Full Voice Control and Other Mac Accessibility Features Anyone Can Use
Across the board, Apple takes technology accessibility seriously. Their most notable efforts are on iPhone features like voice control, but are hardly limited to iOS and iPadOS. While accessibility features are designed to help people with disabilities, macOS users can also access a range of accessibility features that make computers easier for everyone to use.
Make the display easier on the eyes
You probably stare at your Mac’s screen for hours every day, which, strictly speaking, isn’t good for your eyes. Luckily, these accessibility settings can help reduce eye strain.
Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display and try the following features:
- Reduce Transparency : Removes the blurry menu bar and other slick elements, making them more concrete and easier to see.
- Increase Contrast : Another useful feature that removes the ambiguity of the Mac interface. The buttons are clearly labeled as buttons using an outline.
- Invert Colors : A ruthless version of dark mode that turns white to black and black to white, making media and text easier to see (doesn’t work if you have dark mode enabled).
- Pointer : In this section, you can change the color of the mouse pointer to make it easier to see.
- Color Filters : This tab has several different color filters that you can apply. The Grayscale filter will make everything on your screen black and white, which can be useful when you’re trying to cut down on screen time .
Enlarge text (or anything else)
The MacBook display has an ultra-high resolution. This is great, but it also means that, by default, some elements are too small to see clearly if you don’t have perfect eyesight. You can make everything on the screen bigger by going to System Preferences > Displays . Here, select the ” Greater Text ” option or the option without a label next to it to make the text and interface larger.
However, suppose you only want to enlarge a document or image from time to time. This is where your Mac’s scaling feature comes in handy. Go to ” System Preferences ” > ” Accessibility ” > ” Zoom ” and turn on the ” Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom ” feature. Now use Option + Command + Equals to zoom in on the screen. Keep pressing the ” = ” button while holding other keys to continue zoning. Use Option + Command + Minus to zoom out.
If you want to zoom in using your mouse or trackpad, select ” Use swipe gesture with modifier keys to zoom “. By holding down the Control key , you will be able to use mouse or trackpad scrolling as a zoom function.
By default, the Mac scales the entire screen, but you can change it to picture-in-picture or split screen mode in the Zoom Style drop-down list in the zoom feature preferences.
Use the built-in screen reader
You spend most of your time looking at text on the screen, but what if you asked your Mac to read something to you instead? Go to ” System Preferences ” > ” Accessibility ” > ” Conversational Content ” and turn on the ” Speak selection ” option. Then click the ” Options ” button next to it to adjust the settings. The default keyboard shortcut to launch this feature is Option + Escape , but you can change it to whatever you like. From here, you can also change the selection color.
To use this feature, select the text you want to read aloud (use the keyboard shortcut Command + A to select all text on the page). Then use the keyboard shortcut Option + Escape to preview the text. It’s similar to how things work on your iPhone .
If you’re looking for a more advanced solution, Apple’s VoiceOver feature lets you listen to whatever’s happening on the screen and then gives you the ability to interact with it using your keyboard. Go to ” System Preferences ” > ” Accessibility ” > ” VoiceOver ” > ” Turn on VoiceOver “. It’s worth checking out the quickstart, as the implementation of this feature can be a bit confusing.
Dictate, don’t type
Can’t print for too long due to engine or RSI issues? We can all benefit from a keyboard break. Your Mac’s Dictation feature lets you type with your voice, and it works surprisingly well.
To enable it, go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Dictation and make sure the feature is enabled. Then, take a look at the “Shortcut” dropdown and change it to whatever is most convenient for you.
Now go to any text field, use the keyboard shortcut and wait for the dictation icon to appear. Start speaking and your Mac will convert your speech to text.
Control everything on your Mac with voice control
You really can control everything on your Mac with just your voice. Voice control is a deeply integrated feature that works across all apps. Once enabled, you can use it to do everything you can do with a keyboard and mouse, including reading and writing text, pressing buttons, scrolling through documents, and more.
To get started, go to ” System Preferences ” > ” Accessibility ” > “Voice Control ” > “Turn On Voice Control” . Follow the installation process to select and download languages. You can then ask Siri to ” Turn on voice control ” to enter voice control mode. You can also ask Siri to disable voice control.
When this feature is enabled, you will see a small microphone icon. Start saying commands like “Open Mail”, “Scroll Down” and “Press Done” and the voice control will do them for you. For even more control, you can select the menu next to “Overlay” and select “Item Numbers” or “Item Grid”. This will place numbers or a grid all over the screen, allowing you to tell your Mac to interact with a specific number or grid for a more precise and precise interaction.
Type for Siri
Siri can be useful on your Mac, but sometimes you don’t want to ask a question out loud. If you’d rather ask your digital assistant for something in private, turn on Type to Siri. Go to System Preferences > Siri > Enable Typing for Siri . Now, whenever you activate Siri, you will see a text field where you can enter your questions.