GIMP has been around now for a quarter of a century, and remains many people’s go-to raster graphics editor and image manipulator. As such, it is important that you know how to zoom, and all the various methods of doing so, to ensure your experience of the app is as smooth, enjoyable, and productive as possible.
To find out how to zoom in and out in GIMP, see our tutorials below. For any other queries, and any additional information, see our FAQs at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
How to zoom in and out using the mouse scroll-wheel in GIMP
- Open up the GIMP app on your device, and then load an image to test out this zooming method on.
- Now, hover your cursor over the specific area in the image you wish to zoom in to (you can be very specific with this, as GIMP will zoom right in on the point of your cursor, down to the pixel).
- On your keyboard, press and hold the CMD (Mac OS) or CTRL (Windows/Linux) key, and then using your mouse’s scroll-wheel, scroll forward to zoom in. You can do so as rapidly or as gradually as you like.
- To zoom back out, simply keep holding (or press and hold again) either the CMD or CTRL key, and scroll backwards (towards you) on your mouse’s scroll-wheel
How to zoom in on a specific area using the zoom tool in GIMP
- Open up the GIMP app on your device, and then load an image to test out this zooming method on.
- Click the zoom tool (magnifying glass icon) located at the bottom of the left-hand toolbar.
- Now, click and drag your cursor to form a box around a specific area of your image – the area you wish to zoom in to). Once you’ve highlighted the area thusly, simply let go and GIMP will fit this selected area to the full size of the editing window.
- To zoom back out to default, re-fitting the full image to the window, simply press CTRL + 0 (Windows/Linux) or CMD + 0 (Mac OS) on your keyboard at any time.
How to zoom by clicking your mouse in GIMP
- Open up the GIMP app on your device, and then load an image to test out this zooming method on.
- Click the zoom tool (magnifying glass icon) located at the bottom of the left-hand toolbar.
- Hover your mouse over the area you wish to zoom into, and click with your mouse/trackpad. With each click, you will be zoomed further and further into the image you’ve loaded in GIMP.
- To zoom back out, simply hold CTRL (Windows/Linux) or CMD (Mac OS) and whilst doing so, click your mouse/trackpad. With each click, you will be zoomed further and further out from the image.
How to zoom via the View window in GIMP
- Open up the GIMP app on your device, and then load an image to test out this zooming method on.
- Click on ‘View’ in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Hover over ‘Zoom’ and the Zoom submenu will pop out to the side. You can now see a list of various zoom settings you can trigger by clicking on them, as well as their keyboard command shortcuts.
- Find the zoom setting you want (100% shows you the image at its ‘real’ size, 200% at twice its ‘real’ size, 50% at half its ‘real’ size, etc.) and click on it. GIMP will snap your image to that zoom level.
- To reset the zoom so that the image fits the window, press CTRL/CMD + 0 on your keyboard, or to reset the image to 100% zoom (‘real’ size) press CTRL/CMD + 1 at any time.
How to pan when zoomed in on GIMP
When you are zoomed in on a specific area of an image in GIMP, there are several ways of moving around the image, to work on them at this level of zoom, without having to come out of the zoom level, realign, and then zoom back in.
- When zoomed in, click your mouse’s scroll-wheel down, and then move your cursor, you can freely navigate around the imagine the direction you move your cursor.
- Alternatively, use your scroll-wheel on its own (without clicking it down) to move up or down the image, by scrolling forwards or backwards, respectively.
- Lastly, to move left and right using the scroll-wheel, first click the scroll-wheel down, and then scroll forward to pan left across the image, and backwards to pan right.
- Remember you can also always use the navigation/scroll bars in the app itself to do the same job, and to reset the zoom level of the image, press CMD/CTRL + 0 together on your keyboard at any time.
And there you have it! No matter what you want to use the zoom function for in GIMP, by following our tutorials, you can master all methods in no time at all.
For any additional queries or information, see our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
What is GIMP?
GIMP is a long-standing open-source and free-to-use raster graphics editor and image manipulation software, providing its users a lot of the same sort of functionality they get with professional subscription softwares such as those from Adobe. GIMP is available for Linux, Mac OS, and Windows, and was first released to the public in 1996. Since then, it has grown in popularity and functionality, and went through many updates, keeping it up to date with competitors apps and software. GIMP allows for image manipulation (retouching), free-form drawing, image editing, and the transcoding of images between various different file formats.
Why would I want to zoom in and out in GIMP?
As with any image or graphics editor, the ability to zoom can revolutionise the way you work within the software. Knowing how to quickly and easily zoom in and out on the images you’re working on can allow you to take a project that looks good, and turn it into one which looks great. By being able to zoom in, you can ensure that you are able to carry out even the most minute of adjustments to your project, whilst zooming out allows you to take a digital ‘step back’, to review your project from a different perspective.
What is the best way of zooming in and out in GIMP?
This depends on what you’re editing, and what you want to do with the image. It also of course depends on your comfort and confidence in using the methods taught in the tutorials above, as well as – in part – to do with your hardware. If you don’t have a mouse with a scroll wheel, for example, then of course you will not be looking to use the scroll wheel zoom method. If you wish to edit a very specific section of your image, then zoomingin to that part specifically by dragging a zoom box over it is the best way to zoom for you, but if you want greater flexibility and directional fluidity, then the zoom tool and click is probably the preferable method.
Does changing the zoom in GIMP change the default settings of the app?
No, it only alters the zoom for the image you are currently working on. As soon as you open a new project or image, or close and then re-open the app, the zoom level will be automatically restored to default. This is to ensure that your view as standard is kept uniform, ensuring ease of use for all new projects. Thankfully, with the few simple tricks we’ve instructed you on above, it’s super quick and easy to zoom in and out of any new project.
How do I reset the zoom in GIMP?
Simply press CTRL (Windows/Linux) or CMD (Mac OS) + ‘0’ together on your keyboard at any time, this will signal GIMP to snap the image back to ‘fit the window’ – i.e. resetting the zoom level to default.
