Accessibility
For a general introduction to the concept of accessibility, watch this short video.
For a general introduction to the concept of accessibility, watch this short video.
When activated provides live captioning of a conversation or meeting.
Captions videos, podcasts, and audio messages.
Amplifies and boost sound, filter background noise, and fine tune to how you hear.
Built-in support for streaming media and calls directly to hearing aids. Uses Bluetooth low energy so that you can stream longer.
Fully interact with what is on your screen through sound and touch.
Use your camera to identify what’s near you by pointing at it.
Make text and icons larger and easier to see.
Calibrate colors on your phone so it is easier to distinguish between them.
Plug in your adaptive switch. Hook up a physical switch, use an external keyboard or assign actions to your phone’s volume buttons.
Use your voice to open apps, navigate between screens, type messages, and edit text.
Tip: If you can’t find the Live Caption setting, this feature isn’t yet supported on your device.
Important: Your caption preferences might not apply to all apps.
To make captions easier to read, you can:
Increase: Ctrl + “+”
Decrease: Ctrl + “-”
You can also click on the magnifying glass icon on the upper right, then increase or decrease by clicking on the “+” or “-” on the screen. To reset to default, Ctrl + 0 or click on Reset under the magnifying glass icon.
To increase/decrease the size of everything on the screen, use Ctrl + Shift + keys mentioned above.
Turn on full screen magnification in Settings > Advanced > Accessibility. Under Display, click on Enable fullscreen magnifier. The magnification can go up to 20x. Move around the screen with the mouse or touchscreen.
The top third of the screen is magnified, while the other two thirds of the screen stays the same. Some users prefer this feature to zoom in on only portions of the screen. Enable this in the Accessibility menu.
Under the “Accessibility” section, check the box “Use high contrast mode.”
Under the “Accessibility” section, check the box “Show large mouse cursor.”
Under the “Accessibility” section, there are three separate boxes for highlighting features: one for highlighting the text caret, one for highlighting the mouse cursor, and one to highlight the object with keyboard focus when it changes.
You can turn ChromeVox on or off from any page by pressing Ctrl + Alt + z.
Text-to-Speech settings: Settings > Advanced > Accessibility. Under Text-to-Speech, click on Enable ChromeVox (spoken feedback).
Your Chromebook will read the section aloud and each word will be highlighted.
To stop Select-to-speak while it’s reading, press Ctrl or the Search key. You can also select Stop.
Tip: With navigation controls, you can pause and play, adjust speed, and skip lines of text.
You can turn image descriptions on in Chrome Settings or in a page you’re already on.
You can turn on image descriptions for all pages or for just one specific page.
If you had image descriptions allowed for only one page, leave or refresh the page to turn it off.
If “Get image descriptions from Google” is turned on for all pages, there’s a check mark next to the option in the context menu.
If you’re signed in and syncing to Chrome, you get image descriptions on all signed-in and synced devices.
You can also turn image descriptions for all pages on and off in Chrome settings. Image descriptions for all pages work the same way if they are turned on in settings or the context menu.
If “Get image descriptions from Google” is turned on, there’s a check mark next to the feature.
Image descriptions are only available to screen reader users through spoken feedback or braille and don’t visually appear on the screen. The image descriptions may not be fully accurate.
If you have feedback, contact our Google Accessibility support team
Images are sent to Google servers to provide the description but aren’t saved by Google. Web pages are never modified by Google when Google describes an image. For your privacy, this feature is designed so a site, your screen reader, and your operating system don’t know this feature is being used. To learn more, review our privacy policy.
Command | Description |
---|---|
“Type [word/phrase]” | Types the spoken text. |
“Select all” | Selects everything in the text input area. |
“Unselect” | Clears the selection. |
“Cut” | Copies and deletes any selected text. |
“Copy” | Copies selected text. |
“Paste” | Pastes text from clipboard. |
“Delete” | Deletes the previous character or selected text. |
“Undo” | Undoes previous text-editing action. |
“Redo” | Redoes previous text-editing action. |
“Help” | Opens a support help center article. |
“New line” | Moves the cursor to a new line. |
“Move to the next character” | Moves the cursor right one character. |
“Move to the previous character” | Moves the cursor left one character. |
“Move to the next line” | Moves the cursor down one line. |
“Move to the previous line” | Moves the cursor up one line. |
This is useful when you can’t hold down more than one key. Under “Accessibility” section, check the box “Enable sticky keys.”
