Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Nifty Zooming.
If you zoom in and out of your documents quite a bit, you may get tired of using the Zoom controls on the View tab of the ribbon. If you have one of the mice that has a small wheel between the left and right mouse buttons, you can do a neat trick. All you need to do is hold down the Ctrl key as you turn the small wheel. Each click up or down increases or decreases the zoom factor by 15%. You can use this method of zooming for any magnification between 10% and 400%.
If you like this feature so much that you want to use it all the time (without the need to hold down the Ctrl key), you can instruct Excel to always use the mouse's wheel to zoom. Follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Advanced option of the Excel Options dialog box.
Now you can zoom by rolling the mouse wheel, or scroll through the worksheet by holding down the Ctrl key as you turn the wheel.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (10318) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Nifty Zooming.
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2019-04-05 13:03:18
Allan
If you choose this approach you give up wheel scrolling.
2019-04-05 10:03:57
Daniel
A mouse-free zoom is possible by the shortcut key F6, which circles between the status bar, the ribbon and the spreadsheet. When you are in the status bar you can use the arrow keys to highlight the plus or the minus button. Then you can hit enter to zoom. When you are back in the spreadsheet, the next time you hit F6, Excel will remember the last button you highlighted so you can hit enter to repeat that procedure.
2014-09-05 09:44:37
Bryan
I'm glad I was able to contribute to the accuracy of this tip.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
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