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How to magnify the text that is under the pointer in macOS 13 Ventura

How to magnify the text that is under the pointer in macOS 13 Ventura

Short guide:

  1. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen and System Settings.
  2. Click Accessibility in the sidebar.
  3. Select Zoom from the list of Accessibilty options.
  4. Click the toggle switch for Hover Text.
  5. Now, you can show a large version of the text you want to read by moving the pointer over it whilst holding down the Command (⌘) key.
  6. To change the settings for Hover Text, click the i button next to the toggle switch..

Before and after

Images showing text in a web browser before and after Hover Text has been enabled

This section gives you step by step instructions on how to magnify the text currently under the pointer in macOS 13 Ventura, with pictures of the screens to help.

Open System Settings

1. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner of the screen and choose System Settings from the menu.

Open the Accessibility settings

2. In the System Settings window, click Accessibility in the sidebar.

Find the Zoom settings

3. Select Zoom from the list of Accessibilty options on the right.

Turn on Hover Text

4. Click the toggle switch for Hover Text to turn it on. 

How to use Hover Text

5. To use Hover Text, hold down the Command (⌘) key and move the pointer over some text. Try it now – it works on the text in System Settings!

Change the settings for Hover Text

6. To change the settings for Hover Text, click the i (show detail) button next to the toggle switch..

Change the text size

7. To change the size of the Hover Text, choose a new size from the Text size drop-down menu.

Change the font

8. To change the font used for Hover Text, choose from the options in the Text Font drop-down menu.

Change where magnified text appears when you are typing

9. When Hover Text is turned on, any text you type will be magnified (without you having to hold down the modifier key). You can choose where on the screen the magnified text is displayed, or you can choose None to turn this feature off. Click the drop-down menu for Text entry location and choose from the options.

Change the modifier key

10. The modifier key is the key you hold down whilst moving the pointer over the text you want to read. By default, this is the Command key.  To change it, click the Activation Modifier drop-down menu and choose Control (⌃), Option (Alt ⌥), or Command (⌘).

Show hover text without holding down a modifier key

11. You can lock Hover Text so that you don’t need to keep holding down the modifier key to magnify text. Turn on the toggle switch for Triple press to lock.  When you triple-press the modifier key, Hover Text will be turned on and locked. To unlock it, triple-press the modifier key again.

Change Hover Text colours

13. C­hoose the colours for each element of Hover Text from Colours drop-down menus.

Save your Hover Text settings

14. When you are happy with your settings, click Done.

Close System Settings

15. When you are happy with your settings, close System Settings by clicking the Close button (red circle) in the top-left corner of the window or using the Cmd + W keyboard shortcut.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings are managed by someone else (an IT department or administrator for example). If so, you will need to contact them to access these settings or for help.

Created on: September-29-2022

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