Google Slides is a really accessible, user-friendly, and free cloud-based alternative to the extremely popular (yet subscription-only) Microsoft PowerPoint. With Slides, you can create, edit, view, and display your presentations with ease, if with a little less of the functionality offered by the pay-for alternatives. Knowing how to zoom in and out on Google Slides is a remarkably effective way of increasing your productivity in the app.
To learn how to zoom in and out on Google Slides, simply follow our tutorials below. For all other queries or information, see our FAQs at the end of this article.
Table of Contents
How to zoom on Google Slides using keyboard shortcuts (Windows/Mac)
- Open up Google Slides and load a presentation to test your new zoom skills on, or open one you’re already working on
- Locate a slide you’d like to zoom in on
- Now, to zoom in press CTRL + ALT + PLUS (+) (Windows) or CMD + OPT + PLUS (+) (Mac) together on your keyboard. With each tap of PLUS (+) you’ll zoom further into your slide by a degree.
- To zoom back out, press CTRL + ALT + MINUS (-) (Windows) or CMD + OPT + MINUS (-) (Mac) together on your keyboard. With each tap of MINUS (-) you’ll zoom further out/away from your slide by a degree.
- To reset the zoom back to default, so that the slide fits your preview panel, hit CTRL/CMD + ALT/OPT + OPEN SQUARE BRACKET ([) at any time.
How to zoom on Google Slides using the in-built zoom tools (Windows/Mac)
- Open up Google Slides and load a presentation to test your new zoom skills on, or open one you’re already working on
- Locate a slide you’d like to zoom in on
- Click the magnifying glass Zoom icon from the toolbar (located directly below the ‘Insert’ menu icon)
- Now, click on your slide on the specific area you’d like to zoom in on. With each click, you’ll magnify/zoom in on the slide by a degree.
- To zoom back out, hold CTRL (Windows) or CMD (Mac) on your keyboard, and repeat step 4, clicking on your slide. With each click, you’ll zoom out from the slide by a degree.
- To reset the zoom back to default, so that the slide fits your preview panel, hit CTRL/CMD + ALT/OPT + OPEN SQUARE BRACKET ([) at any time. Alternatively, hit the little downward arrow to the right of the zoom tool, and then click ‘Fit’
- Open up Google Slides and load a presentation to test your new zoom skills on, or open one you’re already working on
- Locate a slide you’d like to zoom in on
- From the menu, click ‘View’
- Now, click ‘Zoom’
- From the pop-out menu, select a new zoom level for your presentation’s slides – 50%, 100% or 200%. Anything above ‘Fit (71%)’ will zoom closer in, anything less will zoom out.
- To reset the zoom, navigate back through View > Zoom > and then click ‘Fit (71%)’, or press CTRL/CMD + ALT/OPT + OPEN SQUARE BRACKET ([) on your keyboard at any time.
How to zoom in and out on Google Slides (Mobile app)
- Load the Google Slides app on your mobile or tablet device and load a test document, or a document you’ve previously been working on
- Locate and navigate to a slide you want to zoom in or out on
- Using two fingers (thumb and forefinger is easiest), place them close together on the area of the slide you wish to enhance, and then slide your fingers apart to zoom in.
- To zoom out, place two fingers apart on the screen, and slide them together.
And there you have it! Whether you’re using the online version of Google Slides on your Windows or Mac PC, or are utilizing its app version on a mobile or tablet; whether you prefer keyboard shortcuts, mouse clicks, or finger slides – we’ve laid out every possible means of zooming on Google Slides, to make your experience of using the app as smooth and enjoyable as possible.
For any other questions, or additional information, please see our FAQs below.
Frequently asked questions
What is Google Slides?
Having conquered the web browser industry, and produced a whole heap of technology to place them at the forefront of the technological hardware industry, too (for example with their Google Chromebooks), Google has also branched into cloud-based software for the creation and management of documents.
As such, Google has produced a range of home-office software to rival Microsoft’s Office package – including Google Docs, Google Sheets, and of course Google Slides.
Google Slides is a PowerPoint presentation creation, editing, and viewing platform, through which users can create their own presentations, share them easily over the internet with colleagues, classmates, or teachers, and even present their presentations from the program.
Why would I want to zoom in and out on Google Slides?
When editing or creating your presentation on Google Slides, you might well find it hard to read all of the information you want to include on a given slide. Once you’re presenting the presentation in full-screen mode, or say on a projector, you’ll not have to worry too much about the size of writing, but whilst editing, it can be a pain to strain your eyes.
Thankfully, there are lots of in-built zoom mechanics in Google Slides, meaning that if you’re wanting to focus on a specific area of a slide, in order to edit it in finer detail, then with just a click or two of a button, you can do just that.
Alternatively, maybe you want to take a figurative step back from your work – to snap you from your concentration and force you to look at the current slide from a different perspective. Zooming out, or away from a slide, can help you do exactly that.
What’s the best method of zooming in Google Slides?
This totally depends upon your preferred method of working. Some people really love keyboard shortcuts because they feel comfortable and confident with their keyboards, and would rather access functions such as ‘zoom’ with just a quick correct combination of keys.
Other people don’t feel quite so confident with the keyboard and find that they’re more accurate when using a mouse. As such, for them, we’d recommend utilizing the in-built zoom tool icon in Slides and clicking on the area of their slide to enlarge it.
Lastly, it may be that you don’t want a temporary solution to a zoom level problem (perhaps you really struggle to read the text at the standard text size). In such a case, you’ll likely find it most helpful to manually set the zoom percentage level in the ‘View’ menu – choosing a setting that best suits your needs, and keeping the zoom level there for the duration of your work.
How do I reset the zoom level in Google Slides?
If you’ve been playing around with the zoom level in Google Slides, and are either worried that you can’t set it back to normal, or are requiring default view again, then knowing how to most efficiently reset the zoom is key.
To do so, all you have to do is one of two things. Either, press CTRL (CMD) + ALT (OPT) + OPEN SQUARE BRACKET ([) on your keyboard at the same time. Or, click View > Zoom > Fit.
