Focus on What Matters: Zoom Arrives in Microsoft Access
- Maria Barnes
- May 20
- 2 min read
With the introduction of the zoom slider, Microsoft Access now offers the same intuitive zoom capabilities found in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This practical enhancement improves day-to-day usability and is available in forms opened in form or datasheet view, as well as in tables, queries, and reports in print preview.
This feature is available only with Office 365 and rolled out to the Current Channel with version 2605 build 20026.20076 released on 2026-05-20. Be advised that Microsoft is rolling this feature out in stages over the next few days within this version. If you have this version and do not see zoom today, you may see it the next time you open Access.
How does it work?
Options for zooming include
The slider control in the status bar at the bottom-right corner of the Access window. You can drag the slider or click the plus or minus buttons to change zoom level in increments of 10% from 50 - 500%. There is also a tick mark in the middle to return to 100%.
New Zoom command on the Home tab of the ribbon to zoom in 25% increments from 50 - 200% or to 500%.
Keyboard shortcuts
CTRL + ALT + Plus (+) to zoom in
CTRL + ALT + Minus (-) to zoom out
CTRL + ALT + 0 to return to 100%
CTRL + Mouse wheel
Two fingers on touch screen or pad, expanding or bringing closer together
More options for adjusting the zoom level
Unfortunately zoom level does not persist with the form, table, query, or report after closure. However, you can set a database level zoom level with a new setting under File > Options > Current Database called Default Zoom using a range from 50 - 500%.
As a workaround until direct VBA setting of the zoom level is enabled, you can use 6 of the 9 RunCommands (acCmdZoom50 + 75, 100, 150, 200, 500) that have existed for many years to set the zoom level in report preview to set the zoom level for forms. These commands don't work in the open event but can be set with a minimal timer shortly after opening the form.
What is next in zooming?
Zooming for continuous and pop-up forms is scheduled for June 2026 on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap. Report, layout, design views, and VBA support should follow in the next months.
The zoom capability will become even more valuable with an additional roadmap update scheduled for July 2026, that will allow forms and reports to be designed beyond the current 22-inch limit – enabling Access to take full advantage of large-format monitors.
For official documentation on the new zoom feature in Microsoft Access see this Microsoft Support article. Another great article is Colin Riddington's Zooming Feature Now Rolling Out.
Could you ask Microsoft to give us a registry key to turn the new code on and off? Don't get me wrong: I love the new zoom feature. But I just found another regression (still working on a minimal example - this is a tough one to minimize), and, once this feature hits the Monthly Enterprise Channel, I want to have a backup plan if business critical software starts to break. (Yes, reverting to a previous version of Office is always possible, but that's not so ideal security-wise, since that also reverts monthly security fixes for Outlook and other parts of Office.)
These are truly excellent new features! Does anyone know how Zooming is implemented for popup forms? For example, if you zoom to 200%, does the effective size of the popup form also double to accommodate all the controls? And if AutoCenter is enabled, would the positioning also adjust automatically?
Still waiting for my main system to get the update. Had to use my other machine that's on the Beta Channel to make my video yesterday. I am anxiously waiting being allowed to zoom on my main PC. Until then, I am sad. :(