Settings → Devices → Touch pad settings. Check the “Enable Tap-to-Click.” Go to “Accessibility” section, check the “Enable tap dragging.”
Under “Accessibility” section, check “Automatically click when the mouse pointer stops.” You can also adjust the delay time before automatically clicking.
Switch Access is an alternate input method for your Chromebook. When you use Switch Access, it scans the items on your screen until you use a switch to make a selection. Switches can be used with the built-in keyboard, or an external device that you connect through Bluetooth or USB.
Important: If you want to use an external device for your switches, make sure it’s connected to your Chromebook before you set up Switch Access.
Tip: You can rerun the setup guide to set up different switches.
To start scanning:
Important: Manual scanning requires more than one switch. If you only have one switch, use Auto-scan.
Point scan lets you locate specific areas on your screen that may not have a clear button to select or have too many options. You can turn point scan on at any time.
Important: If you have Auto-scan turned on, the selector will automatically move between different selectable items in the action menu.
When you select Point scanning, the scan begins.
Tip: After the click action is completed, scan resumes.
Hearing devices: pair your hearing aids or devices to iPhone
Live Listen: use the iPhone as a remote microphone for hearing devices or AirPods.
Sound recognition: iPhone can recognize certain sounds such as crying baby, door bell, or siren, and alert you when it recognizes these sounds.
RTT/TTY: iPhone provides built-in RTT/TTY software at no cost.
Mono audio, balance, and phone noise cancellation: adjust audio options to suit your hearing needs.
LED flash for alerts: iPhone can do LED flashes to alert you to incoming calls or other iPhone alerts.
Headphone accommodations: amplify or adjust sound to suit your hearing needs.
Background sounds: choose background sounds to mask unwanted environmental noise to minimize distractions for focus or rest.
Subtitles and captions: display subtitles or captions of video on iPhone.
Transcriptions for Intercom messages from HomePod: for HomePod users, can transcribe Intercom messages for you.
VoiceOver: All text and actions are narrated aloud.
Zoom: Magnify the full phone screen.
Display and text size: Adjust the size of display and text.
Motion: Customize iPhone for motion sensitivity.
Spoken content: Choose what content will be spoken.
Audio descriptions: Hear audio descriptions for video content that includes it.
AssistiveTouch: provides alternatives when you have difficulty touching the screen or pressing buttons.
Touch accommodations: provides alternatives when you have difficulty with fine motor hand control.
Back tap: you can assign taps to specific actions.
Reachability: for persons using only one hand, makes screen lower so items on screen are reachable with the thumb.
Call audio routing: automatically route audio output to speaker or auto answer to speaker.
Vibration: customize vibration sensitivity.
Face ID and attention: adjust Face ID and attention settings if you have physical or vision limitations.
Switch Control: add external switches to operate phone.
Voice Control: speak commands to perform gestures, interact with screen elements, dictate and edit text, etc.
Side or Home button: adjust the accessibility setting for the side/Home button.
Apple TV remote: switch the Apple TV remote from swipes/gestures to buttons.
Pointer control: adjust pointer size, color, etc.
Keyboards: adjust on-screen keyboard display, or select to use an external keyboard.
AirPods: adjust the accessibility settings on AirPods to suit motor and hearing needs.
Guided Access: helps you stay focused on a task by temporarily restricting iPhone to a single app, and allowing you to control which app features are available.
Siri: you can open apps, turn many settings on or off, or use Siri for what it does best—acting as your intelligent personal assistant.
Accessibility Shortcut: assign the side/Home button an accessibility feature to quickly turn it on or off.
Use these features to show and customize captions on the screen, make and receive Real-Time Text (RTT) calls, and more. See macOS accessibility features for hearing.
Have the screen flash when alerts or announcements occur, and play stereo audio as mono. If you have a Mac with Apple silicon, you can choose whether Spatial Audio follows the movement of your head when you listen to spatial audio content. See Change Audio preferences for accessibility.
If your Mac supports it, set up your Mac to make and receive RTT calls. See Change RTT preferences for accessibility.
Control how subtitles are styled, and whether to use closed captions and SDH instead, when they’re available. See Change Captions preferences for accessibility.
Use these features to zoom in on the screen, make the pointer or menu bar bigger, apply color filters, and more. Or have your Mac speak what’s on the screen.
