The Magic Mouse is an excellent addition to any Mac computer. It can enhance your productivity by allowing you to do all kinds of cool things with it. One of those things is the ability to zoom in or out in an application or on your desktop in order to make things easier to see.
To zoom in with the Magic Mouse, tap twice on the top of the mouse with one finger. If that doesn’t work you will need to enable Smart Zoom if your mouse supports it. If it does not, you can configure a modifier key to press along with the scroll gesture to zoom in and out.
My name is Eric and as a long-time computer user and engineer, I love to learn how certain features of devices like the Magic Mouse work. These types of devices have so many features that they often go unused until we are able to learn about them and see how convenient they are.
If you would like to learn how to zoom using your Magic Mouse, keep reading below. I’ll show you how to use Smart Zoom and I will also show you how to use your accessibility features to be able to zoom with other pointing devices such as a trackpad or other mouse types.
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Magic Mouse or Trackpad
Zooming in and out on your screen can be useful for a number of reasons and the Magic Mouse makes it fairly easy to do this. Below I will show you how to use Smart Zoom or set your system up to do this with a modifier key.
One thing to note is that these methods also work with a trackpad. So if you don’t own a Magic Mouse you can also do this with your MacBook’s built-in trackpad if you wish to do so.
Smart Zoom
Most newer versions of the Magic Mouse (and trackpads) support Smart Zoom. If Smart Zoom is enabled, which it usually is by default, all you need to do is double-tap the top of your Magic Mouse with one finger. If you are using a trackpad, double-tap with two fingers.
Smart Zoom only zooms in/out in applications that support zoom features such as your browser or text editor. If you want to zoom in/out on your entire desktop use the Accessibility method in the next section.
If your device supports Smart Zoom and it has been enabled, your currently selected window will zoom in. Performing the tap again will result in zooming out. If this is not working you can check to see if this setting is enabled. You can do this with the following steps.
Step 1: Open System Settings.
Click on the Apple symbol in the upper left corner of the screen and select System Settings from the menu.
Step 2: Select the Mouse settings.
Select Mouse (or Trackpad) settings from the list of settings in the left side pane of the System Settings window.
Step 3: Select the Scroll & Zoom tab.
Click on the Scroll & Zoom tab in the Mouse or Trackpad settings.
Step 4: Ensure the Smart Zoom feature is enabled.
Look at the Smart Zoom feature and ensure that it is switched on, the switch will be blue in color if it is enabled.
Step 5: Try Smart Zoom
You can now try the Smart Zoom action to see if it works. Open your browser ad then double-tap with one finger on your Mouse or two fingers on your trackpad. If the browser zooms in then it is now working.
If you do not see the Smart Zoom feature in your system settings this means that your pointing device does not support Smart Zoom, but you can use the method in the next section for zooming if you would like to do so.
Zoom using Accessibility Features
If you would like to zoom in on your entire desktop using your Magic Mouse, you can do so by enabling the accessibility feature which allows you to do this. Once enabled, you only need to hold down the specified modifier key and use a scrolling action on your mouse to zoom.
Use the following steps to do this.
Step 1: Open System Settings.
Click on the Apple symbol in the upper left corner of the screen and select System Settings from the menu.
Step 2: Select Accessibility.
Select the Accessibility features in the left side pane of the System Settings Window.
Step 3: Select Zoom.
Select the Zoom features in the Accessibility window.
Step 4: Enable scroll gesture with a modifier key.
You can enable zoom using the scroll gesture with a modifier key by clicking on the switch shown below.
By default, the modifier key is the ^Control key. You can change this to another modifier key if you would like by clicking on the dropdown menu shown above.
Step 4: Zoom using the modifier key and scroll gesture.
You can now zoom any time by holding down the modifier key set above (in this case the ^Control key) and then performing the scrolling action or gesture on your Magic Mouse. Scroll up to zoom in and scroll down to zoom out.
To scroll on your Magic Mouse, slide your finger up or down the top of the mouse.
Other ways to Zoom
When you were in the zoom settings of your Accessibility features, you may have noticed there are some other options for zooming. You can enable trackpad gestures and you can also allow the use of the keyboard to zoom.
These are also great ways to zoom and once enabled, they make zooming very easy to do. There are many zoom features that you can enable or disable if you click on the Advanced button. Take a look at them and see what they have to offer if you would like to do so.
Most of the zoom features that work with the Magic Mouse or the Trackpad, go hand in hand with the use of gestures on either device. Take a look at Apple support for more information on Magic Mouse and Trackpad gestures.
How to Zoom Out with Magic Mouse
Zooming out with your Magic Mouse can be as important as zooming in. Many users often zoom in by accident and are unsure of how to zoom out. Using Smart Zoom you can zoom out just like you zoom in. Tap the top of the Magic Mouse twice with one finger and you will zoom out.
If you’re using the zoom function with the Accessibility features, you will need to hold down the modifier key and then use the scroll-down gesture (swipe your finger along the top for the mouse from front to back) to zoom out.
FAQs
Below are a few questions that are often asked when discussing the zoom features on your Mac.
What are gestures?
If you are reading or learning about the Magic Mouse or trackpads, you have probably heard the term gestures used quite a bit and maybe you are wondering what they are. Gestures are actions that you take on your mouse, trackpad, or touchscreen such as sliding your finger across the device to perform some function.
Can I zoom in/out with a mouse that has a wheel?
Yes, you definitely can. If you set up the Use Scroll Gesture with Modifier to Zoom in the Accessibility settings as described above, you can simply hold down a modifier key on your keyboard such as ^Control, and then use the wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out.
What does it mean to toggle zoom on/off?
You have probably seen this setting or reference in some of the settings for zoom features. Toggling allows you to press a button which will activate the zoom feature. You can then use the keys or gestures that will perform the zoom action. When you press the button again it will then turn the zoom feature off so the keys or gestures will no longer perform zoom actions.
Conclusion
The ability to zoom with your Magic Mouse is a nice feature to have and using Smart Zoom you can simply tap twice on the top of the mouse with one finger. You may also use Accessibility features with your Magic Mouse, other pointing devices, or even your keyboard if you wish to zoom that way.
I hope the information above has helped you to set up your zoom capability. As usual, let me know if you have any questions or comments. I would love to hear from you.
