Windows 11’s accessibility features have expanded significantly and are worth knowing about even for users without a specific disability — several are genuinely useful productivity tools in their own right.
Live Captions
System-wide, real-time captions for any audio playing on the device — not limited to a specific app, and works entirely on-device without an internet connection required.
Voice Access
Start-Process "ms-settings:easeofaccess-speechrecognition"
Full hands-free control of Windows via voice commands — navigating apps, dictating text, and clicking UI elements by number labels, entirely on-device.
Other Genuinely Useful Features
- Magnifier —
Win + Plus, useful for demos and presentations, not just vision assistance - Narrator — the built-in screen reader, also handy for proofreading text by having it read aloud
- Color filters — useful for anyone doing color-sensitive work who wants to preview how content looks under different vision types
Live Captions in particular is worth enabling even if you don’t need it constantly — a quick Win + Ctrl + L toggle for muted meetings or noisy environments is a genuinely practical everyday use case beyond its accessibility purpose.