Use VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader on your Mac, to speak what’s on the screen, and the text in documents, webpages, and windows. With VoiceOver, you can control your Mac with the keyboard, trackpad gestures, or a refreshable braille display. To customize VoiceOver, use VoiceOver Utility. See the VoiceOver User Guide.
Customize 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 preferences for accessibility.
Listen to a description of the visual content in movies, TV shows, and other media, if available. See Change Descriptions preferences for accessibility.
Use these features to control your Mac and apps using spoken commands, the Tab key, an onscreen keyboard, the pointer, or assistive devices. You can also set options that make it easier to use a mouse and trackpad. See macOS accessibility features for mobility.
Switch Control lets you use one or more adaptive accessories to enter text, interact with items on the screen, and control your Mac. Switch Control scans a panel or the user interface until you select an item or perform an action using a switch. See Use Switch Control.
Use these features to easily turn various accessibility features on or off, and to type your Siri requests. See macOS general accessibility features.
Type your Siri requests instead of speaking them. See Change Siri preferences for accessibility.
Quickly enable or disable various accessibility features using the Accessibility Shortcuts panel. See Change Shortcut preferences for accessibility.
The Accessibility Shortcuts panel offers shortcuts to quickly turn on or turn off common accessibility features such as Zoom, VoiceOver, and Sticky Keys.
Press these keys together: Option (⌥), Command (⌘), and F5. On notebook computers with a Touch Bar, you might need to press the Fn (Function) key as well
On notebook computers with Touch ID, triple-press Touch ID. (If you press and hold the Command key while doing this, VoiceOver turns on or off.)
To close the panel, click Done or click anywhere outside of the window.
To change the shortcuts that appear in the panel, choose Apple menu → System Preferences, then click Accessibility. Select Shortcut in the sidebar, then use the checkboxes to turn shortcuts on or off.
Captions let you read the words spoken in the audio portion of a video, TV show, or movie. To define how the captions appear in Windows and some Windows apps, you can select one of the predefined caption options or customize an option to better suit your needs.
Windows lets you convert stereo sound into a single channel so you can hear everything, even if you’re using just one headphone. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Audio, and then switch on the Mono audio toggle.
If you have trouble hearing audio alerts, you can have your PC display them visually. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Audio. Under Flash my screen during audio notifications, choose how you want audio alerts displayed. You can choose to have the title bar of the active window, the active window, or the entire screen flash when a notification arrives, instead of relying on sound alone.
By default, Windows notifications disappear five seconds after they appear. If you want more time to read them, you can increase how long they’re displayed. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Visual effects. Then, under Dismiss notifications after this amount of time, choose the amount of time you want.
Tip: Press the left Alt key + left Shift key + Print screen (Print Scrn on some keyboards) to quickly turn high contrast mode on or off.
If none of the default themes work perfectly for you, you can further customize the colors of various screen elements. For example, if you have some form of color blindness, you can swap out the affected colors.
To adjust the size of text, apps, and other items, select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Text size. Use the slider next to Text size to make just the text on your screen larger. To scale up everything on your screen, select the Start button, then select Settings → System → Display, and change the Scale drop-down menu under Scale & Layout to a larger percentage.
If there’s not enough contrast between the elements on your screen, try using a high contrast theme. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Contrast themes, select one of the options in the drop-down menu next to Contrast themes, and select Apply. You can select between Aquatic, Desert, Dusk, and Night sky
Make your mouse more visible by changing the color and size of the mouse pointer. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Mouse pointer & touch, and choose the options that work best for you.
By adding pointer trails you can see where the mouse is moving on the screen. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Mouse → Additional mouse settings. In the Mouse Properties window, select the Pointer Options tab, and then Display pointer trails.
Windows can also show visual feedback when you touch the screen. Select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Mouse pointer & touch, and then set Touch indicator to On.
Magnifier enlarges part or all of your screen so you can see words and images better. To open Magnifier quickly, press the Windows logo key + Plus sign (+). When Magnifier is open, use Windows logo key + Plus sign (+) or Windows logo key + Minus sign (-) to zoom in or out. To close Magnifier, press Windows logo key + Esc.
Make photos, text, and colors easier to see by applying a color filter to your screen. Color filters change the color palette on the screen and can help you distinguish between things that differ only by color. To apply color filters, select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Color filters, set Color filters to On, and choose the options that work best for you.
