How to turn VoiceOver on and off on your Mac

Are you ready to start using your built-in Mac screen reader? In this quick tutorial, we will share how to turn VoiceOver on and off on your Apple computer.

VoiceOver Prompt Window on a MacBook Pro

VoiceOver is a built-in screen-reading Accessibility feature that lets you control your Mac with keyboard commands and gestures. It offers a great number of controls and customizations but can take some getting used to if you’re new to it. Apple’s description of this feature reads as follows:

VoiceOver speaks descriptions of items on the screen and can be used to control the computer using only your keyboard.

With a series of how-tos to help, we’ll show you the basics of VoiceOver, like navigating your desktop and Dock, selecting and deselecting menu items, working with app windows, and much more. But first, you’ll need to know how to turn VoiceOver on and off on your Mac, so that’s where we’ll begin!

Three ways to turn VoiceOver on and off

You have a few different ways to turn VoiceOver on and off. The one you use can be based on what you’re doing on your Mac at the time or simply what’s most comfortable for you.

1. Using a keyboard shortcut

Use Command + F5 to turn VoiceOver on and off quickly. When you turn VoiceOver on with the shortcut, you’ll see the VoiceOver window appear, displaying the text for what’s on your screen immediately. If you click the X in the corner of that window, this will also turn VoiceOver off.

VoiceOver Prompt Window on Mac

2. From System Settings

  1. Open System Settings on your Mac.
  2. Select Accessibility.
  3. Click VoiceOver under the Vision heading.
  4. Turn on the switch next to VoiceOver and confirm by clicking Use VoiceOver.
  5. Follow the above steps and turn off the VoiceOver switch when you don’t need it.
VoiceOver turned on in Mac System Settings

If you happen to be on an older version of macOS, open System Settings and go to Accessibility > VoiceOver. Check the box for Enable VoiceOver to turn it on and uncheck it to turn it off.

System Preferences Accessibility Section with VoiceOver On

3. From the Accessibility Options shortcut panel

Use Option + Command + F5 to open the shortcut panel. Check the box for Enable VoiceOver and click Done to turn it on and uncheck it to turn it off.

Use Accessibility Options to turn on VoiceOver on Mac

Keep in mind that you can use any combination of the above methods for turning VoiceOver on and off. For instance, if you turn it on in System Settings, you can turn it off with the keyboard shortcut.

Maybe you do intend to start using the VoiceOver screen reader on your Mac. Or, maybe you inadvertently enabled VoiceOver using the keyboard shortcut and were unsure how to turn it off. Either way, now you know the different ways to enable and disable VoiceOver on macOS.

Let us know; are you planning to start using VoiceOver?

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