How to increase font size in the Xcode editor?

Question

To increase font-size in Xcode is a pain.

Answer 1

For Xcode 4.1

Still a huge pain. Poor UI design (But my mindset does not seem to match the mindset of software engineers that make 100+ character variable and method names. Enough of my complaining)

I'll modify a previous post for the current version.

1. Close any projects you have open in Xcode (Otherwise the Font window will be inaccessible while a project is open.)
2. Go to XCode > Preferences > Fonts & Color
3. From the 'Theme' box select the theme you want to modify (or select the theme you want to modify and click the "+" button at the bottom of the theme list to clone it first for backup, for there is no undo option)

4. In the source editor box there is a list of types of text that you may set the font for: Plain text Comments Documentation Comments . . .

5. Select any or all items from the source editor list and the name and size of the font for that particular text will show up in the 'Font' window below the 'Source Editor' window. (If you happen to skip highlighting one of these, you will be able to get to the Font Inspector and select new sizes, but will wonder why the changes you make are not being applied!)

6. In the 'Font' window, click the small, almost hidden, and surely poorly design 'T' icon to the right of the font name and size.
7. Voila! In only 14 keystrokes you are able to get the Font inspector window!
8. Your existing font will be preselected in the font inspector. Whatever changes you make now will be applied to the text types you selected in the 'Source Editor' window. e.g. All Fonts > Menlo > Regular > 14
9. Close the windows you opened on this hunt for the holy grail.

Congratulations. Your may now read your code. Wasn't that painless?

Answer 2

Easisest solution:

1. Close any open projects.

2. Xcode > Preferences > Font & Colors

3. Make sure to press CMD+A to select all possible text types. Then change the font size from the picker.

Answer 3

Update! - Behold Xcode 9 to the rescue! Now you can use cmd + to increase the fonts with Xcode 9. It took 5 Major releases for you to get it, Apple! But better late than never.

figured it out - however it was not very intuitive.

First some Pain Points

1. When You try to change the font size directly using edit -> format -> font, nothing happens! - Not a good UX ... moreover why play dumb when you can tell user that they are using default or "System-owned" theme and they cannot change it? - Bad Design and more bad UX ... Why keep this option (Cmd t) alive, which by the way is most standard way to increase font size across most well behaved mac apps, if you do not want user to change the font this way?

2. In Xcode preferences, when you try to change the font size by clicking on "fonts and colors", thats when XCode gives a pop-up saying what needs to be done. Also making a duplicate and then changing the fonts and colors is a lot of work rather than giving a button that says "Restore to Defaults" if Apple is so worried about the user messing up the default settings!

The solution is that - you need to duplicate the theme and then modify the copy you just made and apply that copy - phew!

Answer 4

1. Go to XCode > Preferences > Fonts & Color
2. Double click on a font entry to get the Font inspector window
3. Select all font entries with sizes you'd like to increase/decrease
4. In the Font inspector window select the same font (e.g. All Fonts > Menlo > Regular > 14)

Watch out because there's no undo!

Answer 5

You can use this plugin to change the font size using ⌘ + or ⌘ - (Control - and Control + in the latest versions of Xcode. The plugin developers changed the shortcut to avoid conflict with Interface Builder hotkeys):

https://github.com/zats/AdjustFontSize-Xcode-Plugin

Answer 6

You can use the following:

1. Press xcode->preferences
2. select fonts and colors
3. select ANY font in the list and press cmd+a (select all fonts)
4. select font size for all editor fonts at the bottom of the window

Answer 7

Go to Xcode -> preference -> fonts and color, then pick the presentation one. The font will be enlarged automatically.

Answer 8

Actually, this is very easy:

1. Go to preferences
2. Then to font and colors
3. Then select all the text options by clicking on "plain text" then pressing cmd+a
4. then click the little t in the font section
5. then change the font and size as you wish and it will apply to all the code

Good luck!

Answer 9

Go to

Xcode menu > Preferences > Font & Color > Category

Double-click on Plain Text, a popup menu will come up. Change it from there.

Answer 10

I used cmd+ and it worked well to increase.. Same for decreasing cmq-

Answer 11

When changing fonts in XCode from [Preferences] (after duplicating a template that matches colours close to what you want), you can select multiple entries and change the fonts all at once. Use [shift] to select a range or [cmd] to select multiple individual entries (e.g. you might select both 'comments' and 'strings' and change only their fonts).

Steve

Answer 12

I also found that you can change the fonts for printing which is controlled by the "Printing" theme. I wanted the print output to be the same as the default, but with a larger font.

1. rename "printing" to "printing1" (select the printing theme and click on it and it should allow you to change the name).

2. click the "+" and select "Default" from the "New Theme From Template" selection

3. rename it "Printing"

4. click in the font area for "Source Editor" and cmd-A to select all of the fonts

5. change the font size to some desired value (I like 12 point) by clicking the "T" icon and selecting the desired font size

After this the printouts should match the new "Printing" template (i.e. in color and bigger, or however you make the template), the key is that printing takes its formating from the "Printing" Theme.

Answer 13

Go to Xcode -> Preferences... -> Font & Colors -> 'select all types of font in' Default tab.

On this Selection apply Font Size from bottom control.

Answer 14

Apply following some steps:

Go to xcode_preferences->Then select font and colors->select all the text options->click on the font section and change fonts u want

Answer 15

It is Aug 2011, Xcode 4.1 and it continues to be nightmare. Why not allow Cmd+ and Cmd- like everywhere else. < end rant >

As suggested by other respondents I suggest that you copy your preferred theme before you tweak the fonts for there is no ease way to undo.

In my case, all I wanted to do was increase the font size. Mercifully you can select multiple items (Shift+select or Cmd+select) and set the font for all the ones selected in one fell swoop.

Minor relief for a major irritation.

Answer 16

I found that in the Preferences, there is no fonts and colors selection. Guess the version is different, following is the one that works for the latest version.

Method 1

• Go to Xcode -> Preferences
• Click Themes
• Click the T symbol in the middle of the font
• Adjust the size at the bottom right corner

Method 2

Simply adjust with cmd + or cmd -

Answer 17

For Xcode Version 12.3 and above (not sure if it works for a little old versions, but you can give it a try)

Xcode

-> Preferences -> Themes 
-> Select your favourite theme on left panel 
-> SourceEditor 
-> Select All (`cmd + A`) 
-> Click on T option 
-> Select size

Answer 18

For Xcode 12: (beta 3)

For the code editing windows, use the new

Editor -> Font Size -> Increase

or

Editor -> Font Size -> Decrease

menu items. This globally increases or decreases the font sizes for all editing windows. There is also an

Editor -> Font Size -> Reset

option. These also respond to the ⌘+ or ⌘- keyboard shortcuts.

By default, the file navigator on the left side corresponds to the

System Preferences -> General -> Sidebar icon size

You can also override the system size inside Xcode using the

Xcode -> Preferences -> General -> Navigator Size

Answer 19

for Xocde 12.0 beta 5:

preferences > Themes > at the bottom you will see the font family.