Hot keys to zoom in and out

[O.Z.]

Hi,

I'm very much used to zooming in and out using Ctrl + Numeric keyboard '+'
and '-' buttons. But in Word 2007 these shortcuts don't work and I have
found neither the correct hot keys nor a way to assign my own to this
behavior. Looks like my only option is to F6 to zoom toolbar and then
manipulate it using navigation keys.

Is there indeed no way to ergonomically zoom documents in and out w/o a
mouse?

 

[Lene Fredborg]

I think the shortcuts you used in Word 2003 were created by yourself and you
can assign the same shortcuts in Word 2007 if you wish:

Select Office button > Word Options > Customize. In the bottom of the
window, you will find a “Customize†button next to “Keyboard shortcutsâ€.
Click that button to open the Customize Keyboard dialog box known from
previous Word versions.

Now follow the instructions in steps 2-7 in the following article (first and
last steps are for previous Word versions). The names of the zoom commands
depend on the language of your Word user interface. If it is in English, the
names start with “ViewZoomâ€:
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/AsgnCmdOrMacroToHotkey.htm

Make sure to select “Yes†when exiting Word if you are asked whether you
want to save changes to the template (e.g. Normal.dotm) in which you selected
to store the shortcut(s).

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg - Microsoft MVP (Word)
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[O.Z.]

Thanks for your response, Lene. I've visited the Customize Keyboard dialog
already and have found ViewZoomPageWidth, ViewZoomTwoPage, ViewZoomWholePage
and Zoom100 commands, but what i would like to accomplish is to invoke from
keyboard the behavior I get when I click on + and - buttons on Zoom toolbar
(in the lower right corner of the Window by default).

Customize dialog doesn't allow searching, maybe I've missed the commads?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you have a mouse that has extra buttons and have Microsoft IntelliPoint
6.3 software (and possibly earlier versions), then you can set those buttons
to Zoom In and Zoom Out. For example, I have a new wireless mouse whose left
and right buttons are, by default, set to Back and Forward in a browser, but
there is a long list of other actions that can be assigned to them through
the software, accessible via Control Panel | Mouse.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Jay Freedman]

I'd really like to know what commands you had assigned to those keys in Word
2003 -- if they're built-in commands, I'm not aware of them.

You can assign the shortcut keys to these two macros in either version:

Sub ViewIncreaseZoom()
ActiveWindow.View.Zoom = ActiveWindow.View.Zoom + 10
End Sub

Sub ViewDecreaseZoom()
ActiveWindow.View.Zoom = ActiveWindow.View.Zoom - 10
End Sub

Their behavior is almost but not quite the same as the buttons on the Zoom
bar (which have no equivalents in Word 2003). The difference appears if the
current zoom setting isn't a multiple of 10%; in that case the first click
of a button sets the zoom to the nearest multiple of 10%, and later clicks
change it by 10. The macros just add or subtract 10% from whatever the
current value is. The additional logic could be added if you really want it.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[O.Z.]

I don't use word that much so this only occured to me recently and I didn't
research whether and how this can be done in Word 2003. My line of thought
was Ctrl+ '+' and '-' works in IE, why shouldn't it in Word?

So is it safe to assume that custom macros is the only way to make this
work? Certainly it is trivial to set this up on my own computer but not so
trivial to make sure it is available everywhere I need it.

 

[Jay Freedman]

The reasoning that "function x is available in a browser so it must be
available in Word" is common but false. Another feature that people
frequently ask about is the ability to show a popup when the mouse hovers
over a word -- simple in HTML, but difficult to do in a Word document.

I'd be happy to be contradicted, but I do think the macros are the only way
to make an increase/decrease zoom function with shortcut keys. I know you're
trying to avoid the mouse, but you may have to use it on computers other
than your own. Besides the buttons on the Zoom toolbar, you can hold the
Ctrl key while turning the scroll wheel (if the mouse has one).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Besides the buttons on the Zoom toolbar, you can hold the

Ctrl key while turning the scroll wheel (if the mouse has one).

Ooh, thanks for that trick. I've only recently "found" the scroll wheel and
gotten used to using it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[O.Z.]

Thanks Jay, Ctrl+Wheel is a good enough workaround. Rolling the wheel is
much closer to a click then to dragging the mouse all over the place. I'll
file a suggestion about the hot key. I suppose it won't be hard given the
required functionality is already there.

 

[Tony Jollans]

Well, it is _possible_ to zoom with the keyboard in Word 2007 (though not,
AFAIK, in earlier versions) but it is not straightforward.

Make sure you have the zoom slider set to show on the Status Bar.
Then press F6 repeatedly until the Status Bar gets the focus
Then use the left and right arrow keys to move the focus to the + or -
button as desired
Then press Enter as often as you want

I can't, though, actually imagine anyone wanting to do this as a matter of
course.