Something was downloaded to my computer while I was away this week. (My husband probably thought it was ok.) Now when I open an email thru Outlook it's huge - it goes way off the screen to the right. I don't know how to resize this or fix this.
Can you please tell me in simple one and two syllable words just what to do?
Oh, those husbands. Can't leave 'em alone for a minute, much less a week.
The too-wide window could be the result of a download, but it's also possible that it's not his fault. Even though it's not supposed to, sometimes it can happen for other reasons. Fortunately, it's fairly easy to fix.
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Normally, of course, you can resize a window by using the mouse and clicking on and dragging the border of the window. In a case like this, though, the border is off the screen, and there's no way to move the mouse over to click on it. The result is that we have to use the keyboard interface.
When you're in one of those too-wide windows, do the following.
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Type ALT+spacebar: this should pop up a menu at the upper left of the window that should look something like this:
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Click on Size (or just type s): the cursor should change to a 4-pointed compass
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Press the right arrow key (or the key that "points to" the window border that is off the screen): the cursor should jump to that window border - which of course you can't see right now, since it's off the screen.
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Press the left arrow key (or the opposite of whatever key you pressed in the previous step) to resize the window: the edge of the window should move in the direction you've chosen.
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Press Enter when done resizing.
I believe it's still the case that while a mouse is technically listed as a requirement for Windows, there is a keyboard interface for everything. (Sadly, while Windows meets this criteria, not all applications do.) It's not always elegant, and sometimes downright cumbersome, but in cases like this it can be quite handy to at least have some familiarity with it.
Related:
Article C2627 - April 20, 2006
Happened to me twice. One time I just changed resolution, and moved window. The other time, I just went into video control panel and changed the center of the screen. (french benefits of a $500.00 video card - even tho it's seven years old)
Posted by: Paul at April 21, 2009 11:18 PMWhat is plan B ? alt-space bar got the little box menu but wouldn't let me change anything.
Posted by: MaryAlice Nelson at April 30, 2009 9:10 AMI can not make my screen smaller and letters are oversize. I tried alt+spacebar and nothiong pops up. Llease help. t.u.
Posted by: Debra at May 18, 2009 8:20 AMI have the same problem and when I pressed alt plus the spacebar the window popped up, but the size option was not available to me. What else can I do?
Posted by: April Marchant at July 2, 2009 4:37 PMI figured it out thanks to brenden go to the bottom right, still in the internet explorer and there is a zoom button, click 100%
Posted by: Alex at July 29, 2009 10:38 AMctrl + or - should change it.
Posted by: RJ at August 7, 2009 3:37 PMIhave done the alt+spacbar thing does not work. What is this Zoom button people are talking about? I sure cannot find it.
Posted by: james creeden at September 25, 2009 6:48 PMThis worked for me. I figured it out thanks to brenden go to the bottom right, still in the internet explorer and there is a zoom button, click 100%
Posted by: Le Gentry at October 4, 2009 5:11 PMHow do I get Netscape 7.2 to go back to it's
Posted by: Joyce at October 22, 2009 12:57 PMnormal size? I don't like the full screen
mode I am in..and am use to having the icons
on my desktop showing on all 3 sides of my
computer screen. I downloaded an image
today that was too big and I have not
been able to get back to the normal size yet.
Not only the window is too large but the letters are huge too. I also tried the alt + spacebar deal and the SIZE option wasn't available. So I'm still stuck with a screwed up screen!
Posted by: Shari Neil at October 31, 2009 6:36 PM