DIGITABILITY for visual impairments

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Accessibility features on Mac

Some Office Program’s accessibility features are common for each Software installed on MacOS. All of them will be reviewed below.

Get started with accessibility features on Mac

macOS accessibility features can help you with vision, hearing, physical motor activities, speech and more. If you didn’t turn on accessibility features when you set up your Mac, you can do so at any time in Accessibility settings.

VoiceOver in MAC OS

Use VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader on your Mac, to speak what’s on the screen and the text in documents, web pages and windows. With VoiceOver, you can control your Mac with the keyboard, trackpad gestures or a refreshable braille display. To customise VoiceOver, use VoiceOver Utility. See the VoiceOver User Guide.

How to use VoiceOver with Pages, Numbers and Keynote is described above (1.4.1 Pages, 1.4.2. Numbers, 1.4.3. Keynote). To turn VoiceOver Utility on/off requires the same steps for any Software.

Screenshot: How to Manage VoiceOver Utility Settings — How to Manage VoiceOver Utility Settings

Zoom features

Make content on the screen larger and easier to see by zooming the entire screen or an area of it. If you are using a second display, you can set the zoom for it separately. See Zoom in and out on what’s onscreen.
Use Hover Text to see a larger version of whatever is under the pointer — for example, text you are reading or typing or text and icons in the user interface. See Use Hover Text.

With Hover Text on your Mac, you can move the pointer over text on the screen to display a larger version of it and display a larger version of text as you type.

Turn on Hover Text

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Zoom on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Turn on Hover Text.

Show a larger version of text when you move the pointer over it

- After you turn on Hover Text, move the pointer over text on the screen, then press the Command key to display a larger version.

Tip: Have the Hover Text window automatically displayed when you move the pointer over text, without needing to press a key every time. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Zoom on the right (you may need to scroll down). Click the Info button next to Hover Text, then turn on Triple-press modifier to set activation lock. To turn activation lock on or off, quickly press the Command key three times. You can change the key you press to activate Hover Text and activation lock. Click the Activation modifier pop-up menu, then choose another key.

Show a larger version of text as you type

After you turn on Hover Text, you can display a larger version of what you are typing as you type.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Zoom on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Click the Info button next to Hover Text, click the Text-entry location pop-up menu, then choose a location.
As you type, a larger version of what you are typing is displayed in a window at the location you specified.

Customise the appearance of Hover Text

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Zoom on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Click the Info button next to Hover Text, then change any of the following:
- The text size and font of the text shown in the Hover Text window
- The colours used for the text shown in the window and the window itself

If your Mac has a Touch Barand items in the Touch Bar are hard to see, turn on Touch Bar zoom to display a larger version of the Touch Bar on the screen. See Zoom in on the Touch Bar.

Display features

Use a single slider to adjust the reading size for text across multiple apps and system features. See Make text and icons bigger across apps and system features.

How to Manage Accessibility Display settings (1 of 3)

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Accessibility in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
Click Display on the right, go to Text, then click Text size. (You may need to scroll down.)
Drag the slider to the right to increase the text size on the desktop, in sidebars and in the listed apps (if they are set to Use Preferred Reading Size).

To set a different text size for any of the listed apps, click the pop-up menu next to the app, then choose a size.

Note: If an app is set to Customised in App, a unique text size has been set in that app’s settings. If you change the app’s text size in System Settings, it replaces the text size customisation you set in the app.

Make it easier to find the pointer on the screen by changing its size or colour, or making it bigger when you quickly move it. See Make the pointer easier to see.

If you have difficulty seeing or following the pointer, you can change its size and colour so it is easier to locate on the screen.

How to Manage Accessibility Display settings (2 of 3)

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Display on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Go to Pointer, then set any of these options:
Shake mouse pointer to locate:Turn this option on to make the pointer larger when you quickly move your finger on the trackpad or quickly move the mouse.
Pointer size:Drag the slider until the pointer size is right for you.
Pointer outline colour:Click the colour well to select a colour for the pointer’s outline.
Pointer fill colour:Click the colour well to select a colour for the inside of the pointer.
Reset Colours:Use the default pointer outline colour (white) and fill colour (black).

