Chrome Accessibility

There are many Accessibility options available with Chrome devices. This page gives an overview of the more commonly used ones, with links for information about further options. If in doubt, please ask a librarian for assistance.

(For general information about using Chrome, go here.)

Launching the Accessibility Menu

To quickly access most of the Accessibility options, click or tap on the grey button in the bottom-right corner of the screen (where the clock is). A menu box will pop up, with a variety of settings options. Click on the Accessibility icon.

A list of Accessibility tools will now appear. Simply click or tap on the option you want, and it will be activated. A green tick icon next to the option lets you know that it is active.

To disable an option, click or tap it again to turn it off.

Keyboard shortcuts

Some Accessibility options can be turned on and off with handy keyboard shortcut combinations. Here is a selection of these shortcuts.

Zoom in

Make everything bigger or smaller

Press and hold ctrl + shift, and press the Plus (+) or Minus (-) keys to make the view bigger or smaller.

Make just the current page bigger or smaller

Press and hold ctrl, and press the Plus (+) or Minus (-) keys to make just the current page bigger or smaller.

NOTE: On touchscreens, you can place two fingers on the screen and move them apart or together to adjust the zoom (ie the same way tablet and smartphone screens work).

Screen Magnifier

Magnify your whole screen

To turn magnification on or off, press ctrl + search + m.

Use the mouse or touchscreen to change the area that is magnified.

Magnify part of your screen

To use the Docked Magnifier to view part of the screen larger, press ctrl + search + d.

This will divide the screen into two parts: the bottom part is at the default size, and the top part shows a zoomed-in area where you are working

More information about zoom and magnification options.

High Contrast Mode

To reverse the colours on the screen (eg to reduce glare), press ctrl + search + h.

NOTE: Images will have their colours reversed also, and will appear like photo negatives.

Text-to-speech

The Chrome operating system has a built-in screen reader called ChromeVox. This will read all text on the page.

To turn ChromeVox on or off from any page, press ctrl + alt + z.

Speech-to-text

Select the Dictation option from the Accessibility menu to speak text instead of typing it.

NOTE: If you are planning to use the Dictation option extensively, chat with your librarian about the best area in the library to do this.

Go here for further support on all Chrome Accessibility options.

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