Learn how to change the display settings in Apple’s Preview app on your Mac so that images and PDF documents appear at actual size on the screen.
The built-in Preview app on your Mac renders images and PDF documents on the screen in the same size as they would appear in a printout, regardless of your screen resolution. For example, if a PDF document is 8.5 x 11 inches when printed on a piece of paper, that’s the size it will appear in Preview.
But if you open an image or a PDF document in Preview only to find it weirdly rendered or wrongly sized, adjusting Preview’s scale setting will fix the problem.
Change image and PDF sizes in Preview for Mac
- Open the Preview app.
- Click Preview > Settings or Preview > Preferences in the top menu bar.
- Go to the Images tab. Select the option next to Define 100% scale as. This should be set to “1 image pixel equals 1 screen pixel” by default.
- Now, switch to the PDF tab and select the option next to Define 100% scale as. The default setting is “Size on screen equals size on printout.”
Once you change display size settings, close the document and reopen it to see the size difference for yourself. Preview on Mac is a terrific tool, but if you’re just learning how to use it, take a look at what Preview is and what you can do with it.
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