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ZoomIt utility

ZoomIt is a screen zoom, annotation, and recording tool for technical presentations and demos. You can also use ZoomIt to snip screenshots to the clipboard or to a file. ZoomIt runs unobtrusively in the tray and activates with customizable hotkeys to zoom in on an area of the screen, move around while zoomed, and draw on the zoomed image.

Animation of the PowerToys ZoomIt utility demonstrating screen zoom and annotation features during a presentation.

ZoomIt is one of the Sysinternals utilities and its standalone version works all versions of Windows. To provide the most flexibility, this standalone version will continue to be available from Sysinternals. For more information about using ZoomIt or to download a standalone version, see ZoomIt in the Sysinternals documentation.

Enabling

To start using ZoomIt, enable it in the PowerToys Settings.

Additional settings

In addition to enabling or disabling ZoomIt in the PowerToys Settings, you can configure the following options:

Behavior settings Description
Show tray icon Show or hide the ZoomIt tray icon. The tray icon is shown by default when enabling ZoomIt.
Zoom settings Description
Zoom Toggle Hotkey Set the hotkey to toggle zoom on and off. The default hotkey is Ctrl+1.
Animate zoom in and zoom out Enable or disable the zoom in and zoom out animation. The animation is enabled by default.
Smooth the zoomed image Enable or disable smooth rendering when zoomed in. When enabled, the zoomed image appears smoother rather than pixelated.
Specify the initial level of magnification when zooming in Set the initial level of magnification when zooming in (1.25 to 4.0). The default magnification level is 2.0.
Live Zoom settings Description
Live Zoom Toggle Hotkey Set the hotkey to toggle live zoom on and off. The default hotkey is Ctrl+4.
Draw settings Description
Draw without Zoom Hotkey Set the hotkey to draw without zoom. The default hotkey is Ctrl+2.
Type settings Description
Text font Set the font for text annotations in drawing mode. The default font is Microsoft Sans Serif.
DemoType settings Description
Input file Specify text in a file to use in DemoType mode.
DemoType Toggle Hotkey Set the hotkey to toggle DemoType mode on and off. The default hotkey is Ctrl+7.
Drive input while typing Enable or disable the ability to drive input with typing in DemoType mode. The default setting is disabled.
DemoType typing speed Set the typing speed in DemoType mode (10 to 100). The default typing speed is 55, and larger numbers are faster.
Break settings Description
Start Break Timer Hotkey Set the hotkey to start the break timer. The default hotkey is Ctrl+3.
Timer (minutes) Set the break timer duration in minutes. The default break timer duration is 10 minutes.
Show Time Elapsed After Expiration Show or hide the time elapsed after the break timer expires. The time elapsed is shown by default.
Play Sound on Expiration Play a sound when the break timer expires. A sound is not played by default.

When enabled, use the "Alarm sound file" option's Browse button to specify the sound file to play when the break timer expires.
Lock workstation during break When enabled, locks the workstation when the break timer starts, requiring the user to sign in again when the break is over.
Timer Opacity Set the opacity of the break timer (10% to 100%). The default opacity is 100%, and larger numbers are more opaque.
Timer Position Set the position of the break timer on the screen. The default position is "Center".
Show Background Bitmap Show or hide the background bitmap behind the break timer. The background bitmap is not shown by default.

