A Hidden Gem – Windows 7 Magnifier Shortcuts and Features

Today I was messing around with Windows 7 and discovered a brilliant little feature that I’d pretty much ignored in the past. The Windows 7 Magnifier. Of course, I always knew that Windows 7 had a magnifier built into it, just like all the previous versions of Windows, but I never bothered to give it much thought. However, today I accidently hit a shortcut for it and I’ve spent the last 2o minutes or so messing around with it. (I probably should be doing an assignment I have)

Let me explain

As I said above, I never really bothered with the magnifier in Windows 7. I always felt it was for people who had forgotten their glasses or something, and not for someone like me who is still lucky enough not to require them. However I’ve suddenly realised that I like to be able to zoom in on certain parts of the screen at will. Of course I’ve always known of the zoom features in Word, IE etc.. and I did use them from time to time, but never have I used magnifier.

But from now on I think I’ll be using it a bit more. I’ve got together a list of shortcuts which are incredibly handy to use with it. I never knew until today how much you could actually do with magnifier.
Keys to press Action
Windows logo key + Plus Sign or Minus Sign Zooms in or out
Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar Preview the desktop in full-screen mode (you have to be zoomed in first)
Ctrl+Alt+F Switch to full-screen mode
Ctrl+Alt+L Switch to lens mode
Ctrl+Alt+D Switch to docked mode
Ctrl+Alt+I Invert colors (Probably my favourite feature)
Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys Pan in the direction of the arrow keys
Ctrl+Alt+R Resize the lens
Windows logo key + Esc Exit Magnifier



Maybe I’m just a bit too bored, and that’s why I was so intrigued by the Windows 7 magnifier, but I’ve only realised how handy it is today. Microsoft have actually put a bit of time and effort into developing it, and I feel that not enough people know about it.

As I mentioned in the table, my favourite shortcut is the one that Inverts the colors. The reason I like it is because it looks super cool and could be a great little trick to play on your friends computer at some stage!
Read also
http://networking.cs.umn.edu/wiki/index.php/User:Floyds
http://clubs.db.erau.edu/dbslavic/forum-phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=1838#1838