Use the Accessibility Keyboard on Mac

• Turn it on: On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Keyboard on the right, then turn on Accessibility Keyboard. (You may need to scroll down.)

  Open Keyboard settings for accessibility for me

  You can also turn on the Accessibility Keyboard by clicking the Input menu in the menu bar, then choosing Show Keyboard Viewer. (The Input menu is identified in the menu bar by either or — if you use more than one input source — an icon representing the currently active input source.)

  If you can’t see the menu in the menu bar, set the option to show the Input menu in the menu bar.

• Turn it off: In the top-left corner of the Accessibility Keyboard on your Mac, click .

While you’re using the Accessibility Keyboard on your Mac, do any of the following in the keyboard:

• Adjust system settings: Click the system control buttons to adjust display brightness, sound volume, and video or music playback, or to access features such as Mission Control.

• Use typing suggestions: As you type, suggested words are shown. Click a suggestion to insert it in your text.

• Enter alternative characters: Click Option or Option-Shift, then click a character. Or click Option to highlight the dead keys (a dead key is a modifier key pressed with another key to enter a letter with a diacritical mark), click a dead key, then click a letter.

  See Enter characters with accent marks.

• Simplify typing: In the top-right corner of the keyboard, click , choose Typing, then choose to automatically insert and remove spaces or capitalise sentences (a tick indicates an option is on).

• Use Dwell: In the top-right corner of the keyboard, click , choose Dwell, then choose an option. See Control the pointer using Dwell.

While you’re using the Accessibility Keyboard on your Mac, do any of the following in the keyboard:

• Show or hide toolbars: In the top-right corner of the keyboard, click , choose Toolbars, then choose toolbars to show or hide (a tick indicates that a toolbar is shown). For example, you can show the Current Text toolbar, which displays text as you’re typing it in a document or text field, or the Suggestions toolbar, which displays suggested words based on what you’re typing.

  To use the Panel Editor to change where the toolbars appear in the keyboard, choose Customise Toolbar Ordering.

• Show custom panels: Click to display available custom panels created using the Panel Editor. To return to the Accessibility Keyboard, click in the top-right corner of the custom panel.

While you’re using the Accessibility Keyboard on your Mac, do any of the following:

• Make the keyboard bigger or smaller: Drag a corner of the keyboard.

  To resize it without keeping the proportions, click in the top-right corner of the keyboard, then choose Resize Proportionally (to remove the tick).

• Reset the keyboard to the default size: Click in the top-right corner of the keyboard, choose Zoom, then choose 100%.

While you’re using the Accessibility Keyboard on your Mac, do any of the following to change options for it:

• In the top-right corner of the Accessibility Keyboard, click , then choose options (a tick indicates that an option is on). For example, you can change the appearance of the keyboard to use dark text on a light background, fade the keyboard after a period of inactivity, or turn Dwell on or off.

• Use the Panel Editor on your Mac to customise the Accessibility Keyboard for use with your favourite apps.

If you set the option to fade or hide the Accessibility Keyboard after a period of inactivity, you can make the keyboard fully visible again by moving the pointer over the faded keyboard or, if it’s hidden, moving the pointer.