Turn VoiceOver on or off on Mac
On your Mac, turn VoiceOver on or off, temporarily pause VoiceOver speech or mute it altogether.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier that you press with additional keys to enter VoiceOver commands. By default, you can press Control and Option together or just press Caps Lock.
Turn VoiceOver on or off
Press Command-F5.
Use Touch ID. If your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, press and hold the Command key while you quickly press Touch ID three times.
Use Siri. Say something like: “Turn VoiceOver on” or “Turn VoiceOver off”. Learn how to use Siri.
Choose Apple menu
in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down). Click VoiceOver, then turn VoiceOver on or off.Use the Accessibility Shortcuts panel. Press Option-Command-F5 or, if your Mac or Magic Keyboard has Touch ID, quickly press Touch ID three times. In the shortcuts panel, press the Tab key until you hear the VoiceOver option, then press the Space bar.
About the VoiceOver welcome dialogue
When you turn on VoiceOver, a welcome message is spoken and a dialogue is shown. You can do any of the following:
Turn on VoiceOver: Press the Return key.
Turn on VoiceOver and start the interactive VoiceOver tutorial: Press the Space bar.
Turn on VoiceOver and prevent the dialogue from appearing next time you turn on VoiceOver: Press the V key.
Turn off VoiceOver and exit the dialogue: Press the Escape key.
To set an option to control whether the dialogue is shown, go to VoiceOver Utility (press VO-Fn-F8 when VoiceOver is on), click the General category, then select or deselect “Display welcome dialogue when VoiceOver starts”.
Temporarily mute the VoiceOver voice
When VoiceOver is on, press the Control key to pause VoiceOver speech without affecting the audio of other apps. Press the Control key again to resume speech.
If you move the VoiceOver cursor after speech is paused, VoiceOver begins speaking the item that’s in the VoiceOver cursor.
Turn off VoiceOver speech or sound effects
You can turn off VoiceOver speech or sounds on your Mac, without turning off VoiceOver or affecting the audio of other apps.
Open VoiceOver Utility (press VO-Fn-F8 when VoiceOver is on).
Do any of the following:
Turn off the VoiceOver voice: Click the Speech category, click Voices, then select “Mute speech”.
Turn off VoiceOver sound effects: Click the Sound category, then select “Mute sound effects”.
Download this guide in Braille Ready Format: BRF (English)