Change Keyboard Navigation preferences for accessibility on Mac

On your Mac, use the Navigation pane of Accessibility Keyboard preferences to enable Full Keyboard Access to navigate UI elements on the screen and your Mac using the Tab key and other keys, and change the appearance of the Full Keyboard Access cursor. Learn how to use Full Keyboard Access.

To change these preferences, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility , click Keyboard, then click Navigation.

Open the Navigation pane for me

Option	Description
Enable Full Keyboard Access	Turn on Full Keyboard Access to use the Tab key and other keys to navigate the screen.
Options	Change the appearance of the Full Keyboard Access cursor and see all available keyboard shortcuts. To change the appearance of the cursor, click Appearance, then choose any of the following options: Auto-Hide: Automatically hide the Full Keyboard Access cursor after the specified number of seconds. Increase Size: Make the Full Keyboard Access cursor wider so it’s easier to see. High Contrast: Increase the contrast of the Full Keyboard Access cursor so it’s easier to see. Color: Choose a color for the Full Keyboard Access cursor, or click Custom to choose a different color. To see the list of available Full Keyboard Access keyboard shortcuts, click Commands.

Option

Description

Enable Full Keyboard Access

Turn on Full Keyboard Access to use the Tab key and other keys to navigate the screen.

Options

Change the appearance of the Full Keyboard Access cursor and see all available keyboard shortcuts.

To change the appearance of the cursor, click Appearance, then choose any of the following options:
Auto-Hide: Automatically hide the Full Keyboard Access cursor after the specified number of seconds.
Increase Size: Make the Full Keyboard Access cursor wider so it’s easier to see.
High Contrast: Increase the contrast of the Full Keyboard Access cursor so it’s easier to see.
Color: Choose a color for the Full Keyboard Access cursor, or click Custom to choose a different color.
To see the list of available Full Keyboard Access keyboard shortcuts, click Commands.

To quickly turn Full Keyboard Access on or off using the Accessibility Shortcuts panel, press Option-Command-F5 (or if your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, quickly press Touch ID three times).

To specify which options are available in the panel, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Shortcut.

Open the Shortcut pane for me

See alsoUse Touch ID on Mac

Helpful?

macOS User Guide

Change Keyboard Navigation preferences for accessibility on Mac