Change Accessibility Keyboard preferences for accessibility on Mac

Appearance

Use a light or dark appearance for the keyboard.

This setting is independent of whether you use a light or dark appearance on your Mac.

Fade panel after inactivity

After the specified period of inactivity, fade the keyboard by the specified percentage (at a lower percentage the keyboard is more visible, while at a higher percentage it’s less visible; at 100% it’s hidden). To make the keyboard fully visible again, move the pointer over the faded keyboard or, if it’s hidden, move the pointer.

This option is useful when you don’t need the keyboard for a while, such as when watching a movie, or when you want to see the part of the desktop that’s under the keyboard.

Play sounds for keys and dwell actions

Hear a sound when you select a key on the keyboard or when a dwell action is performed. (Selecting the Caps key makes a sound even when this option is not selected.)

Keys should be entered on

Input is entered or action taken on Mouse up or Mouse down.

Insert and remove spaces automatically

Let the Accessibility Keyboard manage spaces when you’re writing text. For example, it automatically corrects spacing after a full stop or between sentences, based on context.

Capitalise sentences automatically

Let the Accessibility Keyboard manage capitalisation when you’re writing text. For example, it automatically capitalises letters after a full stop (end of sentence), based on context.

Active Screen Corners

Set which action happens when you keep the pointer in a corner of the screen. Click the pop-up menu for a corner, then choose an action, such as Left Click.

Panel Follows Hide/Show Home Panel

When you use a hot corner to show or hide the Accessibility Keyboard or a custom panel, have the keyboard or panel move to the hot corner.

If you don’t want the keyboard or panel to move to the hot corner, deselect the tickbox.

Allow dwell actions toolbar in panels

Make the toolbar available in the Accessibility Keyboard and custom panels.

Show dwell actions in menu bar

Show a status menu for dwell actions in the menu bar.

Always dwell in panels

Always use Dwell to select items in the Accessibility Keyboard and custom panels, even when Pause is selected in the menu bar or in the Options menu.

Left-click is the default action when dwelling in panels.

Colour

Set the colour, such as green, of the dwell pointer when it’s shown.

Zoom after

Show the zoom window after the pointer is idle for the specified amount of time. The window magnifies the area you dwell on and the pointer.

The size of the zoom window is based on the size set for picture-in-picture zoom. To check that setting, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Zoom.

Open the Zoom pane for me

In the pane, click the Zoom style pop-up menu, choose “Picture-in-picture”, click Options, then adjust the size.

Hide dwell time indicators

Hide the dwell pointer and the countdown when dwelling.

Default dwell action

Choose the default action to perform when you dwell on an item — for example, right click, show the Scroll Menu, or drag and drop an item. Or choose to show the Options menu, which lets you switch between actions for once-only use.

You can also choose an action from the dwell status menu, if it’s showing in the menu bar.

Auto revert to left click

After you select an action to perform, always make left click the next action performed.

This option is useful if you left-click items more often than you perform other actions.

Default dwell time

The amount of time to dwell on an item on the screen before an action is performed.

Panel dwell time

The amount of time to dwell on an item in a panel before a left-click action is performed.

Dwell movement tolerance

The distance, in pixels, you can move while dwelling on an item. If you move beyond this limit, the action isn’t performed.