Increase the size of text found in menus, icons, and Microsoft applications. This setting may not affect text in other non-Microsoft applications.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Display
2. Look for the “Make Text Bigger” heading.
3. Adjust the slider to your desired size.
4. Click “Apply” to save changes.

A zoom function that increases the size of everything including text, images, icons, and apps.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Display
2. Look for the “Make everything bigger” heading.
3. Select from the drop-down menu.
4. Click "Apply" to save changes.

1. Press the Ctrl + “+” (Plus key) at the same time to zoom in.
2. Press the Ctrl + “-” (Minus key) at the same time to zoom out.

Adjust the brightness of Windows to make everything more visible.

1. Settings > System > Display
2. Adjust the slider under the “Change brightness” heading.
3. Additionally, you can change the brightness in the Windows Action Center.

Reduce the amount of extra visual effects to make Windows easier to see.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Display
2. Look for the “Simplify and personalize Windows” heading.
   • “Show animations in Windows” adjusts various animations. For example, when a window is minimized, an animation shows the window shrinking into the taskbar.
   • “Show transparency in Windows” changes whether application windows and toolbars are transparent.
   • “Automatically hide scroll bars in Windows” makes all scrollbars in applications persistent.
   • “Show notifications for” adjusts the amount of time notifications will appear on your screen.
   • “Show desktop background image” will remove the background and replace it with a blank black background.

Change the size and color of the mouse pointer for better visibility.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Mouse Pointer
2. Look for the “Change pointer size and color” heading.
3. To change this size, adjust the pointer size slider.
4. To change the color, under change pointer color, select an option that is easier to see.
5. Click "Apply" to save changes.

A text cursor indicator can help with identifying where the text cursor currently is on the screen.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Text cursor
2. Toggle “Use text cursor indicator” to turn on.
3. You can also adjust the size, color, and thickness of the text cursor.

Apply a color filter over your screen that helps with low vision or color blindness.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Color Filters
2. Under the Use color filters heading, select “Turn On Color Filters”
3. Choose an option for color filter:
   • Invert colors with the Inverted option.
   • Grayscale options include Grayscale, Grayscale inverted.
   • Colorblindness options include Red-green (green weak, deuteranopia), Red-green (red weak (protanopia), or Blue-yellow (tritanopia).
4. You can also set up a keyboard shortcut to turn on color filters by toggling “Keyboard shortcut for color filters” to on (Windows key + Ctrl + C will turn on the color filter).

Replace the light background color system display with a darker display. The taskbar, windows, and other display aspects will change to a dark-gray color. This can help reduce eyestrain and fatigue.

1. Settings > Personalization > Colors
2. Choose your color theme.
3. Select from the drop-down menu.

Sets your Windows theme to have a stronger contrast between background and text. You can choose between four different themes and even change individual display colors to best suit your needs.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > High Contrast
2. Toggle “Turn on high contrast” from off to on (Your computer will need a few seconds to make the changes)
3. Select from the “choose a theme” drop-down menu to adjust theme.
4. Customize high contrast colors by selecting the different options in the box.
5. Click Apply to make changes to theme and colors.
6. Additionally, you can press Left Alt Key + Left Shift Key + Print Screen to turn high contrast mode on or off.

Night Light reduces the blue light emitted from the computer screen. Reducing blue light may reduce eye strain when used in dimly lit or dark environments.

1. Settings > System > Display
2. Under the Brightness and Color header, toggle “Night Light" to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can set a night light schedule.

Magnifier makes part or all of your screen bigger so you can see words and images better.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Magnifier
2. Toggle “Turn on magnifier” to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can press the Windows Key + “+ (Plus Key)” to turn on. To close magnifier, press the Windows Key + Esc.
4. Other settings can be changed to customize magnifier:
   • Change Zoom level will adjust the size of the screen, and you can customize zoom increments.
   • Change the Magnifier view between full screen, docked, and lens styles under the “Choose a view” dropdown.
   • Choose between whether the Magnifier follows the mouse pointer, keyboard focus, text cursor, or Narrator cursor under the “Have Magnifier follow” setting.
   • Keep the mouse or text pointer within the edges of the screen or centered in the screen.

Narrator is the built-in Windows screen reader that is designed to support individuals who are blind or who have limited vision to use your PC without the use of a mouse. It reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text, buttons, and images.

