ChromeOS Accessibility Features
ChromeOS Accessibility Guide
Purpose of this document
If you have trouble reading text, seeing specific colors, or making out things on the screen, Chrome OS has accessibility features designed to help you. You can manage them individually from the system menu or the Settings app to use on everyday tasks.
Viewing Accessibility Features
System Menu
The easiest way to enable/disable each accessibility feature without having to open up the Settings app each time is directly from the system menu. In JPS, this is turned on for all users by default. Click on the time in the lower right corner and click on Accessibility. There is a vertical slide bar at the far right to see more accessibility options.
ChromeVox (Spoken Feedback)
ChromeVox is a screen reader for visually impaired users that allows them to navigate the web through verbal prompts.
When enabled, ChromeVox places an orange box around selected objects and reads the on-screen text.
Of all of the accessibility features on a Chromebook, ChromeVox is the most extreme and the one you are least likely to use.
If you are visually impaired, ChromeVox is capable screen reader. If you are not visually impaired, ChromeVox can be incredibly annoying!
To disable ChromeVox, click on the system menu of your Chromebook, select accessibility features, and remove the green checkmark by clicking “ChromeVox”.
You can also turn ChromeVox on or off from any page by pressing Ctrl + Alt + z.
While it might be the first feature listed in the Chromebook accessibility menu, ChromeVox spoken feedback is designed for a very specific disability. Unless you have a visually impaired student in your classroom, you can usually turn off ChromeVox.
Select-to-Speak
Select to Speak is a Chrome OS feature to read text on the screen aloud.
There are users who greatly benefit from some text-to-speech but do not need a full screen reading experience. For these users, whether they are low vision, dyslexic, neurologically diverse, or simply prefer to listen to text read aloud instead of visually reading it, Chrome OS features Select-to-Speak.
Using Select to Speak
Go to Chrome settings, Accessibility settings, “Manage accessibility Features”, and enable “Select to Speak”. You can adjust the preferred voice, highlight color, and access text-to-speech preferences from the settings page.
With this feature enabled, you can read text on the screen in one of three ways:
- Hold down the Search key, then use the touchpad or external mouse to tap or drag a region to be spoken
- Tap the Select-to-Speak icon in the status tray and use the mouse or touchscreen to select a region to be spoken
- Highlight text and use Search + S to speak only the selected text.
Dictation
You can enter text using your voice anywhere you would normally enter it using a keyboard, e.g. word processors, searches, and emails.
Enabling Dictation from the Accessibility shortcut
You can quickly enable Dictation from the Accessibility shortcut in the System menu.
Searching the web using your voice
1. In your web browser, open a new tab or go to https://www.google.com. Select the microphone icon that appears in the search box. Note: The first time you do this you may need to grant permission for Google.com to use the microphone.
2. You will see an on-screen prompt to speak now. Your words will appear on-screen as you speak. The web search will take place when you finish speaking.
How to enable voice dictation
If you want to dictate text in Google docs, emails, web forms and elsewhere, turn on the Enable dictation. To do so:
1. To access the Accessibility features on your device, select the time in the bottom right corner to open the System menu.
2. In the System menu, select the Settings button
In the Settings window, select Accessibility from the left-hand menu. Note: If Accessibility is not visible, select Advanced to reveal more menu items.
3. Select Manage accessibility settings.
4. On the Accessibility settings screen, go to the Keyboard and text input section.
5. Select Enable dictation (speak to type) to set the toggle switch to On.
6. A microphone button will appear in the status bar in the bottom-right of the screen.
Using Voice dictation
1. When the cursor is in an area where you can enter text, select the microphone icon in the status bar and begin talking. Your words will appear on the screen as you speak.
2. Dictation will automatically end a little while after you stop talking. To stop dictation, select the microphone icon in the status bar again.
High Contrast Mode
High contrast mode turns your desktop into a “photo negative” of the standard display. In many cases, the increase of contrast between text, objects and backgrounds can make it easier to read and cause less strain on the eyes.
Chromebook Screen with High Contrast Mode Enabled
To enable High Contrast Mode, press Ctrl + Search + h.
1. If the High Contrast verification screen appears, click on the Continue button.
2. To change back to standard view mode, press Ctrl + Search + h again.
Screen Magnifier
To see items on your Chromebook screen better, you can change your screen resolution, zoom in, or magnify your screen.
Make a page bigger or smaller
You can make the page you are looking at bigger or smaller, but keep other parts of your screen the same size.
• To make the page bigger: Press Ctrl and Plus .
• To make the page smaller: Press Ctrl and Minus .
• Reset zoom: Press Ctrl + 0.
You can also make all pages bigger or change the font size.
Make everything on your screen bigger or smaller
You can make everything on your screen bigger or smaller, including your row of apps and tabs, by changing your screen resolution.
• To make your screen bigger, decrease resolution: Press Ctrl + Shift and Plus .
• To make your screen smaller, increase resolution: Press Ctrl + Shift and Minus .
• Reset resolution: Press Ctrl + Shift + 0.
Magnify your screen
You can zoom in on your screen, as if you are using a magnifying glass.
