The screen magnifier belongs to the special tools of the operating system and is intended to magnify the screen or its separate parts. Our experts tell you how to enable and configure it in Windows 10.
Switching on
There are several options in the operating system to run the screen magnifier. The simplest variant assumes use of a combination of keys “Win” and “plus”. You can access the graphical interface from the Special Features Center.
Call the parameter panel using the “Win+i” key combination. Go to the section framed in the screenshot.
In the side menu, switch to the item marked with one. After opening its contents, go to the right part of the panel. Move the slider marked with a two to the “On” position. Below it, in the area highlighted in green, there is a description of keyboard shortcuts for controlling the screen magnifier.
Call the “Run” dialog box using the “Win+R” key combination. Copy or enter by yourself in the highlighted text box the string: “control /name Microsoft.EaseOfAccessCenter”. Press “ok” to launch the applet of the Special Possibilities Center of the classic Control Panel.
Click on the frame around the link including the screen magnifier.
View mode
Windows provides three view modes for the magnifier, which can be set up in the Options bar.
In the side menu of the special features section, select the item marked with one. In the right part of the window we find the highlighted block of view settings. Choose the most suitable variant from the drop-down list marked with a twin. In lens mode, the screen magnifier is a rectangular area that moves across the screen. The items caught in it are enlarged in accordance with the scale set by the user. Use the sliders marked “3” to set the convenient size of the zoom area.
In the fixed mode the zoom window occupies a fixed position on the screen. It displays enlarged objects from the area indicated with the cursor. In the block marked with a two in the screenshot, you can select additional options for moving the screen magnifier.
In fullscreen mode, in addition to the features discussed above, there are two drop-down menus to adjust the position of the text cursor and mouse pointer.
Scaling and reading
By default the Magnifier starts with the zoom level of 200%. The step of changes is 100%.
In the field of screen magnifier parameters marked with one we set the starting magnification. Below is a drop-down menu for changing the zoom step. Minimum value is 5%, maximum -400%. If you want to use the screen magnification in the highlighted box, set the startup parameters. The magnifier can be activated for all users or for one user. In the latter case, the special feature is activated by logging into the system under a certain login.
The last settings block is intended for defining the parameters of machine reading of the text content displayed on the screen. By means of the drop-down menu marked with a 1, set the button that starts the text voiceover. The area marked with “2” shows the control combinations.
In all modes of the screen magnifier there is a window with graphical controls. The unit is marked by the zoom setting area. The numbers “2” and “3” show the button to start the reading. The first activates the full text, while the second activates only the fragment specified by the user. Clicking on the gear icon will open the voice assistant settings.
With the slider marked with one, set the speed of reading. In the drop-down menu indicated by two, select the preferred voice.
To conclude
In this material, our experts have detailed the features of the screen magnifier included in the special tools of Windows 10. Based on the information obtained, you will be able to configure and use this option, if necessary.
