Make it easier to see what’s on the screen of your Mac

Make the desktop less transparent: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Display on the right, then turn on “Reduce transparency”. (You may need to scroll down.) The transparent areas of the desktop and app windows become grey.

Choose a desktop picture with fewer colours or shapes: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Wallpaper in the sidebar, browse through the images on the right, then select a less busy picture or a solid colour. (You may need to scroll down.)

Make borders darker: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Display on the right, then turn on “Increase contrast”. (You may need to scroll down.) macOS automatically reduces transparency and makes the borders of buttons, boxes and other items on the screen more visible.

Use a dark appearance: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Appearance in the sidebar, then click the Dark appearance on the right. (You may need to scroll down.) You can change the accent and highlight colours.

Invert colours: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Display on the right, then turn on “Invert colours”. (You may need to scroll down.) If you enable colour filters or turn on Night Shift, “Invert colours” is automatically disabled.

Make colours easier on your eyes at night: Use Night Shift to make the colours on the screen warmer.

Differentiate or tone down colours: Apply colour filters or tint the entire screen.

Make the pointer easier to see: Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Display on the right, then turn on “Shake mouse pointer to locate” below Pointer. (You may need to scroll down.) You can also change the pointer’s size and colour.

Scale your display’s resolution to make text and objects appear larger: On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > System Settings, then click Displays in the sidebar. (You may need to scroll down.) On the right, select one of the Larger Text options to the left of Default.

Increase the text size in many apps: In apps such as Mail, you can press Command-Plus (+) or Command-Minus (–) to adjust text size. If that doesn’t work, check the app’s settings.

Increase the text size of messages in Messages: In Messages, choose Messages > Settings, click General, then move the “Text size” slider to the right.

Increase the size of icons and text on the desktop: Control-click the desktop, choose Show View Options, then move the “Icon size” slider to the right. Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size.

Increase the size of icons and text in the Finder: Select an item in the Finder, then choose View > Show View Options. The view you’re using determines how you increase the size.

• Icon view: Move the “Icon size” slider to the right. Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size.

• List view: Select the larger icon size to the right of “Icon size.” Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size.

• Column view: Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size. You can’t choose an icon size.

• Gallery view: Select the largest thumbnail size. You can’t choose a text size.

Increase the size of items in sidebars: Choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Appearance in the sidebar, click the pop-up menu next to “Sidebar icon size” on the right, then choose Large. (You may need to scroll down.) The icons and text in the Mail and Finder sidebars, for example, appear larger.

Zoom in on the screen: Choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, then click Zoom on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)

• When “Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom” is turned on, you can zoom in (press Option-Command-Equal sign), zoom out (press Option-Command-Minus sign) or quickly switch between the two settings (press Option-Command-8).

• When “Use scroll gesture with modifier keys to zoom” is turned on, you can zoom in by pressing and holding the Control key (or another modifier key) and swiping up with two fingers on your mouse or trackpad.

• Use the Zoom style pop-up menu to customise zoom — you can choose to zoom the entire screen, an area of the screen or just the area where the pointer is located. To set additional options for the zoom style you selected, click Advanced.

Zoom in on the item under the pointer: Choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click Accessibility in the sidebar, click Zoom on the right, then turn on Hover Text. (You may need to scroll down.) See Use Hover Text.

Zoom in on webpages: In Safari, choose View > Zoom In, or press Command-Plus (+). You can choose Zoom In or press Command-Plus multiple times to continue zooming in. If you want to zoom just the text and not images, press Option-Command-Plus.

Zoom in on PDFs, images and webpages: If your mouse or trackpad supports it, you can zoom in or out using a simple gesture. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then do one of the following:

• Click Mouse in the sidebar, then turn on “Smart zoom” on the right. (You may need to scroll down.) Now to zoom in or out, double-tap on your mouse with one finger.

• Click Trackpad in the sidebar, click Scroll & Zoom on the right, then turn on “Smart zoom”. (You may need to scroll down.) Now to zoom in or out, double-tap on your trackpad with two fingers.