Zooming In for the Edits

Using the Zoom Out feature to find the place that you need to edit. Use the Zoom In feature to increase the magnification to a level that makes cell range editing most comfortable. In case you're not that familiar with Excel's Zoom controls, you can access the Zoom feature in one of two ways: the Zoom combo box on the Standard toolbar or the Zoom dialog box, which you can open by choosing View → Zoom.

When setting a new magnification using the Zoom combo box or the Zoom dialog box, you can select one of the preset magnification percentages - 200%, 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25%, with 100% being the default setting for all worksheets - from its dropdown list. (Of course, the size of the cells at the 100% setting can vary, depending on the current resolution and the overall size of your monitor's screen.)

You can also enter a custom percentage between a minimum of 10% and a maximum of 400%:

• To do this in the Zoom combo box, click the combo box, enter the new value, and then press the Enter key.
• To set a custom percentage in the Zoom dialog box, open the Zoom dialog box (View → Zoom), click the Custom text box, type a new percentage, and click OK.

If you have a Microsoft IntelliMouse, you can set it up in Excel so that rolling the wheel back and forth zooms out and in on the current worksheet. On the General tab of the Options dialog box (Tools → Options), select the Zoom on Roll with IntelliMouse check box. Afterwards, rolling the wheel backward increases the magnification by 15% until you reach the maximum 400%, whereas rolling the wheel forward decreases the magnification by 15% until you reach the minimum 10% value.

When editing a range of cells find the Fit Selection option (abbreviated to Selection on the Zoom pop-up menu) to be the most useful because this feature automatically selects whatever magnification is necessary to display all the cells currently selected. To use this feature, follow these steps:

1. Select the range of cells that must be displayed for the type of editing you're doing.
2. Either select Selection on the Zoom combo box's pop-up menu on the Standard toolbar or click the Fit Selection option button in the Zoom dialog box (View → Zoom).

Zoom out to locate the cell range to be edited on the worksheet. Then select the range and use the Fit Selection feature to display it fullscreen as you make the necessary editing changes.