This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Windows tools or features and Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Accessibility help & learning content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.
Windows 11 allows you to manage how Microsoft and other apps and services collect and share your personal data. Use a screen reader and keyboard to navigate the privacy settings in Windows 11 and customize them according to your preferences. In this article, you will learn how to access and change the privacy settings using a screen reader such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA.
Note: To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Activity history privacy settings
Notifications privacy settings
App diagnostics privacy settings
Automatic file downloads privacy settings
File system privacy settings
Open privacy settings
-
Press Windows logo key+I to open the Settings window.
-
Press the Tab key to get to the settings categories anduse the Downarrow key until you hear “Privacy & security,” then press Enter.
-
Alternately, press the Tab key until you hear “Search box, find a setting,” then type Privacy settings.
-
Search results will show suggested settings, navigate using the Down arrow key to reach Privacy settings and press Enter.
-
Note: Privacy & security settings are categorized into three groups: Security, Windows permissions, and App permissions. Use the Tab key to reach the Security group first, then press the Down arrow to access the specific settings. You can turn on or off the toggle switch for each setting individually using the Spacebar.
General privacy settings
General privacy settings let you manage how Windows and some apps use your personal info to personalize ads, recommendations, and offers improve Start and search results by tracking app launches, and let websites access your preferred languages to display content.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Windows permissions group general,” and press Enter.
-
To enable or disable sharing your Advertising ID with apps so they can show you personalized ads, press the Tab key until you hear “Let apps show me personalized ads by using my advertising ID toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To enable or disable the locally relevant content, press the Tab key until you hear “Let website show me locally relevant content by accessing my language list toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To enable or disable the improved Start and search result, press the Tab key until you hear “Let Windows improve Start and search results by tracking app launches toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To enable or disable the suggested content in the Settings app, press the Tab key until you hear “Show me suggested content in the Settings app toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
Activity history privacy settings
Activity history privacy settings allow you to control how Windows stores a record of your activity on the device. You can enable or disable the storage of your activity history and clear your local activity history.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Activity history,” and press Enter.
-
To turn the storage of your activity history on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Store my activity history on this device toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To clear activity history of your account, navigate to the Clear history button and press Enter.
Notifications privacy settings
Notifications privacy settings allow you to control which apps can send you notifications. You can turn off notifications for specific apps or for the entire system.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Notifications,” and press Enter.
-
To turn the notifications access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Notifications access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the notification access for the specific apps on or off, press the Downarrow key until you hear “Let apps access your notifications toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
Contacts privacy settings
Contact privacy settings allow you to control which apps can access your contacts. You can customize the contact access for specific apps or for the entire system.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Contacts,” and press Enter.
-
To turn the access to your contacts for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Contacts access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the contacts access for specific apps such as Mail and Calendar on or off, use the Tab key to navigate to the app name toggle switch then press the Spacebar.
-
To review the contact access from the last 7 days, navigate to the Recent activity group and press Enter.
Calendar privacy settings
Managing your calendar privacy settings ensures that only authorized apps and services can access your calendar data.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Calendar,” and press Enter.
-
To turn the Calendar access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Calendar access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the calendar access for specific apps such as Mail and Calendar on or off, use the Tab key to navigate to the app name toggle switch then press the Spacebar.
Email privacy settings
Email privacy settings allow you to manage which apps can access your email data. This ensures that only trusted applications have permission to read or modify your emails.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Email,” and press Enter.
-
To turn the email access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Email access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the email access for specific apps such as Mail and Calendar on or off, use the Tab key to navigate to the app name toggle switch then press the Spacebar.
-
To manage your Microsoft account, navigate using the Tab key until you hear “Help with email group, show more settings button,” then press Enter.
-
To manage Microsoft account privacy settings, press the Tab key until you hear “Link manage Microsoft account privacy settings,” then press Enter.
-
To learn how to change your Microsoft account email, press the Tab key until you hear “Link change my Microsoft account email,” then press Enter. Follow the further steps to add new email.
