2 Easy Ways to Scale Windows & Mac Screen to Fit a Monitor

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Quick and easy steps to properly adjust your monitor’s display

Co-authored by Katie Double and Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: February 5, 2025 Fact Checked

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Using a Windows PC

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Using a Mac

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Fitting a Window to a Monitor

Does your screen not properly fit in your monitor? This can be frustrating and annoying, and even cause eye strain. You can easily fix this problem by changing the resolution on your computer. This wikiHow teaches you how to make your computer screen fit when you set up a monitor.

How to Fit Your Screen To Your Monitor

On PC, right-click your desktop and select Display settings. Choose your monitor (if you have more than one) and change the size under Display resolution. On a Mac, go to System Settings > Displays, then choose a resolution. If your window doesn't fit your monitor, click the maximize button at the top of the window.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Using a Windows PC

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This will open the display menu.
2
Select the monitor display you wish to adjust. In the gray box at the top, click on the box representing your monitor screen.
- Click Identify to see which screen the selected box represents.
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3
Select a resolution. Click on the drop-down under Display resolution and select an option. Your screen will automatically preview the change.
- Windows will make a recommendation based on your monitor. If the recommended option doesn't work, try selecting a different resolution.
- A higher resolution will fit more on your screen, but details will appear smaller.
- A lower resolution will fit less on your screen and will appear zoomed in and blurrier.
If you don't like how the preview looks, click Revert to go back and try a new option^{[1]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using a Mac

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1
Go to System Settings. This is found in the Apple menu. You can also click on the gray gear icon in the Dock.
- If you're on an older version of macOS, the option will say System Preferences instead.
2
Click Displays. This option appears in the left-hand menu bar. Look for a blue icon with a white sun on it.
- In earlier versions of macOS, Displays has an icon of a monitor and is located in the main System Preferences window.
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Choose a resolution. Typically, the possible resolutions for your display will appear as a series of thumbnails beneath the icon of your monitor. Click the one that works best for you.^{[2]
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- You may see options including Larger Text (lower resolution), Default, and More Space (higher resolution).
- A higher resolution will fit more on your screen, but details will appear smaller.
- A lower resolution will fit less on your screen and will appear zoomed in and blurrier.
- To display the resolutions as a list instead of a series of thumbnails, Ctrl-click one of the thumbnails and select Show List. From this view, you can also toggle on Show all resolutions to see additional options.
- In earlier versions of macOS, you can select Default for display to use the recommended resolution, or click Scaled to see and choose from other options.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Fitting a Window to a Monitor

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1
Click the maximize button to fit a window to a monitor. If you have a window on your computer (such as a browser window, word processor, photo app, etc.) that doesn't fit your monitor size, you can make it fit your monitor by clicking the maximize button in the top bar of your window.
- Windows: The maximize button looks like two squares overlapping each other, next to the X button that closes the window.
- Mac: The maximize button is the green button in the upper-left corner of the window.