[Windows 10 Tip] Remove Thick Highlight Border from Focused Items

Long time back in good ol’ Windows XP days, we posted a tutorial to remove focus rectangle from buttons and other items. You might have noticed a dotted rectangular border around buttons, drop-down box, etc in various dialog box. We shared a trick to get rid of that focus rectangle which can be found at following link:

How to Remove Annoying Focus Rectangle Around Buttons and Other Items in Windows?

Now a few AskVG readers have reported that a new aqua-colored thick border appears sometimes in Windows 10 computers. The rectangular border shows on focused/highlighted items. For example, you are hovering mouse cursor over a menu, opening a program, etc. The border is not dotted but a solid line appears around the focused item.

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Following are some screenshots of the thick rectangular border:

This PC (or Computer/File Explorer/Windows Explorer):

Focus_Highlight_Thick_Rectangle_This_PC_Windows_10.png

Context Menu:

Focus_Highlight_Thick_Rectangle_Menu_Windows_10.png

Dialog Box:

Focus_Highlight_Thick_Rectangle_Dialog_Box_Windows_10.png

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You can see in above screenshots, a thick rectangle is shown around the focused item. It looks very ugly and irritates the users.

Our readers “Vicki” and “Helge” shared a tip to disable this thick rectangle from the focused items.

Actually it appears if Narrator is on in your computer. Narrator is a tool which is a part of Ease of Access feature. It reads elements on the screen and can be controlled using keyboard, mouse and touch.

If you have activated Narrator intentionally or accidentally, it starts showing the focus rectangle around all selected items.

There is a built-in hotkey or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+WIN+Enter or WIN+Volume Up to turn on the Narrator. Sometimes users mistakenly press these keys together and Narrator gets activated. Once Narrator launches, it starts showing the focus rectangle around various items on screen.

To get rid of this issue, you can try following solutions:

SOLUTION 1: Turn Off Narrator

First of all look for the Narrator window and close it. Once you close Narrator, the focus rectangle will automatically disappear.

SOLUTION 2: Disable Shortcut Key to Launch Narrator

To make sure you don’t launch Narrator accidentally in future, disable its hotkey using following steps:

1. Open Start Menu and click on Settings option. It’ll open Settings app. Alternatively, you can direct open Settings app using WIN+I hotkey.

2. Now click on “Ease of Access” icon and in left-side pane, click on “Narrator” section.

PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using “ms-settings:easeofaccess-narrator” command in RUN dialog box as mentioned here.

3. In right-side pane, uncheck the option “Allow the shortcut key to start Narrator“.

Disable_Narrator_Hotkey_Windows_10_Settings.png

That’s it. Now Narrator will no longer start by hotkey.

SOLUTION 3: Remove Focus Rectangle Using Narrator Settings

It might be possible that you need Narrator running but you don’t want to see focus rectangle. There is a way to remove the focus rectangle using Narrator settings.

1. Open Narrator using the above mentioned hotkey or by typing Narrator in Search box or RUN dialog box.

2. Now click on General section.

Open_Narrator_General_Settings.png

3. On next screen, uncheck “Highlight cursor” option.

Disable_Highlight_Cursor_Option_Narrator_Settings.png

That’s it. It’ll immediately remove the focus rectangle from selected items.

SOLUTION 4: Remove Focus Rectangle Using Windows 10 Settings App

You can also disable the focus rectangle using Windows 10 Settings app.

1. Open Start Menu and click on Settings option. It’ll open Settings app. Alternatively, you can direct open Settings app using WIN+I hotkey.

2. Now click on “Ease of Access” icon and in left-side pane, click on “Narrator” section.

PS: Alternatively, You can directly launch this page using “ms-settings:easeofaccess-narrator” command in RUN dialog box.

3. In right-side pane, scroll down and look for “Use Narrator cursor” section. Uncheck “Show the Narrator cursor on the screen” option.

Disable_Show_Narrator_Cursor_On_Screen_Windows_10_Settings.png

That’s it. It’ll remove the focus/highlight rectangle from selected items.

Published in: Windows 10

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. Hi! None of these methods work for me. (Latest version of windows 10) the focus rectangle does-not automatically disappear. I still have to tap the Tab key or click elsewhere on the screen or ‘F5’ the desktop. Oh well.

  2. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ctrl + Win + Enter! Lifesaver – this is soooo annoying!

  3. for edge users, go to setting, accessibility, it should be the first option something like show info outline……. disable it .
    hope this is of help

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