Increasing the Size of the Draft Font

Word provides an editing mode that allows you to suppress many of the frills typically associated with a document's display. This mode, called draft mode, results in documents being displayed in a draft font with only minimal formatting, and graphics being displayed only as place-holder boxes. You put Word into this draft mode by selecting the Draft Font check box on the View tab of the Options dialog box. (This option is only applicable if you are using Normal or Outline views of your document.)

For some people, the draft font used in this mode may not be large enough to be easily visible. If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, you can modify the actual font used as the draft font, along with its size. This setting is made on the same View tab of the Options dialog box where you set the Draft Font check box. (Click here to see a related figure.)

If you are using an older version of Word, you cannot change the draft font or its size within Word itself. However, you can change the apparent size of the text by simply changing the zoom setting for the screen. Simply increase the zoom setting until the text is the size you find comfortable. If necessary, you may also want to make sure the Wrap To Window check box is selected on the Option dialog box's View tab.