Use the Accessibility Keyboard on Mac

• Turn it on: On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, click Keyboard, click Accessibility Keyboard, then select Enable Accessibility Keyboard.

  Open the Accessibility Keyboard pane 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 the Show Emoji & Symbols icon or, if you set up input sources, a flag.)

• Turn it off: In the top-left corner of the Accessibility keyboard on your Mac, click the Close button . Or in Keyboard preferences, click Accessibility Keyboard, then deselect Enable Accessibility Keyboard.

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.

  While typing, you can display a list of suggested words onscreen by pressing F5 (you may need to also press the Fn key, depending on your Mac model).

• Enter alternative characters: Click Option or Option-Shift, then a key. If an alternative character exists, such as à, it’s inserted in your text. Press and hold the key to show additional alternative characters.

  If you often type characters with diacritical marks, it may be quicker to use dead keys (a modifier key pressed with another key to enter a letter with a diacritical mark). Click Option to highlight the dead keys, click a dead key, then a letter.

• Simplify typing: In the top-right corner of the keyboard, click the Panel Options button , 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 the Panel Options button , choose Dwell, then choose an option. Or in Keyboard preferences for accessibility, click Accessibility Keyboard, click Options, then click Dwell. 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 the Panel Options button , choose Toolbars, then choose toolbars to show or hide (a tick indicates 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 to use next 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 the Custom button to display available custom panels created using the Panel Editor. To return to the Accessibility Keyboard, click the Home icon in the top-right corner of the custom panel.

• Show or hide the Touch Bar onscreen: If your Mac has a Touch Bar, click the Touch Bar button to display the Touch Bar across the bottom of the screen. Click the button again to hide the onscreen Touch Bar.

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 the Panel Options button in the top-right corner of the keyboard, then choose Resize Proportionally (to remove the tick).

• Reset the keyboard to the default size: Click the Panel Options button 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 the Panel Options button , then choose options (a tick indicates an option is on). For example, you can change the appearance of the keyboard to use dark text on a light background, turn Dwell on or off or set preferences.

• 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.