During a video call with a teacher of the visually impaired (TVI) a few days ago, I copied a link from the Microsoft Edge web browser and pasted it into the chat box. The TVI asked me how I did that, and at first I thought they were asking me how I used copy and paste. In reality, they were super excited about the fact Microsoft Edge had automatically created a descriptive hyperlink with the title of the page, instead of just pasting a plain text URL— this was a feature that would help them save a lot of time when creating accessible assignments.
I started telling them about the different Microsoft Edge accessibility features I’ve enabled for myself and for other students with low vision, and they told me that I needed to turn this into a post right away so they could share this with others. Here is a list of strategies to customize Microsoft Edge accessibility for low vision that can make it easier to access text and web content within the web browser.
A note on this post
This post assumes that the user has already downloaded Microsoft Edge for Windows or Microsoft Edge for Mac. While some of these features are available in the mobile applications (Microsoft Edge for iOS, Microsoft Edge for Android), I am primarily focusing on the desktop version of Microsoft Edge. I have not personally tested Microsoft Edge for Linux.
For quick access to settings and to make it even easier to customize Microsoft Edge, I have shared links to settings (starting with edge://) that can be copy and pasted into the address bar to open the setting I mention in each post section, when available.
Related links
Copy descriptive links and hyperlinks instead of plain text
Configure in Settings: edge://settings/shareCopyPaste or Settings > Share, Copy, and Paste
When copying a link from a website, the default paste behavior/output is a plain text version of the link that exposes the URL and may or may not be clickable. If I was using this strategy to copy and paste a category page on my website, it would look something like the following: https://veroniiiica.com/low-vision. If I wanted to add a title to the link or change how it appears, I would have to edit this myself.
This can be helpful when putting together citations for a research paper, but when it comes to sharing links for an assignment or embedding links within a web page, it looks much better if the title of the page appears as a hyperlink. This also makes it much easier for screen reader users and people that use assistive technology to know what they are clicking on. Using this strategy, the same category page would appear as Low Vision Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes.
Microsoft Edge has an awesome feature that will automatically recognize the title of a page and paste it as a hyperlink, making it easier for users to share descriptive links and recognize what types of links are being shared. This can be configured by opening the settings listed above and selecting Link, which will automatically share a hyperlink when pasting using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + V. To paste a plain text link when Link is enabled by default, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V.
Related links
- How To Improve Your Blog Theme For Visually Impaired Users
- Mainstream Technology and Low Vision: Keyboards
- Meet The Cast: Supporting Literacy For Students With CVI
Turn on vertical tabs to make it easier to enlarge text
Configure in Settings: edge://settings/appearance/customizeToolbar or Settings > Appearance > Toolbar > Show Vertical Tabs or keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + ,
I find it challenging to recognize icons and text labels in horizontal tabs at the top of my screen, especially if I have several tabs open. I often will use the colors from icons or basic shapes to locate tabs instead of relying on the text labels, but it’s nice to have the option to read text labels with screen magnification if needed.
To make it easier to locate tabs, I turned on Vertical Tabs to display all of my open tabs as icons on the left side of my screen. If I want to read text labels, I can hover over the icon and a flyout menu will show the names of each of my tabs in a single-column list, with the option to close them by selecting an X icon or to open them by selecting the tab of interest from the list. This has helped me reduce the number of times I close tabs by mistake.
Two other helpful features for organizing tabs in Microsoft Edge is the option to pin a tab to the top of the list (right-click on a tab and select Pin from the drop-down menu), and the option to create a new tab group, which visually separates tabs from each other into different categories that can be customized or collapsed to hide from view.
Related links
Use the built-in PDF reader in Microsoft Edge
Microsoft Edge has a built-in PDF reader that offers several options for making PDFs easier to read and annotate, including:
- Table of contents
- Highlighter with multiple colors, including option for text-only highlighting
- Pen for drawing or writing with customizable thickness
- Insert text box for writing on top of documents
- Zoom in/out
- Read text out loud (not available on all documents)
- Fit to width
- Full screen display
- Search text
- Rotate page
- Save and/or print
I’ve used the read aloud feature with word-level highlighting for several documents, and I find it easier to enlarge text with the Microsoft Edge PDF reader compared to other PDF applications on my computer. The search feature is also useful for finding text of interest.
Related links
- How I Read Research Sources With Assistive Technology
- File Formats For Low Vision and Print Disabilities
- A to Z of Assistive Technology for Reading Digital Text
Save a group of tabs as a workspace for later viewing
When I was working on a research project, I would often return to the same tabs over and over again or want to share a list of tabs so that someone else could see what I was working on. The Microsoft Workspaces feature makes both of these tasks infinitely easier, and can be configured by selecting the Workspaces icon in the top-left corner of the screen.
Customization options for Microsoft Workspaces include:
- Save current tabs to a new workspace: choose a name for the workspace and a color
- Create new workspace: automatically open a new window for adding tabs to a workspace after choosing a name and color
- Invite to workspace: once an existing workspace is open, users can invite someone else from their organization or copy/paste a link that will open the workspace in a new window for anyone that has the link. The link can be copy and pasted into an email, document, or other application.
Workspace links update in real time, so opening a new tab or closing an existing tab will be automatically synced to the workspace. To prevent users from accidentally closing tabs, right-click on a tab and select Lock All Tabs (or lock a single tab). This is a really useful feature for TVIs, assistive technology specialists, or other allied professionals to share several links with a student.
Related links
- Implementing Shared Folders For Accessible Materials
- Free Digital Bookmarking Tools For Low Vision
- How I Outline Research Papers With OneNote
Access text with a simplified reading display using Immersive Reader
I can’t share a post about Microsoft Edge accessibility without giving a shoutout to Immersive Reader, which has helped me read countless blog posts and articles in large print! Simplified reading displays like Immersive Reader apply a consistent text style, size, and background color to digital text, offering options for large print, text-to-speech, increased text spacing and more. While Immersive Reader is not available on all websites, it works great for reading pages that have a lot of text and is one of my most-used assistive technology tools as a student with low vision.
To open Immersive Reader on Windows or Mac, press F9 on the keyboard or select the Enter Immersive Reader icon in the address bar, which is a book icon with a speaker. Press F9 or the icon again to close Immersive Reader.
To open Immersive Reader in Microsoft Edge for iOS or Android, select the Enter Immersive Reader icon in the address bar, which is a book icon with a speaker. Select the icon again to close Immersive Reader.
Related links
- How I Use Microsoft Immersive Reader With Low Vision
- Secret Microsoft Office Accessibility Features I Use Every Day
- Simplified Reading Displays and Low Vision
Customize default fonts and font sizes/display websites in large print
Configure in Settings: edge://settings/fonts or Settings > Appearance > Other Appearance Settings > Fonts > Customize Fonts
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS for short) are used in web design to indicate what a website should look like, including the color of the background, the font styles used, and the default font sizes. Some websites will list specific font names like Arial within their CSS, as well as generic terms like serif or sans-serif.
Depending on the CSS for a given website, Microsoft Edge can replace the website’s default fonts with a font size and/or font style of the user’s choice. Within the Font Settings menu in Microsoft Edge, users can set their preferences for what font size and style they would like to use instead of the default fonts for serif, sans-serif, standard, and fixed-width fonts.
To change the default font size, use the Advanced Font Size slider to indicate the font size of choice. Note that larger fonts may appear distorted depending on the website or level of page zoom. The minimum font size is 9 pt, and the largest font size is 72 pt font.
Setting a minimum font size will enlarge the menus in Microsoft Edge and the System Preferences in Microsoft Edge, and will also enlarge text on web pages to this minimum size. The smallest minimum font size is 6 pt, and the largest minimum font size is 24 pt font.
To change the default font style, select a font from the drop-down menu. This can be any font installed on the computer. The default font size and style is Times New Roman, 16 pt font, while the default for sans-serif and fixed-width fonts are Arial (16 pt) and Consolas (13 pt) respectively.
Enlarge text in Microsoft Edge with basic font size setting
Don’t want to set custom font styles? Another option is to select a font size from the drop-down menu on the fonts page, which offers the following options in a drop-down menu:
- Very small: 9 px/6.75 pt
- Small: 12 px/9 pt
- Medium: 16 px/12 pt (default)
- Large: 20 px/15 pt
- Very large: 24 px/18 pt
Again, this may distort the layout of some pages or lead to text getting cut off, and the font preferences may only be recognized on some websites.
Related links
- My Favorite Free Fonts For Print Disabilities
- Six CSS Accessibility Tweaks I Made For My Website
- Windows Magnifier and Low Vision
Use the Read Aloud shortcut to read text with a synthesized voice
Instead of reading text visually or with large print, sometimes I find it useful to use text-to-speech while reading or to listen to text as it’s read out loud instead of straining my eyes to see. This is different from using a screen reader, which provides additional options for navigating pages using a keyboard and other information that I don’t always need. Microsoft Edge offers a couple of different options for using Read Aloud, including:
- Selecting the Read Aloud icon in the Address Bar, which looks like the letter A. This reads text starting from the top of the page.
- Activating the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + U to read text from the top of the page, or to read selected/highlighted text.
- Right-click on selected text, and select Read Aloud Selection from the drop-down menu (note: does not work when highlighting user-input text)
- Enable the Read Aloud option in Immersive Reader
Other features for Read Aloud include:
- Seven voice speeds, configured on a slider
- Access to built-in system voices
- Pause/rewind
- Word-level and line-level highlighting as text is read out loud
Related links
- Secret Microsoft Office Accessibility Features I Use Every Day
- How To Use Text-To-Speech With Low Vision
Enable high contrast page colors and color palettes
Configure in Settings: edge://settings/appearance or Settings > Appearance > Page Colors
One option for making websites easier to read is to set a limited color palette for the page, similar to high contrast mode for Windows. Users can set page colors to be configured when high contrast mode is turned on, or to show the custom page colors regardless of whether high contrast mode is on or off. Alternatively, users can also create a list of websites that are excluded from the custom color palettes.
Available custom page colors for browsing in Microsoft Edge include:
- Dusk: White text (#ffffff) and dark gray background (#2d3236), text highlighted in blue (#0063b3) with links in turquoise (#70ebde) and UI elements in light turquoise/celeste (#b6f6f0)
- Desert: Dark gray text (#202020) and off-white background (#fffaef), text highlighted in brown (#903909) with links in blue (#0063b3) and UI elements in onyx (#3d3d3d)
- Night sky: Black background (#000000) and white text (#ffffff), text highlighted in mauve (#d5b4fd) with links in purple (#8080ff) and UI elements in yellow (#ffee32)
- White: Black text (#000000) and white background (#ffffff), text highlighted in dark purple (#37006e) with links in dark blue (#00009f) and UI elements in rich black (#262626)
- Aquatic: White text (#ffffff) and dark gray background (#202020), text highlighted in electric blue (#75e9fc) with links in light blue (#8ee3f0) and UI elements in white (#fffffff)
Custom color schemes cannot be edited, though users can create their own color palettes in high contrast mode for Windows and activate it with a keyboard shortcut.
Related links
- High Contrast and Low Vision
- How To Use High Contrast in Windows 10 and Windows 11
- Highlighting Information With Low Vision
Show a high visibility outline around focus area and turn off custom scrollbars
Configure in Settings: edge://settings/accessibility or Settings > Accessibility > Make Microsoft Edge easier to see
Two more Microsoft Edge accessibility features that have made it easier for me to navigate websites is the high visibility outline and the option to turn off custom scrollbars.
When using the high visibility outline feature, clicking or selecting a button or text box will briefly display a black outlined box indicating where I clicked, or where the button is located on the page. This is helpful when using search features on websites or when I am working on website customizations, as well as when browsing search results. The focus window is only on the screen for a few seconds, but it is a useful visual indicator.
The option to turn off custom scrollbars for websites is also available in the Accessibility menu, which is helpful when I’m using websites that have poor contrast scroll bars.
Related links
- Low Vision Accessibility Settings For Windows 10 and 11
- How To Make Text Cursors Easier To See In Windows
- How To Make Mouse Pointers Easier To See in Windows
More resources to customize Microsoft Edge accessibility for low vision
- Want to pin a website to the taskbar for easy access? Check out Helpful Ways To Bookmark Websites For Low Vision Users
- Need to reduce the amount of flashing lights on a webpage? Try some of these strategies in Avoiding Flashing Lights On Social Media
- Which is better: dark mode or light mode for reading? I share how I answer this question in Choosing Between Light Mode and Dark Mode For Low Vision
- Want more Microsoft accessibility posts? Browse Microsoft Archives | Veronica With Four Eyes (veroniiiica.com)
Published March 30, 2025. Updated March 2025