Apple External Monitor Blurry Fonts Fix El Capitan

Read Font Smoothing Setting

Enter the following defaults string into the Terminal and hit return:

defaults read NSGlobalDomain AppleAntiAliasingThreshold

Set a Softer Font Smoothing Setting

Enter the following defaults string into the Terminal and hit return (use value 1 or 2):

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

You’ll want to log out and log back in for the change to appear everywhere.

It’s important to note the differences are subtle, and many users probably won’t be able to distinguish one from the next. If you have a retina display, anything other than the default option may look poor to you.

Return to the Default Font Smoothing Setting

Using either of the following defaults commands returns font smoothing to the default:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 4

Or use a defaults delete string:

defaults -currentHost delete -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing

Set Font Smoothing Globally or Per Application

Using either of the following defaults commands returns font smoothing to the default:

defaults -currentHost write .GlobalPreferences AppleSmoothFontsSizeThreshold -int 16defaults -currentHost write .GlobalPreferences AppleFontSmoothing -int 0defaults -currentHost write com.apple.safari AppleAntiAliasingThreshold -int 16