To magnify your entire screen, press Ctrl + Search + m, or press Ctrl + Launcher + m.
1. At the bottom right, select the time, or press Alt + Shift + s.
2. Select Settings .
3. At the bottom, select Advanced.
4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.
5. Under "Display," turn on Enable fullscreen magnifier.
6. To choose your zoom level, next to "Fullscreen zoom level," select Down arrow .
Tip: On a touchscreen, use two fingers to move around the screen after zooming in.
Docked Magnifier
You will see the magnified section in the top third of your screen. Your default screen will show underneath. To quickly magnify the top section of your screen, press Ctrl + Search + d. Alternatively, press Ctrl + Launcher + d.
1. At the bottom right, select the time. Alternatively, press Alt + Shift + s.
2. Select Settings .
3. At the bottom, select Advanced.
4. In the "Accessibility" section, select Manage accessibility features.
5. Under "Display," turn on Enable docked magnifier.
6. To choose your zoom level, next to "Docked zoom level," select the down arrow .
7. At the top of your screen, you will see the zoomed in area. To change what is magnified, move your cursor.
Note: When you type in the bottom section of the screen, you will see what you are typing at the top, just zoomed in.
Change the magnification level or move around
• To increase magnification: Press Ctrl + Alt + Brightness up . You can also press Ctrl + Alt, and then scroll with two fingers up on the touchpad.
• To decrease magnification: Press Ctrl + Alt + Brightness down . You can also Press Ctrl + Alt, then scroll with two fingers down.
• To move the magnified view around, move your cursor in any direction. You can also press Tab to move from item to item on your screen.
Turn on automatic clicks
1. At the bottom right, select the time. Alternatively, on your keyboard, press Alt + Shift + s.
2. Select Settings Advanced.
3. Under “Accessibility,” select Manage accessibility features.
4. Under “Mouse and touchpad,” turn on automatically click when the mouse cursor stops.
5. (Optional) Customize your automatic click settings:
• Delay before click: Choose how long your Chromebook pauses before it automatically clicks.
• Stabilize click location: Keep your ring in one place until your cursor moves outside of it.
• Revert to left click after action: Automatically return to left click after other actions, like right click or double click.
• Movement threshold: To click items within a certain range, adjust the size of your ring.
To click without physically pressing your mouse or touchpad, point to the object you want to click.
Use different types of clicks
After you turn on automatic clicks, you can customize the actions your clicks take.
1. At the bottom right, choose an action from the menu:
• Left-click
• Right-click
• Double-click
• Click and drag
• Scroll
• Toggle menu position
2. Point to where you want to perform the action.
To stop automatic clicks, select No action (pause) .
Scroll as you hover
1. In the automatic clicks menu, select Scroll . Another menu will appear with scroll options.
2. Point to the scroll action you want to perform:
• Left
• Right
• Top
• Bottom
• Close
Tip: To change where you scroll, hover over a new scrollbar or page until the scroll menu moves to that area.
On-screen Keyboard
To type or handwrite text, or to add images to files, documents, and emails, you can use your Chromebook’s on-screen keyboard.
Open the On-screen Keyboard
1. Sign in to your Chromebook.
2. At the bottom right, select the time.
3. Select Settings .
4. At the bottom, select Advanced.
5. Under "Accessibility," select Manage accessibility features.
6. Under "Keyboard and text input," select Enable on-screen keyboard.
Adjust Keyboard Settings
1. Open your Chromebook's on-screen keyboard.
2. Select Settings .
3. At the bottom, select Advanced.
4. Select Languages and input.
5. Under "Input method," next to your enabled keyboard, select New tab .
6. Decide which settings to change:
• Adjust keypress sound.
• Set the level of automatic correction you would like.
• Change auto-capitalization settings.
• Choose whether a double space automatically adds a period.
• Edit your dictionary entries.
Move or Dock the On-screen Keyboard
1. Open your Chromebook’s on-screen keyboard.
2. Tap one of the following:
a. To dock the keyboard, select Dock .
b. To float the keyboard, select Float .
3. To move the floating keyboard, at the bottom, hold and drag the Direction pad .
4. Tip: If Dock or Float are not visible, at the top left of the keyboard, select the Right arrow .
Resize the Floating Keyboard
1. Open your Chromebook's on-screen keyboard.
• Tip: If your keyboard is docked, at the top, select the Right arrow , and then Float .
2. Select the Direction pad . A blue outline will appear.
3. To resize the keyboard, hold and drag a blue corner.
Turn Off the On-screen Keyboard
1. At the bottom right, select the time.
2. Select Settings .
3. At the bottom, select Advanced.
4. Under "Accessibility," select Manage accessibility features.
5. Under "Keyboard and text input," turn off Enable on-screen keyboard.
Large Mouse Cursor
You can quickly enable/disable Large Mouse Cursor from the Accessibility shortcut in the System menu.
Mono Audio
Mono audio sends the same sound to either the left and right speaker or ear-bud. This can make it easier to follow audio content if your hearing is better in one ear than the other.
Highlight Text Carat
Highlight Mouse Cursor
Highlight Object with Keyboard Focus
Sticky Keys