Abstract: A subgroup object displayed by a drawing program in a window area as part of a more complex display can be edited by creating a new drawing area or "window" called a "zoom" window and reproducing the subgroup in the new drawing window. Within the zoom window, the subgroup object is effectively broken into its component objects, and the component objects can be individually manipulated using standard techniques. More particularly, the subgroup object is copied into the new window by copying the list of individual objects which comprise the subgroup object into the main group object list associated with the new window. As each individual object is redrawn in the new window, it is scaled and translated so that it appears in the same relative position in the new window as it did in the original window, but at a position and size relative to the new window.