Accessibility Change Text Size in Windows 11

streetwolf · Feb 28, 2022

Have you noticed that Universal apps text is far larger than desktop apps when using the MTB slider? In order to get Universal apps more in line with desktop apps is too reduce the TextScaleFactor at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Accessibility. This key seems to affect Universal Apps only while desktop apps use the values in WindowMetrics.

Steve C · Apr 29, 2023

Which text does this adjustment change e.g. menus, title bar, icons etc? How does this setting interact with font settings in other utilities such as WinAero Tweaker, System Font Changer and the reg files at Tenforums e.g. Option 2 at Change Icons Text Size in Windows 10? Do those reg filess for various text sizes work in Windows 11? If so, I suggest you publish them on this forum too.

Brink · Apr 29, 2023

Steve C said:
Which text does this adjustment change e.g. menus, title bar, icons etc? How does this setting interact with font settings in other utilities such as WinAero Tweaker, System Font Changer and the reg files at Tenforums e.g. Option 2 at Change Icons Text Size in Windows 10? Do those reg filess for various text sizes work in Windows 11? If so, I suggest you publish them on this forum too.

Hello Steve,

The W10 REG files only affect the IconFont value in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics key. It will not affect everything like W11 below.

The W11 setting affects all the values at the top of the tutorial instead. The text size should be applied system wide, but there could be some 3rd party apps that may use their own settings instead.

Edwin · Apr 29, 2023

I use ASFC but, you gotta leave the Menu font at default or it'll blow Office apps all out of proportion!

Mooly · Apr 29, 2023

Steve C said:
Do those reg filess for various text sizes work in Windows 11? If so, I suggest you publish them on this forum too.

I have every one of all those reg files saved for reference and find them very useful indeed.

Fwiw I make notes when clean installing and these are my current settings:

Windows 11 22H2 Metrics For Dell Precision 7760.

Currently using:

125% for Scaling. Set from dropdown. Scale affects File Explorer, Edge and the Taskbar.
100% for Text Size. Default setting.

Windows 11 Font Sizes.

Notes.
Icons Size. This will affect the text font size for icons in Address bars, Desktop, File Explorer. Icons will resize according to overall DPI setting.
Title Bars. These are the headers at the top of the page or program that is open.
Menus. These are top line view in programs such as File/Edit/View etc.

Icons 12 Bold
Title Bars 11 Bold
Message Boxes 9 Bold (currently not applied)
Menus 11 Bold

Notepad Text and Font can be set separately Using font size 10.

Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics

It all gives a look that I like.

Being able to make the top line of a program appear in bold is visually appealing to me as well. All this used to be able to be done from the settings in W8.1 and removing all this stuff was a real step back imo.

Reziac · Oct 18, 2025

Windows' own settings will not let you select a bold font, but Winaero Tweaker does (bold, semibold, italics, depending on your system font). And that worked fine for all my system fonts but one -- this one:

Right-click some random file. Select properties. Note the text in the Properties dialog and menu items. I have not been able to learn what this text is called nor if there is a WindowMetrics setting for it; its size/weight is not changed by any of the font settings in Windows Settings nor in Winaero Tweaker. It also affects the filename box in a Save As dialog, and various other places (notably in legacy apps).

I did root through WindowMetrics with regedit but wasn't sure enough to try altering by hand. It may be that a key needs to be added??

The problem text is too spindly for my eyes, hence the desire to identify and change it. It has been a source of eyestrain all the way back to XP, and still is with Win11.

rvcjew · Jul 17, 2026

Brink said:
Hello Steve,

The W10 REG files only affect the IconFont value in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics key. It will not affect everything like W11 below.

The W11 setting affects all the values at the top of the tutorial instead. The text size should be applied system wide, but there could be some 3rd party apps that may use their own settings instead.

Hey Brink, I want to only set the file explorer to have a bigger font as it's much smaller then like everything else on the system and to get it to be bigger with the text size tool it requires it at like 130%+ which makes everything else very big. I have desktop icons hidden anyway so this seems like in 11 it would let me tweak file explorer only and not mess with my current scaling (4k@150%) or normal text size for apps (chrome etc.). Will this do the intended effect on Win 11 25H2? I was able to find my ideal font size by using the font setting in regedit (why does explorer not just have a setting like this by now

).

Brink · Jul 17, 2026

rvcjew said:
Hey Brink, I want to only set the file explorer to have a bigger font as it's much smaller then like everything else on the system and to get it to be bigger with the text size tool it requires it at like 130%+ which makes everything else very big. I have desktop icons hidden anyway so this seems like in 11 it would let me tweak file explorer only and not mess with my current scaling (4k@150%) or normal text size for apps (chrome etc.). Will this do the intended effect on Win 11 25H2? I was able to find my ideal font size by using the font setting in regedit (why does explorer not just have a setting like this by now).

It would be nice if File Explorer had its own font size setting.

You could try playing with different combinations of screen resolution and DPI settings to see if one may work better.

rvcjew · Jul 17, 2026

Brink said:
It would be nice if File Explorer had its own font size setting.

You could try playing with different combinations of screen resolution and DPI settings to see if one may work better.

The rest of my system is perfect in sizing or can just be scrolled up and down in zoom as needed for text readability and making dpi or apps themselves bigger (chrome tab bar etc.) just eats into screen real estate, at the moment I have basically 1440p real estate with sharper ppi. I went from 3x 1440p to 3x 4k as I needed new monitors that got brighter (glaucoma) and M27P6 miniLED fit the bill for my requirements. At this point only explorer is the small thing I'm dealing with as I guess it uses size 9 font? So do these old reg files still work in 11 to change the icon size to make explorer bigger?

Brink · Jul 17, 2026

rvcjew said:
The rest of my system is perfect in sizing or can just be scrolled up and down in zoom as needed for text readability and making dpi or apps themselves bigger (chrome tab bar etc.) just eats into screen real estate, at the moment I have basically 1440p real estate with sharper ppi. I went from 3x 1440p to 3x 4k as I needed new monitors that got brighter (glaucoma) and M27P6 miniLED fit the bill for my requirements. At this point only explorer is the small thing I'm dealing with as I guess it uses size 9 font? So do these old reg files still work in 11 to change the icon size to make explorer bigger?

The text size in this tutorial will affect File Explore, but unfortunately more areas as well.

You could see if there may be a 3rd party File Explorer type app that has its own text/font size setting.

rvcjew · Jul 17, 2026

Brink said:
The text size in this tutorial will affect File Explore, but unfortunately more areas as well.

You could see if there may be a 3rd party File Explorer type app that has its own text/font size setting.

Ah, I was hoping to not have to use a 3rd party app for file management. I figured out at 150% scaling it is set to 13pt so I took your regs and my current setting and it matched the 13pt one so I jumped to 16 to test then settled on 17pt and can see its super clear now. It does not seem to have affected anything else in the OS whatsoever that I see or interact with. But I guess time will tell and I have a backup anyways. Thanks for the help.

Brink · Jul 17, 2026

rvcjew said:
Ah, I was hoping to not have to use a 3rd party app for file management. I figured out at 150% scaling it is set to 13pt so I took your regs and my current setting and it matched the 13pt one so I jumped to 16 to test then settled on 17pt and can see its super clear now. It does not seem to have affected anything else in the OS whatsoever that I see or interact with. But I guess time will tell and I have a backup anyways. Thanks for the help.

I hope it continues to work for you.

Accessibility Change Text Size in Windows 11

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

♦ ♦

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Administrator

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Similar Windows 11 Tutorials

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers