Tips for Working with Mac Display Resolutions

You can change the resolution of your Mac’s screen—how many pixels appear—to make text and graphics larger and easier to see or smaller to fit more content onscreen. Just be aware that if you make your text too large things may no longer fit on your screen.

Head to the  menu > System Settings > Displays. If you have multiple monitors you can adjust each one individually. It's a subtle indicator, but the currently selected monitor shows with a small arrow-like tab just below it. Click a monitor to switch which one you're adjusting.

Apple shows thumbnails for five likely possibilities. If you prefer a list of numeric resolutions, hold the Option key while you click a thumbnail—another Option-click in the list brings back the thumbnails. Although the Show All Resolutions switch reveals even more options, the ones that say Low Resolution will be fuzzy.

If you are familiar with the technical aspects of monitor resolutions, you should know that changing the resolution on this screen does not truly change the resolution. Your Mac actually runs your monitor at full resolution, but just upscales the content to mimic the different resolutions while maintaining clarity, unless you choose one of the Low Resolution options.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)