Adjust page magnification

Tools on the Select & Zoom toolbar can change the magnification of PDF documents. Only some of these appear on the default view of the toolbar. You can see all the tools by right-clicking/Control-clicking the Select & Zoom toolbar and choosing either individual tools, Show All Tools, or Add & Remove Tools and then selecting individual tools.

  • The Marquee Zoom tool works in a few different ways. You can use it to drag a rectangle around a portion of the page that you want to fill the viewing area. Or, simply clicking the Marquee Zoom tool increases the magnification by one preset level, centering on the point where you clicked. To decrease the magnification by one preset level, Ctrl-click/Option-click the Marquee Zoom tool.
  • The Dynamic Zoom tool zooms in when you drag it up the page and zooms out when you drag down. If you use a mouse wheel, this tool zooms in when you roll forward and zooms out when you roll backward.
  • Zoom In and Zoom Out change the document magnification by preset levels.
  • The Zoom Value option changes the page view according to a percentage you type in or select from a pop-up menu.
  • Actual Size displays the page at 100% magnification.
  • Fit Width adjusts the magnification so that the PDF fills the document pane horizontally.
  • Fit Height adjusts the magnification so that one page fills the document pane vertically.
  • The Pan & Zoom tool adjusts the magnification and position of the view area to match the area in an adjustable rectangle in the Pan & Zoom window’s thumbnail view of the page.
  • The Loupe Tool window displays a magnified portion of the PDF that matches the area in an adjustable rectangle on the document pane.

Resize a page to fit the window

  • To resize the page to fit entirely in the document pane, choose View > Zoom > Fit Page.  
  • To resize the page to fit the width of the window, choose View > Zoom > Fit Width. Part of the page may be out of view. 
  • To resize the page to fit the height of the window, choose View > Zoom > Fit Height. Part of the page may be out of view. 
  • To resize the page so that its text and images fit the width of the window, choose View > Zoom > Fit Visible. Part of the page may be out of view.
    To see keyboard shortcuts for resizing the document, open the View menu.

Show a page at actual size

 Choose View > Zoom > Actual Size.

The actual size for a PDF page is typically 100%, but the document may have been set to another magnification level when it was created.

Change the magnification with zoom tools

 Do one of the following:

  • Click the Zoom In button  or the Zoom Out button  in the toolbar. 

  • Enter a magnification percentage in the Select & Zoom toolbar, either by typing or choosing from the pop-up menu. 

  • Drag the Marquee Zoom tool  to define the area of the page that you want to fill the document pane. 

  • Drag the Dynamic Zoom tool  up to increase the magnification and down to decrease magnification. 

    When the Marquee Zoom tool is selected, you can Ctrl-click/Option-click or Ctrl-drag/Option-drag to zoom out. Holding down Shift switches temporarily from the Marquee Zoom tool to the Dynamic Zoom tool.

Change the magnification by using a page thumbnail

  1. Click the Pages button on the left side of the window to view the page thumbnails.
  2. Locate the thumbnail for the current page, and then position the pointer over the lower right corner of the page-view box until the pointer changes into a double-headed arrow.
  3. Drag the corner of the box to reduce or expand the view of the page.
  4. As needed, move the pointer over the zoom box frame within the thumbnail until it changes to a Hand icon, and then drag the frame to see a different area of the page in the document pane.

Change the default magnification

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences.
  2. Under Categories, select Page Display.
  3. Open the Zoom pop-up menu and choose a default magnification level.