Two duplicate images of two butterflies side by side. The image on the right is more zoomed in than the image on the left.

PHOTOSHOP FEATURES

How to zoom with Adobe Photoshop.

Learn how to zoom in and out to get a new perspective on parts of your project.

What does the zoom feature do?

Whether you’re designing a poster or touching up a photo, you’ll probably end up using the Zoom tool more than any of the other tools available to you. When you want to increase the magnification on one part of the image you’re working on to make sure each pixel looks perfect, or decrease it to get a look at the full image, the Zoom tool is your best friend.

How do you zoom in and out in Photoshop?

There’s more than one way to zoom. Photoshop offers a number of different zoom options to suit different purposes and workflows — plus keyboard shortcuts to access each one quickly.

Zoom tool

Click the magnifying glass in the toolbar to access the Zoom tool, and then click on the specific area you want to zoom in on. Or just press and hold the Z key, and then click and drag your cursor to the right to zoom in or to the left to zoom out.

Zoom with Scroll Wheel

Another simple way to zoom in and out is to use the scroll wheel on your mouse, rolling it forward to get closer to your image and back to move farther away. To activate this feature, press Ctrl+K (Command+K on Mac) to open the Preferences panel, then click the checkbox beside the Zoom with Scroll Wheel option. Alternatively, you can hold down the Alt key (or the Option key on Mac) and scroll your mouse wheel up or down.

Resize windows to fit

This option allows you to move and resize windows to suit your needs. Go to Edit › Preferences › Interface and set UI Scaling to 100% then restart Photoshop to let it take effect. Or press Alt+F7 to move a window and Alt+F8 to resize.

Zoom All Windows

Click the Zoom tool, and then select Zoom All Windows in the Options bar at the top of your project window to make the zoom function apply to all open images.

A side-by-side comparison showing the Scrubby Zoom feature being used on an image of a black-and-yellow insect's face.

Animated and Scrubby Zoom

These zoom methods are perfect for getting close to your image without unnecessary keystrokes. For Animated Zoom, press Z to select the Zoom tool and then click and hold on the part of the image you want to zoom in on. The image will zoom for as long as you hold down. (Enable Animated Zoom by visiting Photoshop › Preferences › Tools.) For Scrubby Zoom, select the Zoom tool and then click and drag right to zoom in and left to zoom out. (Enable Scrubby Zoom by checking the box in the Options bar at the top of your project window when the Zoom tool is selected.)