-
To learn how to unblock you Microsoft account, press the Tab key until you hear “Link unblocking my Microsoft account,” then press Enter.
-
Tasks privacy settings
Tasks privacy settings allow you to control how your tasks and related data are managed and shared with apps in your device.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Tasks” and press Enter.
-
To turn the tasks access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Tasks access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the contacts access for specific apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Let apps access your tasks toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
App diagnostics privacy settings
The App Diagnostics privacy settings allow you to control how diagnostic information about your app usage and performance is collected and used.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “App diagnostics” and press Enter.
-
To allow anyone using this device to control the App Diagnostics setting, press the Tab key until you hear “App diagnostics access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the App diagnostics access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Let apps access diagnostic info about your other apps toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the app diagnostics for specific apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the app you want to set, then press the Spacebar.
Automatic file downloads privacy settings
The Automatic file downloads privacy settings allow you to control which apps can download files automatically in the background.
-
Open the Privacy settings window and use the Tab key to reach Security group thenpress the Down arrow key until you hear “Automatic file downloads,” and press Enter.
-
If you have previously blocked some apps to request automatic file downloads, navigate to the Allow button and press Enter.
Notes:
-
By default, when no apps are blocked, The Allow button is disabled and Tab key will bypass the button.
-
Windows can automatically download files from your online storage provider for apps that request them. If you have blocked any of those apps from requesting automatic file downloads, you can allow them to make request again.
-
File system privacy settings
The File System privacy settings allow you to manage how apps access and interact with your files.
-
Navigate to the Security group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “File system,” then press Enter.
-
To allow anyone using this device to control the File System setting, press the Tab key until you hear “File system access toggle switch,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the access to files for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Let apps access your file system toggle switch”, then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the access to your files for specific apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the app you want to set, then press the Spacebar.
-
To reset file permission on isolated Win32 apps, navigate using the Tab key until you hear “reset file permission on isolated Win32 applications group, show more settings button collapsed,” then press Enter.
Windows 10 allows you to manage how Microsoft and other apps access and interact with your files. Use a screen reader and keyboard to navigate the privacy settings in Windows 10 and customize them according to your preferences. This guide will help you access and change the privacy settings using a screen reader such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA.
Note: : To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Activity history privacy settings
Notifications privacy Settings
App diagnostics privacy settings
Open privacy settings
-
Press Windows logo key +I to open the Settings window.
-
Press the Tab key once anduse the arrow keys until you hear “Privacy,” then press Enter.
-
Alternately, press the Tab key until you hear “Search box, find a setting,” then type Privacy settings.
-
It will show a few suggested settings, navigate using the Down arrow key to reach Privacy settings and press Enter.
Note: Privacy settings are categorized into two groups: Windows permissions and App permissions. Use the Tab key to reach the Windows permissions first, then press the Down arrow to access the specific settings. You can turn on or off the toggle button for each setting individually using the Spacebar.
General privacy settings
General privacy settings let you manage how Windows and some apps use your personal info to personalize ads, recommendations, and offers improve Start and search results by tracking app launches, and let websites access your preferred languages to display content.
-
Open the Privacy settings window and press the Tab key until you hear “Windows permission group General,” then press Enter.
-
To turn the personalized ads for you using app activity on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Let apps use my advertising ID to make ads more interesting to you based on your app activity toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
Note: Turning this off will reset your advertising.
-
To turn on or off the access to your language list for locally relevant content, press the Tab key until you hear “Let website provide locally relevant content by accessing my language list toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To let Windows track your app launches, press the Tab key until you hear “Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
Activity history privacy settings
Activity history privacy settings allow you to control how Windows stores a record of your activity on the device. You can enable or disable the storage of your activity history and clear your local activity history.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Activity history” and press Enter.
-
To turn the storage of your activity history on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Store my activity history on this device check box,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To send your activity history to Microsoft, navigate until you hear “Send my activity history to Microsoft check box,” then press Spacebar.
-
To clear activity history of your account, navigate to the Clear button and press Enter.
