The Distorted Layout
Google Chrome is designed to remember your preferences for specific websites to improve your browsing experience. If you visit a website with tiny text and use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Plus) to zoom in to 125%, Chrome automatically saves that zoom level specifically for that domain. While this is helpful for users with poor eyesight, it can become incredibly annoying if you accidentally bump the zoom shortcut, or if you share a computer. The next time you (or someone else) visits that website, Chrome will automatically zoom in on the webpage, breaking the site’s layout, hiding navigation menus off-screen, and forcing you to manually reset the view.
Resetting the Zoom Memory
To restore standard layouts and stop Google Chrome from automatically zooming in on specific webpages based on past behavior, you must clear the browser’s saved zoom levels.
If you only need to fix the current page you are looking at, you can simply press Ctrl + 0 (Cmd + 0 on Mac) to instantly reset the zoom to the default 100%. However, to clear all saved zoom preferences globally so Chrome stops remembering them, you must dig into the settings. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of Chrome and select Settings. In the left-hand navigation sidebar, click on Privacy and security. In the main panel, click on Site settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Additional content settings to expand the menu. Click on Zoom levels. Here, you will see a list of every website where Chrome has saved a custom zoom. Click the ‘X’ next to each entry to delete it. Chrome will now load those pages at the standard 100%.