1. Settings > Accessibility > Narrator
2. Toggle “Narrator” to turn on.
3. Other settings can be changed to customize magnifier:
   • You can set up a keyboard shortcut for Narrator (Windows key + Ctrl + Enter).
   • You can configure how the Narrator tool behaves during start-up under the “Start up options” header.
   • You can personalize the voice of the Narrator tool along with its pitch, speed, volume, and what device the narrator’s voice plays from under the “Personalize Narrator’s voice” header.
   • You can adjust the level of detail the Narrator tool will describe your actions as well as what is displayed on the screen under the “Change what you hear when reading and interacting,” and “Change what you hear when typing” headers.
   • You can adjust keyboard settings under the “Choose keyboard settings” header.
   • The “Use Narrator cursor” settings let you add a cursor to where the Narrator is focused on the screen.
   • If you have a braille display, the “Use braille” settings guides you to download the necessary software to have Narrator interact with your braille display.

Microsoft Support offers an extensive overview of Narrator: Complete Guide to Narrator

Keyboard shortcuts are keys or combinations of keys that provide an alternative way to do something that you’d typically do with a mouse. 

Please see the following articles from Microsoft Support to get an overview of keyboard shortcuts:

• Keyboard shortcuts in Windows 
• Windows keyboard shortcuts for accessibility
• Keyboard shortcuts in apps

Mono audio combines the left and right audio channels and plays them in both ears. This is useful for individuals who have better hearing in one ear.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Audio
2. Toggle “Turn on mono audio” to turn on.

You can choose receive visual alerts when a notification is received.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Audio
2. Use the dropdown to choose how the screen will flash when a notification is received.

Closed captioning provides text for spoken words and sounds in videos. Closed captioning in useful for those who are Deaf or hard of hearing, or even if you are in a noisy environment and cannot hear audio.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Closed Captions
2. You can adjust the appearance of the caption font and that font’s color, transparency, style, size, and effects in each corresponding dropdown menu.
3. You can adjust the appearance of the caption's background and the background’s color and transparency in each corresponding dropdown menu.

Dictation allows you to speak what you want to type rather than using the keyboard. You must be connected to the internet to use Dictation.

1. Press the Windows key + H key at any time.

For more information, please see the following article from Microsoft Support: Use voice typing to talk instead of type on your PC

Operate your computer by using your voice.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Speech
2. Adjust the Turn on speech recognition toggle.
3. Additionally, you can press the Windows key + Ctrl + S at any time.

For more information, see the following article from Microsoft Support: Windows Speech Recognition commands

Displays a visual keyboard with all the standard keys, so you can use your mouse or another pointing device to select keys.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Use the on-screen keyboard” to turn on.
3. Additionally, press Windows Key and CTRL and O (the letter O) to toggle the feature on or off.

Sticky keys enable one handed activation of multi-key combinations such as CTRL+ P (print) or Alt + Tab (switch windows).

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Use sticky keys” to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can press the Shift key five times to toggle the feature on or off.

Toggle keys plays a sound each time the Caps Lock or Num Lock keys are pressed.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Use toggle keys” to turn on.
3. Additionally, press and hold the Num Lock key for five seconds to toggle the feature on or off.

Filter Keys ignores brief or repeated keystrokes and may be useful for people who have difficulty targeting keys or who have a tremor in their hands.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard
2. Toggle “Use Filter Keys” to turn on.
3. Additionally, press and hold the right Shift key for eight seconds to toggle Filter Keys
4. There are further settings that can be adjusted for Filter Keys:
   • Bounce Keys: tells the keyboard to wait before accepting more keystrokes when the same key is pressed more than once.
   • Slow Keys: tells the keyboard to wait before accepting more keystrokes.
   • Repeat Keys: delays the keyboard repeat key function when holding down a key.

Control the mouse cursor on the screen with the keyboard’s keypad.

1. Settings > Ease of Access > Mouse
2. Adjust the Control your mouse with a keypad toggle.

Focus Assist silences some or all notification sounds and pop-up alerts. This can help you focus on reading and tasks.

1. Settings > System > Focus Assist
2. Select between Priority Only and Alarms Only
   • Priority only allows you to see notifications from specific apps in your priority list, which can be configured by clicking on “Customize your priority list.”
   • Alarms only silences all notifications, except for any alarms you have set.
3. Additionally, you can toggle Focus Assist from the Windows Action Center.

Text suggestions are provided whenever you type.

1. Settings > Devices > Typing
2. Toggle “Show suggestions as I type” to turn on.
3. Additionally, you can “Autocorrect misspelled words as I type” to have Windows use the autocorrect function.

Immersive Reader provides options for a comfortable and easy to process experience by allowing you to listen to the text read aloud or adjust how text appears by modifying spacing, color and more. This helps with focus and dyslexia.

1. In Windows applications (Word, OneNote, etc.): Click on the view tab, then select Immersive Reader in the top ribbon.
2. You can change different settings for Immersive Reader:
   • Column width
   • Page color
   • Line focus
   • Text spacing
   • Syllable spacing
   • You can also have the text Read Aloud with the built-in text to speech function using the “Read Aloud” button.