This is not an Excel tip…
One day I intended to press Alt+= (which is the shortcut for Auto Sum), but I wrongly press Windows+=, and something interesting pop up…
Instead of an auto sum formula I expected, I saw a rectangular magnifier moving with my mouse. Basically, wherever I moved my mouse, the magnifier followed and gave me a magnified view of the area underneath.
When I clicked the Magnifier icon on the screen, or on the task bar, the Magnifier Menu Bar was opened. See below:
With the Menu Bar, I could further zoom in or zoom out; change some settings to the views and play around with different options available. Frankly I just wanted to zoom in/out:
- To zoom in, press Windows+=
- To zoom out, press Windows+–
Closing the Magnifier is a little tricky. I need to open the Magnifier Menu Bar first and then click the X on the upper right corner, like what we do for closing a Window. It sounds simple enough but not really with the Magnifier floating on the screen. Try it out.
Fortunately, we may close the Magnifier simply by pressing Windows+Esc
Note:
This is the Windows Key, located between Ctrl and Alt.
I found this little tool in Windows 7. Not sure if it is available in other versions of Windows.
Practical use?!
A true story from a friend. (Yes, this is a typical description of someone else in story telling.) A colleague of her was doing a PowerPoint presentation, there was a tiny table on a slide that most audiences could not read clearly. After a while, a volunteer stepped forward and did something quickly on her PC. All a sudden, a magnifier appeared on screen, without interrupting the slideshow. Everyone in the room just WOW. ~_~
Actually I found the story a bit amusing (why she put a tiny table that no one can read on a slide at the beginning… poor visualization skill I guess). Nevertheless I do appreciate the thoughtfulness of programmers who take care of the potential needs of people with visual difficulty. 🙂
wmfexcel 