The Legacy Visual Clutter
Windows 10 includes an accessibility feature titled “Underline access keys when available.” Access keys are a legacy navigation method primarily used before mice were common; they allow you to press the “Alt” key along with a specific letter to trigger a menu item (for example, pressing Alt+F to open the File menu). When this setting is enabled, Windows permanently underlines the corresponding letter in almost every menu and dialog box across the operating system to show you which key to press.
While this is helpful if you rely entirely on a keyboard to navigate Windows, it creates significant visual clutter for users who primarily use a mouse or trackpad. Having random letters permanently underlined in every single context menu, settings pane, and application ribbon makes text look messy and can be distracting. If you rarely use Alt-key navigation and prefer a clean, modern aesthetic for your operating system’s text, you should disable these permanent underlines.
How to Turn Off Access Key Underlines
You can remove these visual indicators via the Ease of Access settings.
- Click the Start button and select the Settings gear icon (or press
Windows Key + I). - In the Settings menu, click on Ease of Access.
- In the left-hand navigation pane, scroll down to the “Interaction” section and select Keyboard.
- Scroll down the right-hand pane until you find the section titled Change how keyboard shortcuts work.
- Look for the toggle switch labelled Underline access keys when available.
- Click the toggle switch to turn it Off.
The permanent underlines will instantly disappear from your menus and dialog boxes. (Note: You can still use access keys even with this setting disabled; you just won’t see the underlines until you actually press and hold the Alt key).