When enabled, the following options become available:
  • Option buttons to select "Use faded desktop as background" or "Use image file as background".
  • Background image file: Use the Browse button to select a background image when "Use image file as background" is selected.
  • Scale to screen: Enable scaling the background image to fit the screen. This option can be enabled when "Use Image file as background" is selected. The option is disabled by default.
Record settings Description
Record Toggle Hotkey Set the hotkey to toggle full-screen or zoom recording on and off. The default hotkey is Ctrl+5.
Record screen region hotkey Set the hotkey to record a user-selected portion of the screen. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+5.
Lock region selection to 16:9 aspect ratio When recording a screen region, constrain the selection to a 16:9 aspect ratio. Useful when you're producing video for a 16:9 player.
Record window hotkey Set the hotkey to record a specific window. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+5.
Format Select the recording output format. Options: GIF or MP4. The default format is MP4.
Scaling Set the scaling factor for the recorded image (0.1 to 1.0). The default is 1.0 for MP4 recordings and 0.5 for GIF recordings.
Capture system audio Enable or disable capturing system audio during recording. System audio capture is enabled by default.
Capture audio input Enable or disable capturing audio input during recording. Audio input is not captured by default.
Noise cancellation Apply microphone noise cancellation when audio input capture is enabled. This setting is on by default.
Mono Mix microphone input to mono when audio input capture is enabled. This setting is off by default.
Microphone Select the microphone to use for audio input during recording. The default microphone is "Default", the current system default audio input device.
Show webcam overlay Composite a live webcam feed onto the recording. While recording, press Ctrl+C to toggle the overlay on and off. This setting is off by default.
Camera Select the camera used for the webcam overlay. The default is the current system default camera.
Position Choose the corner of the recording the webcam overlay appears in: Top left, Top right, Bottom left, or Bottom right.
Size Choose the webcam overlay size: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, or Full screen.
Shape Choose the webcam overlay shape: Rectangle, Rounded rectangle, Rounded square, or Circle.
Background Choose the webcam background mode: None, Blur, or Image. The default is None.
Background image file Choose the image file to use when Background is set to Image.
Brightness Set webcam brightness from 0 (dark) to 100 (bright). The default is 50.
DemoMirror settings Description
Mirror activation Set the hotkey to start or stop DemoMirror. The default hotkey is Ctrl+9.
Mirror screen region hotkey Mirror a user-selected portion of the screen. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+9.
Mirror window hotkey Mirror the window under your pointer. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+9.
Track window region Keep a mirrored window aligned to its screen region as it moves or resizes so ZoomIt zoom and draw stay in place. This setting is on by default.
Snip and panorama settings Description
Snip activation Set the hotkey to toggle screen snipping on and off. The default hotkey is Ctrl+6.
Save snip to file Save a snip directly to a file. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+6.
Copy to clipboard when saving Also copy the snip to the clipboard whenever you save it to a file. This setting is off by default.
Text recognition and extraction Copy text from the selected region to the clipboard. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Alt+6.
Scrolling screenshot Capture a scrolling screenshot (panorama) from a selected region. The default hotkey is Ctrl+8.
Save scrolling screenshot to file Save a scrolling screenshot directly to a file. The default hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+8.

DemoMirror, screenshots, and panoramas

ZoomIt 0.101 adds DemoMirror, which mirrors the full screen, a selected region, or the window under your pointer to a second monitor, including the mouse pointer. While the mirrored view is active, you can still use ZoomIt zoom and draw to annotate the mirrored content.

When you save a standard screenshot to a file, ZoomIt offers Zoomed PNG, Actual size PNG, Zoomed WebP, Actual size WebP, Zoomed JPG, and Actual size JPG. When you save a scrolling screenshot to a file, the save dialog offers PNG, WebP, or JPEG.

Recording and trim editor

After ZoomIt finishes a recording, the trim editor opens so you can shorten the clip before saving. You can append additional clips to the current recording from the editor and choose No Transition (Hard Cut), Fade to Black (0.5s), or Fade to White (0.5s) between clips. This makes it easier to stitch together multi-take demos in a single output file.

For more details on using ZoomIt, including additional hotkey information, see ZoomIt in the Sysinternals documentation. For information about the DemoType feature in ZoomIt, see Make demo typing easy with DemoType in ZoomIt on the Sysinternals blog.

Install PowerToys

This utility is part of the Microsoft PowerToys utilities for power users. It provides a set of useful utilities to tune and streamline your Windows experience for greater productivity. To install PowerToys, see Installing PowerToys.

Related content

Sysinternals ZoomIt documentation

Make demo typing easy with DemoType in ZoomIt

Run ZoomIt now from Sysinternals Live

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