Zooming to page width or whole page in Write by Zaweba

How large the page looks on screen has nothing to do with how it prints. Zoom changes your view, not the document. Getting it right makes long sessions easier on the eyes and makes layout checks quicker, and Write by Zaweba offers a handful of settings that cover most needs.

The zoom settings

Zoom in and zoom out make the page bigger or smaller in steps. 100% shows the page at roughly its real size. Page width fits the width of the page to the window, so the lines fill the space across. Whole page shrinks the view until a full page is visible from top to bottom.

All of these are in the View menu. They change nothing in the file, so you can zoom freely without affecting fonts, sizes or how the document looks when printed or exported.

Which view for which job

Page width is the most comfortable for writing. Lines use the available space, the text is large enough to read easily on most screens, and you don't need to scroll sideways. On a wide monitor it can make the text quite large, which many people find restful.

100% is useful when you want a sense of real size. It shows how big a heading will look on paper, or whether a font size chosen for a poster is large enough.

Whole page is for layout. With a full page in view you can see how headings, pictures, tables and white space balance, whether a section ends awkwardly near the bottom, and whether a heading has been left stranded at the foot of a page. It is the view to use when arranging a newsletter or checking a CV fits on one page.

Zooming in further helps with fine work: positioning a small picture, checking the alignment of a table's borders, or reading small print in a footnote.

Why the page stays true

Write draws pages as they will print. Headers, footers, page numbers and footnotes all sit where they will appear on paper. Zooming simply scales that view, so what you see at any zoom is the same layout, larger or smaller. The print preview and the PDF export use the same renderer, which is why a whole page view is a reliable check before printing.

Comfort on different screens

On a laptop with a small screen, page width keeps text legible without squinting. On a large monitor, whole page or a lower zoom lets you see more at once. If you move between screens, it is normal to change the zoom each time.

If text still feels small, zooming in is better than increasing the font size, because the document itself stays correctly sized for print. The light and dark themes also help: dark mode darkens the interface around the page, while the page itself stays white like paper.

For distraction-free writing, focus mode with F11 shows just the pages full screen, and zoom still works there.

A quick routine

Write at page width. Switch to whole page now and then to check the layout, especially after adding pictures or tables. Check fine details zoomed in. Finish with print preview before printing. It takes seconds and catches layout problems while they are easy to fix.