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PAGES Zoom NEW PROBLEM on mac

2026-9-23 My Macbook Air 2018 now has the 200% zoom on PAGES documents messed up. I work in them every day to write and read and I need this fixed. I think it began after its most recent software update last month to Sonoma 14.8.9, but I am not sure. Before its Always been viewable from side to side, filling the screen width, but now words are cut off at the edges so something made it actually Bigger than 200% I think, even though I set it for that usual-to-me 200%, so its too wide to fit my mac screen now. I do NOT want to go down to Fit the width or the next one down, which is 150%, which make me squint. And it does NOT offer option to pick a %, as probably 175% or so would be the equal of my prior 200% zoom setting. I need it as big as possible, font size, So MY EYES can easily read it without having to squint, like it was before just fine at 200% zoom. This MUST be a fixable thing. I don't know IF its due to recent software update OR something else?? It makes NO SENSE if Apple caused this to mess up?? I chatted with google.ai yesterday & it thinks it is due to recent Apple software update changing something, but when I tried changing things AI recommended, they didn't fix it, so I put it back as it was. Please someone tell me HOW TO FIX THIS???

7 replies

Hi Eli,

EliCh3 wrote:
And it does NOT offer option to pick a %

True. That used to annoy me until another user in this forum told me:

System Settings > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom > Zoom in or out > Pinch with two fingers.

Painstaking, but a careful two-finger pinch can give you any zoom you want.




Regards,

Ian.


It sounds like the 200% zoom level may be behaving differently after the update, rather than the actual font sizechanging. I’d first try creating a new Pages document and checking whether 200% has the same problem there. If the new document fits correctly, the issue may be related to the original document’s page or layout settings. You could also check the document margins and page size, since those can affect how much text is visible at a given zoom level.

I have Pages v14.4 running on Sonoma 14.8.9. Since I use computer corrected eye glasses, I don't need 200% zoom for visual acuity. However, setting the zoom to 200% in Pages will require you to resize the Pages display size to accommodate thumbnails, a full page view, and the right format sidebar. If you use the Zoom > Fit width, it may be more or less than 200% in my tests.


Since Pages v14.* is end-of-life, and Sonoma is now an unsupported (for updates) operating system, you will have to make due with what you have as no fixes (if needed) will be coming for Pages or Sonoma.


Google AI doesn't have a clue what is happening inside the Pages or macOS product teams. Neither do we.

And it does NOT offer option to pick a %, as probably 175% or so would be the equal of my prior 200% zoom setting.


Accessibility Settings offers many options. Rather than try to make the Pages app comply with a setting it does not offer, try exploring them.


Zoom in on your Mac screen - Apple Support


I chatted with google.ai yesterday & it thinks ...


No it doesn't.

EliCh3 wrote:
9-24-2026 I tried the Accessibility zoom options: NONE of them worked, not the tapping on trackpad, not the Control this or that, not anything in that section of Settings on mac. But thank you.


If the Accessibility features are not working as described in the Apple Support document I referenced, then there is something fundamentally wrong with that Mac. Contact Apple for an evaluation. Use the Support link on these pages. Do not use Google.


9-24-2026 I tried the Accessibility zoom options: NONE of them worked, not the tapping on trackpad, not the Control this or that, not anything in that section of Settings on mac. But thank you.


All I can say is IT IS POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE on APPLE's part to mess this up. My Pages has worked for years with this 200% zoom choice just filling my mac screen side to side/edge to edge and visible on the screen so my eyes didn't have to squint (which worsens visual acuity), until THEY/APPLE apparently did something to mess it up now. Google.ai said it thinks they did it to sync it with iphones and ipads and macs all together for Pages to work seamlessly across them all.


***


But their 1-800 reps told me in past APPLE is all about money FIRST, and CUSTOMERS wants/needs 2nd. So maybe allowing us to keep our Pages 200% working correctly would have cost them too much, to them??


I just HAD NO IDEA any of their software updates would EVER affect my PAGES AT ALL, since the update is for the mac software and Safari, and NOT for Pages itself. This is TERRIBLE FOR ME. I can only thank GOD my always off-line older mac I keep elsewhere CAN'T be messed up by Apple like they messed this one up. I had PLANNED that someday in next year or two this less old mac that IS NOW messed up would take the place of my older off-line mac to continue creating PAGES docs, but apparently not now. Now its got me in another dead end on that idea. Maybe IS IT POSSIBLE once I move this old mac to other location to take the older one's place, is it possible to reverse the software update to the prior one from where it is now so PAGEs works again then, (always off-line and not forced to do updates anymore there)???


[Edited by Moderator]

9-24-2026 Sorry, I tried 25 things google.ai recommended, INCLUDING the track pad moving 2 fingers away from each other, does NOT work. But thank you for replying.