Accessible Office Documents

Best Practices

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• Add alt text to all images
  • Right click the image (or a non-text object)
  • Select View Alt Text... from the context menu (sometimes called Edit Alt Text...)
  • Enter the image description in the box. Microsoft Office may offer to generate a description for you; if you use this feature, be sure to review and edit it.
  • If the image is purely decorative you can check the Mark as decorative checkbox, if available. If that option is not available you can simply use "decorative" as the alt text.
• Use semantic markup to structure the content. More precisely, label each part of the document as something like "Normal", "Paragraph", "Heading 1", "Heading 2", etc. There is usually a dropdown menu at thte top of the application with these options.
  • Don't use "fake headings" - i.e. don't just center and bold text instead of marking it as a heading
  • See Yao-Yuan Mao's page on Accessibility for Documents and Slides from Office Applications for more information
• Use informative link text for any hyperlinks in your document
• Follow the two main rules when using colors:
  • Ensure sufficient contrast
  • Combine color with other indicators to convey information
• Use built-in list creators for numbered and bulleted lists. These are usually found in the toolbar at the top of the application.
• If you include tables make sure it has header rows

 

Math Equations in Word and PowerPoint

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To better meet accessibility requirements when writing math equations in your document

• Use the built in Equation Editor (not screenshots)
• Add alt text for plots, graphs, and diagrams
• Run the Accessibility Checker
• It is better not to export to PDF, instead export to the native file format (usually .docx or .pptx)

 

Accessibility Checker

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The following is taken from Yao-Yuan Mao's page on accessibility in documents and slides from Office applications:

Microsoft Office and OpenOffice/LibreOffice both offer built-in accessibility checkers that can help you check that you have applied the accessibility features correctly and identify any potential issues. To use the accessibility checker:

1. Go to the Review tab (in Microsoft Office) or the Tools menu (in OpenOffice/LibreOffice) and click Check Accessibility (or Accessibility Check).

2. Follow the prompts to review any accessibility issues identified by the checker and make necessary adjustments to your document.

Google Docs/Slides and Apple’s iWork suite of applications (Pages, Keynote) do not have a built-in accessibility checker unfortunately. If you want to use a checker, you can download the document and then use Microsoft Office or OpenOffice/LibreOffice’s accessibility checker.

 

Saving as PDF

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The following is taken from Yao-Yuan Mao's page on accessibility in documents and slides from Office applications:

Microsoft Office and OpenOffice/LibreOffice both offer built-in accessibility checkers that can help you check that you have applied the accessibility features correctly and identify any potential issues. To use the accessibility checker:

1. Go to the Review tab (in Microsoft Office) or the Tools menu (in OpenOffice/LibreOffice) and click Check Accessibility (or Accessibility Check).

2. Follow the prompts to review any accessibility issues identified by the checker and make necessary adjustments to your document.

Google Docs/Slides and Apple’s iWork suite of applications (Pages, Keynote) do not have a built-in accessibility checker unfortunately. If you want to use a checker, you can download the document and then use Microsoft Office or OpenOffice/LibreOffice’s accessibility checker.