To turn on and turn off your color filters quickly, select the Start button, then select Settings → Accessibility → Color filters, and set Keyboard shortcut for color filters to On. Then press the Windows logo key + Ctrl + C to turn them on and off.
Narrator is the built-in screen reader in Windows that reads aloud what’s on your screen so you can use that information to navigate your PC. To start or stop Narrator, press the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Enter
Windows supports the following eye tracking devices:
Eye control is available in Windows 11 in all regions. However, the eye control keyboard only supports the EN-US keyboard layout, and some eye control settings are only available in English. The Region and Language settings of your PC don’t need to be changed; they don’t affect eye control use.
You may need the help of a friend, family member, or caregiver to complete the set-up and to change eye control settings. Go to Microsoft Support for additional set up information.
Turn on voice typing:
Stop voice typing:
Voice typing commands:
Voice typing command | What you can say |
---|---|
Pause voice typing | “Pause voice typing” “Pause dictation” “Pause voice mode” |
Stop voice typing | “Stop voice typing” “Stop dictation” “Stop listening” “Stop dictating” “Stop voice mode” |
Delete last spoken word or phrase | “Delete that” “Erase that” “Scratch that” |
Select last spoken word or phrase | “Select that” |
Immersive Reader in Microsoft Edge simplifies web page layouts, removes clutter, and helps you customize your reading experience in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Immersive Reader was originally designed to meet the needs of readers with dyslexia and dysgraphia. However, anyone who wants to make reading on their device easier can benefit from this tool!
Entering Reader Mode in Immersive Reader will simplify the page you’re on by hiding distracting pop-ups and buttons, leaving you with just the important parts: textual and visual content. Once you enter Reader Mode, start using tools like Read Aloud, Text preferences, Grammar tools and Reading preferences.
To enter Reader Mode, use Microsoft Edge to visit a website you want to read. Select Enter Immersive Reader in the address bar or use the keyboard shortcut F9.
To exit Immersive reader, select Exit Immersive Reader in the address bar or use the keyboard shortcut F9.
Tip: If you don’t see the Immersive Reader icon in the address bar, you can still view the text in Immersive Reader. Just select the text you want to read, right-click, and select Open in Immersive Reader from the context menu
Read Aloud is a simple but powerful tool that reads the text of a web page audibly.
To begin, select Read Aloud from the Immersive Reader toolbar. A ribbon toolbar appears at the top of the page after you start Read Aloud. The toolbar includes buttons to play audio, skip to the next or previous paragraph, and adjust Voice options. Voice options allow you to change the reader’s voice and slow down or speed up their reading pace.
To stop listening, select the Pause button or the X to close Read aloud.
Tip: Another way to access Read Aloud is to select Settings and more → Read Aloud.
Choose from a wide variety of text and color options such as Text size, Text spacing, and Page themes to enhance your experience in Immersive Reader.
Find these settings in Text preferences from the Immersive Reader toolbar.
Grammar tools help improve reading comprehension by splitting words into syllables and highlighting nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
To open Grammar tools, select Grammar tools from the Immersive Reader toolbar.
In Reading preferences, you can turn on tools like Line focus to focus on reading one, three or five lines at a time, Picture dictionary to see a visual representation of a word, or Translate to change the language of the text.
Find these tools in Reading preferences on the Immersive Reader toolbar:
Minimize visual distractions by turning off animations, background images, and more.
Choose which icons appear on the taskbar and reduce the number of items in view.
You can select what to show in the Start menu—keeping distractions at a minimum and finding what you need quickly.
Do not disturb allows you to define which notifications you see and hear and when. The rest of the notifications will go to the notification center where you can see them any time. You can also modify the notifications settings to choose which apps display notifications.
Tip: To quickly switch Do not disturb on, go to the taskbar and select the battery, network, or volume icon to open the notification center, then turn it on or off.
If notifications are distracting when they appear on your screen, adjust which apps display notifications and fine-tune how they appear.
To read a web page on a simpler and cleaner layout, use the Immersive Reader in Microsoft Edge. For more info on the Immersive Reader, go to Use Immersive Reader in Microsoft Edge.
Tip: If you don’t see the (Enter Immersive Reader) icon on the address bar, select the text you want to read, right-click, and select Open selection in Immersive Reader.
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