Make it easier to view and differentiate what’s on the screen by inverting colours, reducing transparency or applying a colour filter or tint. See Change display colours to make it easier to see what’s onscreen.

To make it easier to see what’s on the screen of your Mac, you can invert display colours, make transparent items solid, and modify display colours with colour filters.

Invert colours
How to Manage Accessibility Display settings (3 of 3)

You can invert display colours to make the background dark so text and content stand out. This can be especially useful in apps and websites that do not support Dark Mode. (To use Dark Mode on your Mac, see Use a light or dark appearance.)
- Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Display on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
- Turn on “Invert colours”.

Note: If you turn on Night Shift or colour filters (except Greyscale), “Invert colours” is automatically turned off.

Choose a mode for inverting colours:
- Smart:Invert colours everywhere except images and video.
- Classic:Invert colours everywhere.
Make transparent items solid

Some windows and areas of the desktop, such as the Dock and menu bar, appear transparent by default. You can turn these transparent areas a solid grey to make it easier to distinguish them from the background.

Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Display on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Turn on “Reduce transparency”.
Differentiate or tone down colours

You can apply a filter to view the entire screen in greyscale, adjust colours for colour vision deficiencies, or tint the screen a colour of your choosing.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Display on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Go to Colour Filters, then turn on Colour filters.

The pencils reflect how the filter affects a range of colours.

Note: If you turn on Night Shift or invert colours, colour filters are automatically turned off (except Greyscale).

Click the “Filter type” pop-up menu, then choose a filter.

You can adjust the intensity by dragging the Intensity slider.

If you choose Colour Tint, click the colour well to choose the colour of the tint.

Note: Colour filters can change the look of images and videos.

Stop or reduce motion on the screen — for example, when you open apps or switch between desktops, view media depicting flashing or strobing lights, or view rapid animated images (such as GIFs). See Stop or reduce onscreen motion.

Note: “Dim flashing lights” is available only for supported media and on Mac computers with Apple silicon. It should not be relied upon for the treatment of any medical condition. Content is processed on device in real time.

Spoken Content features

Customise the voice your Mac uses to speak text, and have your Mac speak announcements, items under the pointer and whatever you type or select. See Change Spoken Content settings for accessibility.

On your Mac, use Spoken Content settings to customise the system voice, be notified when an alert or app needs your attention and set other options for content your Mac can speak aloud.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Spoken Content on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

Screenshot: How to Manage Accessibility Spoken Content Settings — How to Manage Accessibility Spoken Content Settings

Option	Description
System speech language	Choose the language you want your Mac to use to speak text and alerts, if different from the system language.
System voice	Choose a voice to speak text and alerts; click Play Sample to hear a sample. See Change the voice your Mac uses to speak text.
Speaking rate	Set the speed at which text is spoken.
Speaking volume	Set the volume at which text is spoken. Setting the volume here does not affect the volume set for your Mac in Sound settings.
Speak announcements	Have your Mac announce and speak dialogues and other announcements. See Have your Mac speak announcements. To customize, click the Info button , then select a voice, the phrase you want to hear (such as the app name or “Attention!”) before an announcement is spoken and how long your Mac waits before it speaks. Click Play Sample to hear a sample.
Speak selection	Have your Mac speak selected text when you press the specified keyboard shortcut. See Have your Mac speak text that is on the screen. To customise, click the Info button : Keyboard shortcut: Press the key combination you want to use. For example, press the Option and Tab keys together to set the keyboard shortcut as Option+Tab. Highlight content: Choose to have spoken words, sentences or both highlighted. If you do not want spoken content highlighted, choose None. Word colour: Choose the colour to use to highlight words as they’re spoken. Sentence colour: Choose the colour to use to highlight sentences as they’re spoken. Sentence style: Choose how to indicate sentences as they’re spoken (Underline or “Background colour”). Show controller: Choose when to show the controller (Automatically, Never or Always).
Speak item under the pointer	Have your Mac identify items under the pointer. To customise, click the Info button , then choose when your Mac speaks the item (all the time or only when you use zoom), the level of detail (called verbosity) (High, Medium or Low), and how long to have your Mac wait before speaking.
Speak typing feedback	Have your Mac speak what you type or press using the keyboard. To customise, click the Info button : Echo characters: Your Mac speaks each character you type. Echo words: Your Mac speaks each word you type. Echo selection changes: When you use the arrow keys to move the insertion point forward or back, your Mac speaks the character to the right or left of the insertion point. Echo modifier keys: Your Mac speaks each modifier key you press, including the Caps Lock key.

