How to Zoom Out on a MacBook (Apps, Trackpad & Whole Screen)

Text is suddenly huge, a web page won’t fit in the window, or the entire screen is magnified and follows your pointer around. There are several kinds of zoom on a Mac, and how to zoom out on a MacBook depends on which one you’re dealing with. This guide covers each one, starting with the most common.

Quick fix: If one app or web page looks too big, press ⌘ Command + 0. If the whole screen is magnified, jump to getting out of an accidental zoom.

Zoom out in Safari, Chrome and other apps

Browsers and most document apps have their own zoom, which only changes the size of what’s inside that window.

Shortcut	What it does
⌘ + - (minus)	Zoom out
⌘ + + (plus) or ⌘ + =	Zoom in
⌘ + 0 (zero)	Reset to the default (actual) size

You don’t need Shift for zoom in: ⌘= works because plus and equals share a key.

These shortcuts work in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Pages, Preview, Mail and most other apps. If an app supports zoom, you’ll also find Zoom In, Zoom Out and Actual Size (or similar) in its View menu.

Tip: Safari and Chrome remember the zoom level for each website. If one site always opens zoomed, visit it and press ⌘0. In Safari you can review and reset saved levels in Safari › Settings › Websites › Page Zoom.

Zoom out with a trackpad pinch

On a MacBook trackpad (or a Magic Trackpad), pinch two fingers together to zoom out and spread them apart to zoom in. This works in Safari, Photos, Maps, Preview and many other apps.

Pinch to zoom is turned on by default. If it doesn’t work:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Click Trackpad in the sidebar.
3. Click the Scroll & Zoom tab.
4. Turn on Zoom in or out.

On the same tab, Smart zoom lets you double-tap with two fingers to zoom in on a section of a page and double-tap again to zoom back out. If pages jump in size when you tap, this is likely why. Turn it off if it gets in your way.

Zoom out the whole screen with Accessibility Zoom

Accessibility Zoom magnifies everything on your display, not just one app. It’s designed for people who need larger content, but it’s also the most common cause of “my screen is stuck zoomed in.”

Zoom’s shortcuts and gestures are all off by default. You (or someone using your Mac) has to turn them on first. To find the settings:

1. Open the Apple menu and choose System Settings.
2. Click Accessibility in the sidebar.
3. Click Zoom.

You’ll see three ways to control zoom, each with its own switch.

Keyboard shortcuts (off by default)

Turn on Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom to use these:

Shortcut	What it does
⌥ Option + ⌘ + 8	Turn zoom on or off
⌥ + ⌘ + =	Zoom in
⌥ + ⌘ + -	Zoom out

Apple’s documentation writes the zoom-in shortcut as Option-Command-Plus Sign. It’s the same physical key as equals, so you don’t need Shift.

Scroll gesture with modifier keys (off by default)

Turn on Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom, then pick a key from the Modifier key for scroll gesture menu: ⌃ Control, ⌥ Option or ⌘ Command. Control is the usual default.

Now hold that key and scroll with two fingers on the trackpad (or the mouse wheel). Scroll up to zoom in, and scroll down to zoom out.

Trackpad gesture (off by default)

Turn on Use trackpad gesture to zoom to control it with three fingers:

• Double-tap with three fingers to switch between zoomed in and zoomed out.
• Double-tap with three fingers and drag to zoom gradually.

Zoom style

The Zoom style menu decides what gets magnified: Full Screen (the whole display), Split Screen (a magnified pane along one edge) or Picture-in-Picture (a magnifying window that follows the pointer).

Note: On macOS Monterey and earlier, these options are in System Preferences › Accessibility › Zoom, with checkboxes instead of switches.

How to get out of an accidental zoom

If your whole screen is magnified and the image slides around as you move the pointer, Accessibility Zoom is on. Try these, in order:

1. Undo the scroll gesture. Hold ⌃ (or whichever modifier is set) and scroll down on the trackpad until the screen is back to normal. Holding Control while scrolling is the most common way people zoom in by accident.
2. Press ⌥⌘8. This turns zoom off, but only if keyboard shortcuts are enabled.
3. Double-tap the trackpad with three fingers, if the trackpad gesture is enabled.
4. Check what’s turned on. Go to System Settings › Accessibility › Zoom to see which of the three options is enabled, then use that method to zoom back out. If you can’t read the screen well enough to get there, press ⌘Space, type Zoom, and pick the Zoom setting from the Spotlight results.
5. Stop it happening again. Once you’re zoomed out, turn off any of Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom, Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom and Use trackpad gesture to zoom that you don’t need.

Tip: If you keep zooming by accident because you hold Control while scrolling, change the Modifier key for scroll gesture to Option or Command, or turn the gesture off entirely.

Seeing a big text bubble instead?

If a large box of text appears when you hover over something while holding ⌘, that’s Hover Text, a separate feature. Turn it off in System Settings › Accessibility › Hover Text.

Make everything smaller with display scaling

Sometimes the problem isn’t zoom at all: everything just looks too big, all the time. That’s controlled by display scaling, and changing it lets more fit on your screen.

1. Open System Settings.
2. Click Displays in the sidebar.
3. Select your built-in display if you have more than one connected.
4. Click a resolution thumbnail closer to More Space to make everything smaller. Thumbnails closer to Larger Text make everything bigger.
5. To go back to Apple’s recommended setting, choose Default.

Scaling changes the size of text, icons, windows and the menu bar together. On some displays, scaled resolutions can look slightly less sharp or affect performance a little, so try one or two steps before jumping all the way to More Space.

Tip: If you prefer a list over thumbnails, Control-click the thumbnails and choose Show List. For an external display, you may need to turn on Show all resolutions to see every option.

If you’re connecting your MacBook to a TV and everything looks oversized, the same Displays settings apply to that screen. See our guide on how to AirPlay from Mac to TV for TV-specific tips.

Which zoom are you dealing with?

What you see	What’s happening	Fix
One web page or document is too big	App zoom	⌘- or ⌘0
A photo or map zoomed after a pinch	Trackpad zoom	Pinch two fingers together
The whole screen is magnified and follows the pointer	Accessibility Zoom	Hold ⌃ and scroll down, or ⌥⌘8
Everything is always too large	Display scaling	System Settings › Displays › More Space

For more time-saving key combinations, see our complete Mac keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet. If you need to capture what’s on screen once it looks right, our Mac screenshot shortcuts guide has every option. Apple’s own guide to zooming in on your Mac screen covers the advanced Zoom options in more detail.