chrome will reset the zoom level and use the settings from browser level. Therefore, when you want to view all web pages in increased or decreased zoom level, you have to change the default page zoom settings of the browser.

Go to “chrome://settings” URL and look for the “Appearance” section.
You can find the “Page zoom” option with the default level as 100%.
Click on the drop down and choose your preferred zoom level.
Chrome allows you to set the zoom level from minimum of 25% to maximum limit of 500%.

Let us say you have setup the page zoom level as 150%. Now that any websites you open will have, 150% zoom in mode to show everything bigger. You will NOT see the lens icon on the address bar as it is the default settings you have made. However, when you have zoom settings for a specific site set before, Chrome will still remember and opens the page with that specific zoom level. In that case, you will see a lens icon as the zoom level is different from the default settings. You can click the icon and again click on the “Reset” button to make the zoom level to default.

Changing Font Size

Besides page zoom settings, you can also increase or decrease the font size of the content. Click on the drop down against “Font size” option and choose your preferred value. Chrome recommends keeping it as “Medium” value, though you can make it small or big as per your convenient.

Zoom Vs Font Size

Well, this is another confusion between zoom and font size.

Zooming

Zoom level will increase the entire browser and the web page content and images will show bigger when you zoom in and smaller when you zoom out. Most of the websites will go into responsive mode when you zoom in with the menu item shrinking to hamburger menu.
Below is how this website will look on 150% and 100% page zoom settings on Chrome.

On other hand, increasing the font size will only change the text content on the web pages.
Website forcing the font size will not follow the browser’s font like this website. You will not see any difference of our site when changing the font size in Chrome. However, you can test this with CNN for very small and very large font sizes. As you can see, the three columns remain same with the same image size. Only the size of the text content will increase or decrease.

Wrapping Up

We hope, now you get an idea of the zoom level settings in Google Chrome. Make use of the setting to view the browser in full screen, zoom in or zoom our modes, as you need. In addition, you can setup the default font size if you have visibility problems to make your eyes cool.

How to Zoom In, Zoom Out and Change Font Size in Google Chrome?