-
To manage your account activity data, navigate to the Manage my account activity data link and press Enter.
Notifications privacy settings
Notifications privacy settings allow you to control which apps can send you notifications. You can turn off notifications for specific apps or for the entire system.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Notifications,” and press Enter.
-
To allow access to user notifications on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to user notifications on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn the user notification access on or off, navigate until you hear “User notification access on this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the notification access for all apps on or off, press the Down arrow key until you hear “Allow apps to access your notifications toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
Contacts privacy settings
Contact privacy settings allow you to control which apps can access your contacts. You can turn off contact access for specific apps or for the entire system.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Contacts,” and press Enter.
-
To allow access to contacts on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to contacts on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn on or off the contact access, navigate until you hear “Contacts access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the contacts access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your contacts toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the contacts access for specific apps on or off, navigate using the Tab key to the specific app name toggle button then press the Spacebar.
Calendar privacy settings
Managing your calendar privacy settings ensures that only authorized apps and services can access your calendar data.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Calendar,” and press Enter.
-
To allow access to calendars on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to calendars on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button
-
To turn the calendar access on or off, navigate until you hear “Calendar access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the calendar access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your calendar toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the contacts access for specific apps on or off, navigate using the Tab key to the app name toggle button then press the Spacebar.
Email privacy settings
Email privacy settings allow you to manage which apps can access your email data. This ensures that only trusted applications have permission to read or modify your emails.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Email,” and press Enter.
-
To allow access to email on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to email on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn the email access on or off, navigate until you hear “Email access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the email access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your email toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the email access for the specific app on or off, navigate using the Tab key to the app name toggle switch then press the Spacebar.
-
Use the Tab key to find the app name toggle switch, then press Spacebar to enable or disable email access for that app.
Tasks privacy settings
The Tasks privacy settings allow you to control how your tasks and related data are managed and shared.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Tasks,” and press Enter.
-
To allow access to tasks on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to tasks on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn the access to your tasks on or off, navigate until you hear “Tasks access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the tasks access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your tasks toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the tasks access for specific apps on or off, navigate using the Tab key to the app name toggle then press the Spacebar.
App diagnostics privacy settings
The App diagnostics privacy settings allow you to control how diagnostic information about your app usage and performance is collected and used.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “App diagnostics,” and press Enter.
-
To allow anyone using this device to control the App Diagnostics setting, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to app diagnostic on this device button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn the App diagnostic access on or off, navigate until you hear “App diagnostic access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the App diagnostic access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your app diagnostic toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the App diagnostic access for specific apps on or off, navigate using the Tab key to the apps name toggle button then press the Spacebar.
Automatic file downloads privacy settings
The Automatic file downloads privacy settings allow you to control which apps can download files automatically in the background. To customize these settings, open the privacy settings page and use the Tab key to navigate through the options.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “Automatic file downloads,” and press Enter.
-
If you previously blocked some apps to request automatic file downloads, navigate to the Allow button and press Enter.
Notes:
-
By default, when no apps are blocked, The Allow button is disabled and Tab key will bypass the button.
-
Windows can automatically download files from your online storage provider for apps that request them. If you have blocked any of those apps from requesting automatic file downloads, you can unblock them here.
File system privacy settings
The File System privacy settings allow you to manage how apps access and interact with your files.
-
Navigate to the Windows permission group, then press the Down arrow key until you hear “File system,” then press Enter.
-
To allow access to the files on this device, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow access to file system on this device grouping change button,” then press the Enter. It will open a dialog with a toggle button.
-
To turn the access to files on or off, navigate until you hear “File system access for this device toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
-
To turn the access to your files for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your file system toggle button,” then press the Spacebar. access for all apps on or off, press the Tab key until you hear “Allow apps to access your file system toggle button,” then press the Spacebar.
-
To turn the access to files for specific apps on or off, navigate using the Tab key to reach the app name toggle button then press the Spacebar.
See also
Windows activity history and your privacy
Accessibility support for Windows
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
