Use the Magnifying Glass Tool in Preview to Zoom Into Image Detail
Oct 3, 2011 - 10 Comments
Preview in OS X Lion has been updated to include a helpful magnification tool that follows the mouse cursor. To activate it, just hit the ~ (tilde) key with an image open in Preview, then by using the trackpad you can pinch or spread to increase or decrease the size of the magnifier.
This is pretty useful and offers a much more precise option than zooming in on a full sized image with the command + and – shortcuts and then navigating around.
Thanks for the tip Alejandro
Thanks for this! On a German keyboard layout we don’t have such a specific tilde key. Can you tell me the key for the magnification tool on a German keyboard?
Go to Tools in the menubar
There should be a sign next to Show Magnifier
This is the key you should use.
In Belgium it’s the ` key.
My magnifier glass is rectangular; how do I get a circular one?
It seems that JPEG, TIFF and other image files get a circular magnifying glass, whereas PDF files get a rectangular one.
[...] Use the Magnifying Glass Tool in Preview to Zoom Into Image Detail Use the Magnifying Glass Tool in Preview to Zoom Into Image Detail… Source: osxdaily.com [...]
Now this may just be my keyboard, but for me it’s actually the backtick (`) key that does it. The tilde (~) is Shift-`
So that’s how CSI solves all those crimes. I always wondered.
[...] via OSX Daily [...]
Another tip: if you don’t have the track pad, use the + sign to make the magnifying circle bigger, and the – sign to make it smaller (like in Photoshop when changing the pen sizes).
My magnifying glass in preview keeps changing shape while I’m reading pdfs. Itll be a rectangle then suddenly it gets a little wider, or a little smaller or will turn into a square. Its incredibly irritating.