Read or listen to text 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 your surroundings.
Turn on and use Accessibility Reader
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.)Click Read & Speak.
Turn on Accessibility Reader.
Do one of the following:
Autoplay in Reader: Click
and turn on Autoplay in Reader if you want Accessibility Reader to automatically read text out loud.CustomiSe the keyboard shortcut: Click
, 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
, 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
, 
or 
to customise the space between lines.Word: Choose
, 
or 
to customise the space between words.Character: Choose
, 
or 
to customise the space between characters.Readable Content Width: Choose
, 
or 
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 you’ve 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
.Pause the text: Click
.Skip backward or forward: Click
or 
.Increase or decrease the speed: Click
, then select a speed.Go to a specific time: Drag the slider left or right.