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How can I make the text on my screen larger?

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Summary: It is very possible to make the text on your screen larger with a couple of adjustments.

I am "old" <grin> ... so I need to us a magnifying glass to read a lot of the screen words. I suppose they are in a 6 or 8 point font. Can I make the screen text larger? Say 10 or 12 point?

I know how you feel. My eyes aren't all they used to be either. The good news is that it's actually fairly easy to make the fonts bigger, but the setting is hidden fairly well.

Two answers: you didn't say what program you're using. Internet Explorer, while viewing web sites, has a "Text Size" option on the View menu that will allow you to select "larger". That will work with most, but not all, web sites. Sadly many sites are encoded such that this setting is ignored.

Assuming you're using Windows XP, you can play around with the "DPI" settings on your computer:

  • Settings

  • Control Panel

  • Display

  • "Settings" tab

  • "Advanced" button

  • "General" Tab

The DPI setting on that dialog will make everything bigger, and might be worth playing around with. "Large Size" is what I recently changed my screen too after I found myself squinting a little too much. The Custom setting will allow to adjust it to even larger sizes.

Another option is to play with the "Appearance" tab on the display settings where you can control specific fonts, but that requires a bit more work as you change each font usage to see which one actually matters.

I've done the DPI change on a couple of installations and it seemed perhaps the most reasonable solution.

Related:

Article C2226 - November 17, 2004

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Recent Comments
43 Comments

Thank u Leo u just made my day.

Posted by: Roni at August 31, 2008 12:13 PM

I cannot read the font on this new Vista, I have it on Largest but it is still the same (smallest) which I honestly cannot read without hurting my eyes! I cannot find none of your options after I get to Properties there is nothing left to click to as you suggest?

Posted by: Elizabeth at September 16, 2008 5:52 AM

my text are too small even if i type using font size 12. They are still very small not normal

Posted by: patience at November 12, 2008 10:49 PM

the new screen has a column for hotmail, then a column for contents of message, except that column is so narrow cant read it properly and no way to enlarge that area. Our we stuck with this? It is certainly not an improvement.

Posted by: jan dietrich at December 23, 2008 10:21 AM

I have followed several suggestions on making th font larger, but they are still very very small on the computer screen. It was fine until a few minutes and I suppose I hit something and they turned tiny. What can I do?

Posted by: Helen at March 25, 2009 3:46 PM

all i did to get my screen bigger was hold down Ctrl and + it magnifies the screen

Posted by: kelly at April 7, 2009 2:34 PM

i need bigger fonts on my printer as well.thak you

Posted by: mary at May 19, 2009 3:16 PM

DPI setting does not affect "everything", least not on Windows XP up to SP3. Some programs just ignore it, leaving some small non-scaleable text areas to struggle on with (e.g. HTML messages in Outlook and Outlook Express). Is the only proper fix to change apps, e.g. Thunderbird and Firefox...?

Posted by: Brendan at June 24, 2009 5:42 AM

Please tell me how I can enlarge my Text. Was able to the other day, but afgter downloading files that I was told gto download, when I went to VIEW,, where I usually enlarged my text, there was no work showing that said; as always; enlarge text. Could not do it at all.

What do I do now to get the VIEW column as it was orginially!

I await your reply and Thank You for whatgever help you can give me.

Posted by: PHYLLIS A. SCENNA at July 17, 2009 12:13 PM

I am subscribed to ''ask Leo''..but never asked this question. I would like you to e-mail me the answer if possible.I can make my fonts bigger to write a letter, and it also comes in an e-mail answer the way I set it. What I can't change is eg: the game free cell....I can't make it bigger ..it's so small to see the cards..same with any writing besides e-mail..is not ok.. Can you understand what I'm trying to explain? Thanks...Lorrie

Posted by: Lorrie at November 16, 2009 11:04 PM

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