Zooming With the Keyboard

For most purposes, Word allows you to issue commands and perform functions by using either the mouse or the keyboard. Unfortunately, Word does not provide "equal access" for all commands. For instance, it is relatively easy to zoom in or out using the mouse, but there is no easy way to do it using the keyboard.

Apparently, Microsoft feels that you can zoom simply by choosing the menu commands necessary and then typing whatever percentage you desire. The steps to do this would be as follows:

1. Press Alt+V. This displays the View menu.
2. Press Z. This displays the Zoom dialog box.
3. Press Tab. This moves the cursor to the Percent box.
4. Type a new zoom percentage.
5. Press Enter.

While this provides quite a bit of flexibility, it does not allow you to easily zoom in or out. If you want this ability in Word, the only way to get it is to create a macro and then assign the macro to a keyboard combination. For instance, the following VBA macro will zoom into (enlarge) a document by 10%.

Sub MyZoomIn()
    Dim ZP As Integer
    ZP = Int(ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage * 1.1)
    If ZP > 200 Then ZP = 200
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage = ZP
End Sub

Notice that the macro only allows you to zoom in up to 200%. This is because Word allows you to only zoom that high, and any higher would generate an error. A slight variation on the same theme results in a macro I call MyZoomOut. It zooms out of (reduces) a document by 10%:

Sub MyZoomOut()
    Dim ZP As Integer
    ZP = Int(ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage * 0.9)
    If ZP < 10 Then ZP = 10
    ActiveWindow.ActivePane.View.Zoom.Percentage = ZP
End Sub

This macro sets the bottom boundary at 10%, which is the smallest you can go. Any smaller, and Word would generate an error again.

The final trick to make these macros really useful is to assign them to a keyboard combination. You can then quickly zoom in or out by 10% with a simple keystroke. The following are the steps you can use to assign a macro to a keyboard combination:

1. Select Customize from the Tools menu. You will see the Customize dialog box.
2. Click on the Keyboard button. Word displays the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
3. Scroll through the Categories list and select the Macros category. The list at the right side of the dialog box changes to show the currently available macros.
4. In the Macros list, select the macro you want assigned to the shortcut key. In this case, you would select MyZoomIn or MyZoomOut.
5. With the insertion pointer in the Press New Shortcut Key box, press the shortcut key you want to use. For instance, if you want to use Ctrl+Alt+J, press that.
6. Just below the Press New Shortcut Key box you can see whether the shortcut key is already assigned to a different function.
7. Click on Assign.
8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 for each change you want to make.
9. Click on Close.