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I thought that doing this would be extremely easy. I have done so many searches in Google to find out how to do this, but nothing ever comes up. I searched "increase terminal size osx" but none of the websites match. How do I increase the font size of the terminal? Thanks!

2
  • is this applicable?
    – soandos
    Jun 17, 2011 at 22:40
  • Note that in later years, the font-size selector became a list instead of a type-in field. But you can add entries to the list by clicking on a little menuBar dropDown in the upper-left that looks like an ellipses inside a circle. The pick "Edit Sizes..."
    – MarkHu
    Jun 11, 2022 at 0:51

4 Answers 4

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It is in fact quite easy. Select Preferences from the application menu, then the Settings tab. In the settings notebook, select the terminal profile you want to change (usually Basic), then select the Text page (should be selected already); Font is the first item on the page.Example of settings window

5
  • 6
    Note: the large custom view Terminal adds to the font panel forces the panel into it's "compact" mode which allows 14pt and 18pt but no sizes in between. To fix this, simply resize the font panel to be taller, taking it out of the compact mode. Jun 21, 2015 at 9:17
  • 3
    Changing the font size like this seemed to have no effect for me, at first. Pressing Command+0 fixed it. (commenting here in case others run into this problem) Apr 4, 2021 at 19:43
  • This doesn't work if you're using Oh My Zsh it seems. Any ideas how to get it working with that tool?
    – Jim Aho
    Dec 20, 2021 at 6:52
  • Required Step: After updating preferences, you need to start a new window and then close the old window. This will save the new preferences. May 27, 2022 at 1:42
  • Command + 0 is cool and refreshed my terminal with updated values instantly, what does it do @LaurenceGonsalves? Dec 26, 2023 at 19:56
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Command++ (to increase)
Command+- (to decrease)

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  • 1
    Is the Shift added in Lion? In Snow Leopard it's just Command++/-
    – nine9ths
    Nov 17, 2012 at 6:03
  • @nine9ths Shift is not needed!
    – user1413
    Nov 18, 2012 at 18:20
  • 1
    What is the shortcut for default font size ?
    – Nivir
    May 4, 2014 at 6:30
  • This still works in El Capitan. Dec 12, 2016 at 14:56
  • Also working on current Big Sur.
    – Player1
    Feb 10, 2021 at 16:49
3

For me the other answers did not change font size permanently on Monterey 12, Terminal Version 2.12.5. Instead what worked was increasing font size using Command + '+', and then in the menu select "Shell > Use Settings as default"

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