Change Cursor Size in Mac OS X

Mac OS X has a variety of accessibility features to help out its users. One of these is the ability to increase the size of the cursor so it's easier to see where it is. Mac OS X.11 El Capitan also introduced the ability to make the cursor temporarily larger when you shake the mouse back and forth.

Steps

Mac OS 10.8 and later

  1. Open System Preferences. If this isn't on your Dock, click the apple symbol () in the top left corner of your screen. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
    • These instructions are for Mac OS 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, 10.10 Yosemite, and 10.11 El Capitan. If you have an earlier version of Mac OS X, skip down to the next section.
  2. Click Accessibility. Look for a blue circle with a white stick figure inside. If you don't see it, type "Accessibility" into the search bar at the top of the window. This will highlight the right button.
  3. Select Displays on the left pane. This option is next to a picture of a desktop screen.
  4. Slide the Cursor Size bar. Click, hold, and drag the slider to the right to increase your cursor size.
  5. Learn about the mouse shaking option. If you are using 10.11 El Capitan, you should see another feature underneath the cursor size bar: "Shake mouse pointer to locate." If this box is checked, the cursor will briefly expand in size when you move the mouse rapidly.[1]
    • This feature is not available in 10.10 or earlier.
    • A circular motion seems to work better than side-to-side movement.

Mac OS 10.4 through 10.7

  1. Open System Preferences. Click on System Preferences on your Dock, or select it from the drop-down menu in the top left corner of your screen.
  2. Click on Universal Access. This button is located in the Systems section.
  3. Look for the Mouse or Display tab. Depending on your version of OS X, the cursor size option will be under one of these tabs:[2]
    • Display
    • Mouse
    • Mouse & Trackpad
  4. Change your cursor size. One of these tabs should have a Cursor Size slider. Click and drag this slider to increase the size of your mouse pointer.



Tips

  • You can Check-the-Version-of-Your-Mac by clicking the apple symbol  in the top left corner, then selected About This Mac.
  • This option may not be available in very early versions of Mac OS X (10.3 or earlier).

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.redmondpie.com/disable-shake-mouse-pointer-to-locate-in-os-x-el-capitan-heres-how/
  2. ↑ https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2610031?tstart=0
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