How to Enable or Disable Narrator in Windows 11

Windows Narrator reads out the text on the screen and helps people with a visual impairment to navigate their PC with ease. It’s a system app that’s built into your Windows system, so there are not many hoops you have to go through to access it. There is no need to download or install anything; you can access it in a jiff.

It is very easy to toggle it on or off to suit the need of the current user. Moreover, there are multiple ways to do so, and hence, you can opt for the one that resonates the best with you.

Method 1: Toggle The Narrator With the Keyboard Shortcut

This method is one of the easiest out of the lot. You only need to press a couple of keys and that will turn the Narrator on or off for you.

To enable the Windows Narrator, from any screen of the PC, press the Windows+Ctrl+Enter keys together to invoke it. The Narrator will turn on, and the Narrator window will open on the screen. You can unselect the option for ‘Show Narrator Home when Narrator starts’ from the bottom-left corner if you don’t want the Narrator window to open every time you start it. Otherwise, click the ‘Minimize’ option to temporarily get the window out of your way.

If you are here to disable the Narrator, again press the Windows+Ctrl+Enter keys together. Otherwise, you can also click on the ‘Exit Narrator’ button from the Narrator window to do so.

And that’s it. You can simply toggle the Narrator on or off on your Windows 11 PC with an easy keyboard shortcut.

Method 2: Toggle The Narrator Using the Settings App

Though this might not offer the convenience of the keyboard shortcut, it can come in really handy if you are already in the Settings app or you’re always forgetting the keyboard shortcuts and prefer menus more.

First, head to the Start Menu and click on the ‘Settings’ app tile to proceed. Alternatively, you can also type Settings in the menu to perform a search for it or use the Windows + I keyboard shortcut.

Then, from the Settings window, click on the ‘Accessibility’ tab from the left section of the window.

Then locate and click on the ‘Narrator’ tab from the right section of the window.

On the next screen, find the ‘Narrator’ tile and click on the toggle switch to its right to bring it to the ‘On’ or ‘Off’ position.

Change Narrator Voice, Control Behaviour, and Adjust Verbosity

The Settings app also provides you control over the Narrator’s behavior, voice options, and the verbosity level that the keyboard shortcut does not afford. You can control how many details and the context the Narrator should provide from the options available here.

To change the Narrator’s voice, from the Narrator setting screen, click on the drop-down menu to choose the voice. Further, click on the ‘Choose a voice’ tile to expand it. Then, adjust the ‘Speed’, ‘Pitch’, and ‘Volume’ of the narrator using the individual sliders.

Now if you wish to change the verbosity level, click on the drop-down menu present on the ‘Verbosity level’ tile on the screen.

Then, choose the option most suitable for you from the drop-down menu.

To have more granular control over Narrator’s speech, click on the ‘Verbosity level’ tile to expand it and click on the checkbox preceding each option to enable it.

Next, you can select how much context you wish to receive from the narrator regarding the controls present on your screen. To increase or decrease the level of it, click on the drop-down menu present on the ‘Context level for button and controls’ tile and choose the preferable option.

You can also click on the ‘Context level for button and controls’ tile to expand it and enable or disable more options regarding context level by clicking on the check boxes preceding each option.

Method 3: Revoke Narrator Permission to Access the System

Though this method is not recommended, in case you are not able to toggle off the Narrator on your system using the above-mentioned methods, this will turn it off. However, do note that you will have to repeat these exact steps to toggle on the narrator.

To do so, head to the Start Menu and type Narrator to search for it. Then, from the search result, right-click on the ‘Narrator’ tile and choose the ‘Open File location’ option to continue.

After that, right-click on the ‘Narrator’ icon and click on the ‘Properties’ option from the context menu to proceed.

Then, click on the ‘Security’ tab on the Properties window and click on the ‘Edit’ button to continue. This will open a separate window on your screen.

Now, under the ‘Permissions for system’ section, click on all the checkboxes falling under the ‘Deny’ column. Then, click on the ‘Apply’ button to save the changes and ‘OK’ to close the window.

Once done, restart your system from the Start Menu. Once the system restarts, the Narrator would be completely turned off and will not function even when launched from the keyboard shortcut or Settings.

To enable the Windows Narrator, from the ‘Properties’ window, click to uncheck all the checkboxes present under the ‘Deny’ column and click on the ‘Apply’ and ‘OK’ buttons respectively.