Turn on accessibility features
If you're visually impaired, you can adjust your Chromebook settings to make the screen easier to see or have web pages read out loud.
Enable accessibility options
- Sign in to your Chromebook.
- If you're using your Chromebook for the first time, select Accessibility from the dropdown menu when you first turn it on.
- Click the status area in the lower-right corner, where your account picture appears.
- Select Settings.
- Click Show advanced settings at the bottom of the page.
- In the "Accessibility" section, select the boxes next to:
- Enable spoken feedback (describes what is happening on the screen)
- Enable high contrast mode (makes the screen easier to read)
- Enable screen magnifier (enlarges items on the screen)
- Automatically click when the cursor stops (click without using your mouse)
- To turn spoken feedback on or off, press Ctrl + Alt + Z.
- If you enable the magnifier, you can press Ctrl + Alt + Brightness up or Brightness down (or use Ctrl + Alt + two fingers scrolling up or down on the trackpad) to magnify the screen. To pan the view around, move your cursor past the edge of the screen.
How spoken feedback works
Your Chromebook comes with a built-in screen reader called ChromeVox. ChromeVox describes what’s happening on the screen and reads documents and webpages out loud.
To have each element on a page read out loud, press the arrow keys while holding down the Shift and Search keys. If you're using an external keyboard, press the arrow keys while holding down the Shift and Windows keys.
For your security, your Chromebook will not say your password out loud when you sign in.
Connect to Braille displays
To use a refreshable display, plug the display into a USB port on your Chromebook, then enable ChromeVox spoken feedback by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Z. Your Chromebook works with many, but not all, Braille displays. You'll see a list of compatible displays below; we'll update this list as additional displays are supported.
Compatible Braille displays
| Manufacturer | Model |
|---|---|
| APH | Refreshabraille |
| Baum | PocketVario |
| SuperVario | |
| VarioConnect | |
| VarioPro | |
| Eurobraille | Esys |
| Esytime | |
| Freedom Scientific | PAC Mate |
| Focus Blue | |
| Handy Tech | Active Braille |
| Braille Star | |
| Modular Evolution | |
| Braillino (with USB to serial adapter) | |
| Braille Wave (with USB to serial adapter) | |
| Bookworm (with USB to serial adapter) | |
| Easy Braille (with USB to serial adapter) | |
| Humanware | BrailleConnect |
| Brailliant BI | |
| Optelec | ALVA BC640, BC680 |
| ALVA Satellite 544, 570, 584 (Traveller versions) | |
| ALVA USB640 | |
| Tieman Braille Voyager | |
| Papenmeier | Braillex Trio |
Next steps
- See information on setting up your Chromebook for the first time.
- If you've already set up your Chromebook, see the ChromeVox User Guide for more information on using ChromeVox.
- Adjust monitor scaling to improve visibility.
- See a full list of available Chrome keyboard shortcuts.
- Learn more about Google's accessibility efforts