Whether you have difficulties with vision, hearing, or physical mobility, macOS includes a variety of features to help you work in alternative ways and make your Mac even easier to use.
Accessibility Features for Different Versions of macOS
To make sure you are viewing the accessibility features available for your macOS, refer to the current version you have installed.
Accessibility Features Guide
This is referring to the latest version of macOS Big Sur 11.0. Please check to make sure if your current version has these features.
VoiceOver
- VoiceOver is the built-in screen reader on your Mac that describes aloud what appears on the screen and speaks the text in documents, webpages, and windows.
- See VoiceOver User Guide to view different voice over screen reading options.
Make Content on Screen Larger
- You can use your mouse or use your trackpad to zoom and make the entire screen larger or just an area of it.
- You can use Hover Text to zoom whatever is under the pointer—text, fields, menu items, buttons, and more—in high resolution in a separate window.
Reduce Motion on Screen
- If motion on the screen of your Mac is problematic, you can set an option to reduce motion when using certain features, such as Spaces, Notification Center, or the Dock.
- See Reduce Motion to set this option.
Keyboard
Control Pointer and Mouse Actions
- See Mouse Keys to control the pointer using the keyboard or a numeric keypad.
- See Alternate Pointer Actions to enable mouse actions (such as a left-click or drag-and-drop action) using keyboard shortcuts, assistive switches, or facial expressions (such as a smile or an open mouth).
- See Head Pointer to move the pointer based on the movement of your face or head, as detected by the camera that’s built into or connected to your Mac.
Use Voice Control and Text to Speech
- With Voice Control, you can use spoken commands to open apps, choose menu items, and more on your Mac. macOS provides a standard set of commands, and you can create your own commands. See Control your Mac and apps using Voice Control.
Customize How Your Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad Work
- You can set various options to customize how your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad work while using your Mac.
- To set these options, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Keyboard, Mouse, or Trackpad.
Control your Mac with Assistive Devices
- See Switch Control to 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 a switch is used to select an item or perform an action
References
Use accessibility features on Mac
See Use the Accessibility Options panel on Mac to view shortcuts to quickly turn on or turn off common accessibility features such as Zoom, VoiceOver, and Sticky Keys.