Microsoft Accessibility Features
Many computers have built-in accessibility features. The purpose of this guide is to show how to enable these features on your PC laptop.
When turning on accessibility, there are three categories:
- Vision - The features in this category allow the user to increase the screen size, as well as increasing the size of the mouse and/or menu bar. It also allows the user to apply different color settings and to enable Narrator, allowing the device to read the text to the user.
- Hearing - The features in this category allow the user to turn on a screen flash when an alert sounds, to play stereo audio as mono, and to customize and display closed captions.
- Interaction - The features in this category allow the user to control the computer and change navigation settings using spoken commands, the tab key, the on-screen keyboard, the pointer, or through assistive devices.
To utilize the accessibility features, please follow these directions:
1. Click the Microsoft
Windows icon in the bottom left corner of your screen .
2. Click on the Settings
icon .
3. Click Ease of Access.
Display
1. Click Display on the left side bar.
2. Adjust the text size and the main display, by selecting the desired settings.
Mouse Pointer
1. Click Mouse Pointer on the left side bar.
2. Adjust the mouse size and color by selecting the desired settings.
Text cursor
1. Click Text cursor on the left side bar.
2. Turn on/off text cursor indicator by clicking on the toggle switch.
3. Adjust the cursor size and color by selecting the desired settings.
Magnifier
1. Click Magnifier on the left side bar.
2. Turn on/off the magnifier by clicking on the toggle switch.
3. Adjust the size of the magnification by selecting the desired settings. Magnifier can run in full screen, in a separate window, or as a lens that follows the user’s mouse pointer around the screen.
Color Filters
1. Click Color filters on the left side bar to make photos and colors easier to see.
2. Turn on/off color filters by clicking on the toggle switch.
3. The user can adjust the color filters by selecting the desired settings.
4. For users with colorblindness, select from the colorblindness filters.
High contrast
1. Click High contrast on the left side bar to make text easier to see by using more distinct colors.
2. Turn on/off high contrast by clicking on the toggle switch.
3. The user can adjust the color filters by selecting the desired settings.
Narrator
1. Click Narrator on the left side bar.
2. Turn on/off narrator by clicking on the toggle switch (once enabled, the user will hear a voice narrating the on-screen text).
3. Change the voice, speed, and pitch of the narration by making the necessary adjustments on that page.
Audio
1. Click Audio on the left side bar.
2. Change the devices audio settings by making the necessary adjustments on that page.
3. The user can also set visual audio alerts.
4. Turn on/off mono audio by clicking on the toggle switch.
Closed Captions
1. Click Closed captions on the left side bar.
2. To add closed captions and to change the caption displays, make the necessary adjustments on that page.
Speech
1. Click Speech on the left side bar to enable speech recognition (speech-to-text).
2. Turn on/off speech recognition (speech-to-text) by clicking on the toggle switch.
Keyboard
1. Click Keyboard on the left side bar to turn on various keyboard shortcuts.
2. Turn on/off the various keyboard shortcuts by clicking on the toggle switches.
Mouse
1. Click Mouse on the left side bar.
2. Turn on/off mouse keys to control the mouse with a keypad by clicking on the toggle switch.
For more information on using the accessibility tools on your PC laptop, please click this link to visit Microsoft’s accessibility tools site: