Turning Off Boxed Text When Hovering

How do I disable the hover function -- highlighting text in little boxes? Earlier answer from 2012 has no bearing on current OS (my Mac is running Big Sur 11.2.2). A very annoying feature that I can't locate in prefs and which continues despite restarting. Thank you.

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Mar 10, 2021 3:31 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 10, 2021 8:01 AM

In System Preferences > Accessibility > Zoom panel, do. you have Enable Hover Text selected?


When you click on any text and press the command activation key, this feature will show an enlarged, boxed representation of that underlying text when pressing the command key. This will be representative of the appearance mode selection, either dark text on a light background, or light text on a dark background.


Although the above zoom panel states that all you have to do is hover over the text and press the command key, in practice, or at least in macOS 11.2.3, one must actually click on the text before it will respond with the box outline.

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 10, 2021 8:01 AM in response to KelleyinVT

In System Preferences > Accessibility > Zoom panel, do. you have Enable Hover Text selected?


When you click on any text and press the command activation key, this feature will show an enlarged, boxed representation of that underlying text when pressing the command key. This will be representative of the appearance mode selection, either dark text on a light background, or light text on a dark background.


Although the above zoom panel states that all you have to do is hover over the text and press the command key, in practice, or at least in macOS 11.2.3, one must actually click on the text before it will respond with the box outline.

Mar 10, 2021 4:39 AM in response to KelleyinVT

KelleyinVT wrote:

How do I disable the hover function -- highlighting text in little boxes? Earlier answer from 2012 has no bearing on current OS (my Mac is running Big Sur 11.2.2). A very annoying feature that I can't locate in prefs and which continues despite restarting. Thank you.


Can you post a screen shot or give a specific example to see...(?)


How is this an issue, a specfic application, procedure or universal;


old issue, new issue, what changed?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Turning Off Boxed Text When Hovering

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.