You can set keyboard shortcuts to quickly turn on or off options like Speak selection, Speak item under the pointer and Speak typing feedback. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down), click Keyboard Shortcuts on the right, then click Accessibility. See Use macOS keyboard shortcuts.

If your Mac is speaking even though you didn’t set options for it to do so, you may have inadvertently turned on VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader that describes aloud what appears on your screen. To quickly turn VoiceOver off, press Command-F5. If your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, press and hold the Command key while you quickly press Touch ID three times.

Descriptions

Listen to a description of the visual content in movies, TV shows and other media, if available. See Change Descriptions settings for accessibility.

On your Mac, use H to listen to a description of the visual content in movies, TV programmes and other media, if available.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Descriptions on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

Screenshot: How to Manage Accessibility Descriptions Settings — How to Manage Accessibility Descriptions Settings

Option	Description
Play audio descriptions when available	Automatically play a spoken description of visual content in media.

MacOS General Accessibility Features

Mac OS includes accessibility features to make it easier to turn various accessibility features on or off and to type your Siri requests.

The Accessibility Shortcuts panel listing Vision features (such as Colour Filters), Physical Motor features (such as Full Keyboard Access) and Hearing features (such as Live Captions (Beta)). — Accessibility Shortcuts on Mac Computers

Siri

Type your Siri requests instead of speaking them. See Change Siri settings for accessibility.

Change Siri Settings for Accessibility on Mac

On your Mac, use Siri settings for accessibility to type your requests to Siri instead of speaking them. This feature can be useful if speech is difficult or you do not want others to hear your Siri requests.

To change these settings, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Siri on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

Option	Description
Type to Siri	Type your requests to Siri instead of speaking them. If a headset with a microphone is connected to your Mac, Siri speaks your typed command.
Siri Settings	Additional options, such as setting a keyboard shortcut to activate Siri and showing what Siri says on screen, are available in Siri & Spotlight settings.

Option

Description

Type to Siri

Type your requests to Siri instead of speaking them.

If a headset with a microphone is connected to your Mac, Siri speaks your typed command.

Siri Settings

Additional options, such as setting a keyboard shortcut to activate Siri and showing what Siri says on screen, are available in Siri & Spotlight settings.

Shortcut

Quickly turn various accessibility features on or off using Accessibility Shortcuts. See Quickly turn accessibility features on or off.

Quickly Turn Accessibility Features On or Off on Mac

You can quickly turn many accessibility features on or off using a keyboard shortcut, the menu bar, Control Centre or Siri.

Use a keyboard shortcut

You can use a keyboard shortcut to open the Accessibility Shortcuts panel, where you can turn accessibility features on or off.

Press Option-Command-F5.

Or, if your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, quickly press Touch ID three times.

In the panel, select the features you want to turn on or off, then click Done. Or, click anywhere outside the panel to close it.

Additional accessibility shortcuts you can use and customise can be found in Keyboard settings. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard

in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) Click Keyboard Shortcuts on the right, then in the dialogue that appears, click Accessibility in the sidebar. See Use macOS keyboard shortcuts.

Use the menu bar or Control Centre

To turn accessibility features on or off right from the desktop, add the Accessibility Shortcuts or module to the menu bar or Control Centre.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Control Centre

in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
Go to Accessibility Shortcuts on the right, then turn on Show in Menu Bar or Show in Control Centre.

You can also add the Hearing module to play calming sounds right from the desktop. See Play background sounds.

Add or remove features from Accessibility Shortcuts

You can change which features appear when you use the Accessibility Shortcuts panel or the Accessibility Shortcuts module in the menu bar or Control Centre.

On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility

in the sidebar, then click Shortcut on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
Select or deselect the tickbox next to a feature to show or hide it when you use Accessibility Shortcuts.

If you select only one feature, the Accessibility Shortcuts panel is not displayed when you press the keyboard shortcut; instead, the feature is immediately turned on or off.