Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Zooming In On Your Worksheet.
When you are working with your data, you may want to enlarge what you see on the screen without actually changing the font size used by Excel. For instance, you may have formatted your text so that it uses a small font. (This is often necessary to get all your information on a printout.) When working in the worksheet, however, the font is difficult to read because it is so small.
The solution to this problem is to use the Zoom command to enlarge just what is displayed on the screen. Excel provides two primary methods to zoom in on your data. First, you can use the Zoom control on the Standard toolbar. This drop-down list provides a way you can easily select any of six predefined zoom settings.
If you want more zooming choices, you should select the Zoom option from the View menu. Excel displays the Zoom dialog box, which lists the six selections available from the toolbar, but also a Custom setting which allows you to specify any magnification level you want, between 10% and 400%. When you are done with your selection, just click on OK. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. The Zoom dialog box.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3017) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Zooming In On Your Worksheet.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: 
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