You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

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
6 replies

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?

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.

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.