Owning one of the best Chromebooks or ChromeOS tablets doesn't mean you have to stick with how your ChromeOS device came out of the box. So, if you want to change the text size on your Chromebook, it's quite an easy feat. There are actually two ways to do it. You can change the text size so the webpages you see in the Chrome web browser get bigger and smaller, independent of the operating system. Or, you also can change the display scaling to make everything bigger or smaller, including webpages and system apps and areas. We have a look at both of these for you right here today.
How to change the text size on web pages on a Chromebook
First up, the simple route. If you want to make the text on a webpage bigger or smaller on a Chromebook, you can adjust the zoom levels in the browser. This is accomplished right from the menu at the top of the web browser.
- Click the three-dot menu on the far right side of the screen.
- Choose Zoom.
- Click the + arrow to make the text on a webpage bigger.
- Click the - arrow to make the text on a webpage smaller.
That's all there is to change the text size on web pages on a Chromebook. Once you change the size, Chrome will remember it and every time you come back to the webpage, it will be how you left it.
How to change the text size for the rest of ChromeOS
To change the text size for the rest of ChromeOS, you're going to need to head into the system settings app and adjust display scaling. A smaller scale will make items on your screen look smaller, and a bigger scale will make items on your screen look bigger, and easier to read. Here's what to do.
- Click on the time in the lower right corner of your screen.
- Click on the settings gear.
- Choose Device in the sidebar.
- Choose Displays.
- Adjust the slider under Display Size. The text size will change as you adjust the slider and you'll see ChromeOS indicate a resolution for the scale that you've picked. This is just a representation of what your screen looks like, the actual resolution of the display doesn't change.
Once you adjust that slider, there won't be the need to save anything. The changes you make will apply automatically and will save each time you make an adjustment, just like it would on Windows laptops.
To make use of high-resolution displays on a Chromebook, it's a great idea to leave the display scaling quite low. This way, you can fit more items on your screen at once. If you have vision impairments, though, you're better off setting the scaling to a higher level, so everything will be bigger on the screen. The same also applies to zooming on webpages, where a higher percentage makes things bigger, and a smaller one fits more into the browser window.