To create a top-notch document or presentation, you need to draw the details precisely but also keep on eye on the document pages as a whole. To help you out, LayOut has the Zoom Tool () and Pan Tool (
).
You find these tools on the View menu, but because you'll likely use them often, they're also accessible with your mouse.
Check out the following sections for details about all the ways you can pan and zoom.
Table of Contents
Zoom In and Out
Zooming is such a common action, LayOut gives you plenty of ways to zoom:
- Scrolling your mouse activates LayOut's zoom feature.
- The Zoom menu lives in the lower right of the LayOut interface.
- The View menu has the Zoom tool as well as four zoom commands.
Here, you find out how each option works, and you can choose your favorite.
In the lower right, the Zoom menu enables you to select a preset zoom percentage or scale the document area so you can can see the whole page. (See Introducing the LayOut Interface for a tour of LayOut's interface.)
After you select the Zoom tool () from the View menu, you can zoom in or out as follows:
- Zoom in by clicking and dragging up.
- Zoom out by clicking and dragging down.
You can also select the following commands from the View menu:
- Zoom In: Select this command to zoom in by 20 percent.
- Zoom Out: Select this command, and you zoom out by 20 percent.
- Actual Size: This command displays your document at its actual 100% size.
- Zoom to Fit: This command enables you to see your whole document area on-screen.
Panning around
The Pan tool enables you to move the view vertically or horizontally, which is pretty handy when you're zoomed in and can't see your whole document page.
You can also select the Pan tool () by selecting View > Pan.
With the Pan tool active, click and drag the Pan cursor in any direction to pan around the document area.
Trackpad Navigation
MacOS Only If you’re using a laptop or a touch pad on a desktop computer then you have a couple of additional navigation options; two finger panning and pinch-to-zoom.
Two Finger Pan
To take advantage of two finger panning, you’ll need to enable it following these steps:
- Open LayOut
- Navigate to LayOut > Preferences in the file menu
- Select General
- Check the box next to "Enable two finger pan"
Alternatively, you can leave this option unchecked and you can temporarily enable this functionality as desired by holding the CMD key.

Pinch to Zoom
You can use the pinch/expand gesture in LayOut whether you’ve enabled panning or not. It works just like it sounds, place your finger and thumb over the area you wish to zoom and either pinch to zoom out, or expand to zoom in.