Resolved Monterey 12.1: Question about font size

[tomdkat]

Hi! I'm helping a friend transition from Windows 10 to an iMac and so far the experience has been pretty smooth. One thing she noticed, on her new 24" iMac, is the font size is pretty small. We look in "Accessibility" and didn't see any place to change the default font size. Where can we set the default font size to be a little larger? Also, will this update the font size of various controls and icons inside applications too?

Part of the transition included migrating 18GB of email in Mozilla Thunderbird from Windows to macOS. The email transfer was relatively painless, but the font size is just too small (as one example). I believe I know how to deal with this in Thunderbird, but it would be nice to be able to increase the font size system-wide, if possible.

Thanks in advance!

Peace...

 

[BigBlur]

Go to System Settings -> Displays -> Display Settings... Change the Resolution to Scaled and select the one that looks the best. This will adjust the size of everything, everywhere (buttons, text, icons, etc).

 

[tomdkat]

Go to System Settings -> Displays -> Display Settings... Change the Resolution to Scaled and select the one that looks the best. This will adjust the size of everything, everywhere (buttons, text, icons, etc).

Awesomeness! I looked at the "Displays" area but clearly didn't look far enough. THANK YOU!!!!

Peace...

 

[beefish]

This is the worst fix for a small font IU can possibly imagine! This changes EVERYTHING not just the font. I cannot view everything if I change the resolution of there screen

 

[Gregg2]

Yes, the person who suggested this also mentioned the consequence. It's something that Apple has needed to address for years, but for some reason, hasn't.

 

[rpmurray]

Accessibility has some Zoom options that will allow you to magnify the area under the cursor. I prefer to still have as much stuff as I can on the desktop so I use this to bring up the magnifier when something is too small for me to make out.

 

[joefoe]

From Apple Support:

• In desktop labels: Control-click the desktop, choose Show View Options, click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size.
• In sidebars: Choose Apple menu
  
  > System Settings, then click Appearance
  
  in the sidebar (you may need to scroll down). Click the pop-up menu next to “Sidebar icon size” on the right, then choose Large (note that this must be dated bc it's now Apple Menu > General > Sidebar icon size... 4 lines down, easy to miss. You can choose from Small, Medium and Large – when the icon changes size, the font does as well).
  
  
• In file and folder names in the Finder: Choose View > Show View Options. Click the “Text size” pop-up menu, then choose a text size.

There more, including icon sizes, here:

Mac User Guide

Learn what’s new in macOS, how to get started with your Mac and use it with your Apple devices, and how to control privacy and security on macOS.

support.apple.com