How to make text larger in Apple OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Note: Mac key convention: ‘Ctrl’ is used for 'Control', ‘Apple’ is used for 'Command' and ‘Alt’ is used for the ‘Option’ key.

Note: For keyboard access make sure ‘Full keyboard access’ is turned on - you can turn it on or off; by pressing ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F1’ at any time.

Step 1

• Make sure you are in ‘Finder’, press ‘Apple’ + ‘Tab’ if necessary to cycle through open applications until you return to ‘Finder’.
• Click on the ‘Apple’ menu in the top-left of the screen or press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F2’.
• Click to select ‘System Preferences...’ as shown in Fig 1 or press the down arrow key to highlight it and then press ‘Enter’.

Fig 1

Step 2

• In teh System Preferences window, select ‘Displays’ or press ‘Tab’ repeatedly (you might need to press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F7’ first) to cycle through the icons until the ‘Displays’ icon is highlighted, see Fig 2 and then press the ‘Spacebar’.

Fig 2

• Click on the‘Display’ tab or press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F7’ to highlight to select the ‘Display’ tab if it is not already selected.
• Click on the 'Scaled' radio button or press ‘Ctrl’ + ‘F7’ to highlight and select the ‘Scaled’ radio button if it is not already selected
• The typical display resolution is 1024 x 768, to make text on the screen bigger you can change it to 800 x 600 or 640x 480. To do this either click on the resolution you want or ‘Tab’ to highlight the resolutions settings and use the up or down arrows keys to select a resolution that is best for you as shown in Fig 3.

Fig 3

Step 3

When you are happy with screen size click the ‘Close’ (red) button at the top of the window or press ‘Apple’ + ‘W’ to close the window and return to the Finder desktop.

Changing font size for displaying files and folders

• You can change both the text and icon size for all files and folders including those on the desktop on your Mac.
• To change the size of files and folders on your desktop:
• Make sure you are in ‘Finder’,press ‘Apple’ + ‘Tab’ if necessary to cycle through open applications until you return to ‘Finder’.
• Click to select ‘View’ and select ‘Show View Options’ or press ‘Apple’ + ‘J’, Fig 4.

Fig 4

• Using the mouse, click on the box next to ‘Text size:’ and choose a font size up to 16pt. You can also make the Icon size smaller or larger by clicking on the ‘Icon size’ gauge, Fig 5.

Fig 5

• When you are happy with your choice, click on the close button at the top of the window.

To change the text size for files in folders:

• Select a folder by double clicking on it or press ‘Tab’ to highlight it and press ‘Apple’ + ‘O’ to open it. In this example a folder called ‘Pictures’ has been used.

Fig 6

• Click to select ‘View’ and select ‘Show View Options’ or press ‘Apple’ + ‘J’ , Fig 4.
• Click on the box next to ‘Text size:’ and choose a font size up to 16 pt. You can also make the Icon size smaller or larger by selecting a small or large icon (no keyboard shortcut), Fig 6.
• When you are happy with your choice, click on the close button at the top of the window (no keyboard shortcut).

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.