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Listen to or change how text appears in apps with Accessibility Reader on Mac

With Accessibility Reader on Mac, you can read or listen to text in a full-screen view and customise fonts, layouts and background colours. You can use Accessibility Reader with any app on your Mac. Accessibility Reader is also built into the Magnifier app [] so you can also customise text in your surroundings like a whiteboard or screen. See Have your Mac zoom in on whats around you.

[The Books app and Accessibility Reader windows are open on the desktop. Text from the Books app is displayed in Accessibility Reader in large font on a black background.]

Turn on and use Accessibility Reader

On your Mac, choose Apple menu [] > System Settings, then click Accessibility [] in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)
Click Read & Speak.
Open Read & Speak settings for me
Turn on Accessibility Reader.
Do one of the following:
- Autoplay in Reader: Click [the Information button] and turn on Autoplay in Reader if you want Accessibility Reader to automatically read text out loud.
- Customise the keyboard shortcut: Click [the Information button], double-click the default shortcut (Command-Esc), then enter your own shortcut.
To start using Accessibility Reader, do either of the following:
- Use the Accessibility Reader keyboard shortcut: Open any app, scroll to an area you want to read, then enter the Accessibility Reader shortcut (Command-Escape or your customised shortcut).
- Use Accessibility Shortcuts: Open any app, scroll to an area you want to read, open Accessibility Shortcuts, then select Accessibility Reader

Make text in apps easier to read

Open any app on your Mac and scroll to an area you want to read.
Do one of the following:
- Open Accessibility Reader using the Keyboard Shortcut (Command-Esc or your customised shortcut).
- Open Accessibility Reader with Accessibility Shortcuts.
  Note: Accessibility Reader alerts you if no text is detected.
Click [the More Customisation button], then do any of the following:
- Theme: Choose a colour theme such as Light or Dark.
- Colour: Choose a colour for text or a background.
- Font: Choose a font, font appearance or font size.
- High Legibility Characters: Turn on High Legibility Characters.
  Note: This option is only available when using System Font.
- Line: Choose [the Default button], [the Loose button] or [the Open button] to customise the space between lines.
- Word: Choose [the Default button], [the Loose button] or [the Open button] to customise the space between words.
- Character: Choose [the Default button], [the Loose button] or [the Open button] to customise the space between characters.
- Readable Content Width: Choose [the Default button], [the Loose button] or [the Open button] to customise the text width.
- Links: Turn Show Links on or off. When you turn on Show Links, you can customise the colour.
- Playback Highlighting: Turn Show Highlight on or off. When you turn on Show Highlight, you can customise the style or highlight colour.
- Reset to Default: Click Reset to Default to reset the settings youve selected.

Listen to spoken text in apps

Open any app on your Mac, then go to an area you want to hear.
Do one of the following:
- Open Accessibility Reader using the Keyboard Shortcut (Command-Esc or your customised shortcut).
- Open Accessibility Reader with Accessibility Shortcuts.
  Note: Accessibility Reader alerts you if no text is detected.
Do any of the following:
- Listen to the text: Click [the Play button].
- Pause the text: Click [the Pause button].
- Skip backward or forward: Click [the Rewind button] or [the Forward button].
- Increase or decrease the speed: Click [the Speaking Rate One Times button], then select a speed.
- Go to a specific time: Drag the slider left or right.

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Mac User Guide

Listen to or change how text appears in apps with Accessibility Reader on Mac

Turn on and use Accessibility Reader

Make text in apps easier to read

Listen to spoken text in apps

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