How to make the on-screen display match the size of the printout That only affects how the document prints, not how it looks on-screen. Word offers standard choices like 50%, 75%, 100%, 125%, 150%, and you can also type in any integer value you choose between 10% and 500%.Īlso, don't confuse this with the Scale or Scaling percentage you may be able to choose when printing your document (or when adjusting the settings in Page Setup in preparation for printing), depending on the type and model of printer you use. This lets you specify a percentage enlargement or reduction relative to its '100%' default.Ĭhoosing a higher percentage enlarges what you see on the screen, which can be useful for reading small text or seeing more detail in embedded pictures, but will probably mean that you'll have farther to scroll (vertically and possibly also horizontally) to travel through the entire document.Ĭhoosing a smaller percentage reduces the size of everything, which can be helpful if you need to 'step back' to look at how the document looks on the page, and will mean that you won't have to scroll as far to get to the end of the document. I'm not referring to changing the size of the font or margin (which actually changes the contents of the document and how it prints), but using the 'View' or 'Zoom' function (which only changes the appearance of the document on-screen). Programs like Microsoft Word have the ability to reduce or enlarge the display of an entire document on your screen without changing how it prints or fits onto each page. Have you ever noticed that when you print out a Microsoft Word document, the size of the text on your computer screen does not match the size on the printout? If your documents seem a bit small on-screen, you can always just choose 125% or 150% to arbitrarily enlarge them on-screen (without changing how they print), but if you have ever wanted them to look the same size on-screen as they look when printed, read on for my advice on how to do this. For my Mac’s settings, (1800 pixels / 11.875 inches) * 2 = 303 ppi, and entering that in Screen Resolution lets Print Size show the Photoshop ruler at an on-screen size that matches a real ruler.Īlso important: For both Actual Size and Print Size to work properly, the document physical dimensions in inches/cm and the PPI resolution (you set both in Image > Image Size) must match the final reproduction dimensions and resolution.Microsoft Word: How to see your document 'life-size' on screen (hint: it's not 100%) For a Retina/HiDPI display, take the pixel width from the UI scaling selected in Displays, as gener7 showed, and then after doing the calculation, double the result to compensate for 2x pixel density so that you get the correct number for Screen Resolution. Important: It gets tricky on a Retina (macOS) or HiDPI (Windows) display, which use 2x pixel density.

If you don’t know the display resolution, you can work it out yourself using the method gener7 showed earlier in this thread. If Actual Size is not accurate, use View > Print Size after manually calibrating it by entering your screen resolution in Preferences / Units and Rulers / Screen Resolution. It does match up perfectly when your eye is directly above each marker.)Īctual Size might not be accurate with some computer and graphics hardware combinations. (It may look slightly off in the photo, but that is due to close up parallax. And you don’t have to know what any of the numbers are, it just works. When Actual Size is used, Photoshop gets the display pixel density from the Mac hardware, and uses that to correct the display magnification, so the Photoshop ruler matches the real ruler that is against the screen. The screen shot posted earlier by gener7 is from a Mac.īelow is the ruler in Photoshop on my MacBook Pro after choosing View > Actual Size in Photoshop. The Actual Size command works automatically on a Mac.Īll of the replies I posted are from my Mac.

Life size inch ruler