TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOW TO MAKE ACCESSIBLE WORD DOCUMENTS ................................................................ 2

Providing headings for your document is KEY .......................................................................... 2

How to add headers to your document .................................................................................. 2

How to have the headers match your current document theme ............................................ 2

How to spot check if your heading levels are set up in a logical order .................................. 3

How to Bold and Italicize in a document so it is screen reader friendly..................................... 3

Avoid underlining ................................................................................................................... 4

Font type matters for students who have limited vision ............................................................. 4

Color Contrast is also important for students who have limited vision ...................................... 4

How you provide spacing in a document is important ............................................................. 10

Avoid hitting enter to add blank spaces to your document .................................................. 10

An easy way to add spacing ................................................................................................ 11

How to make accessible lists in Word ..................................................................................... 11

How to make an accessible multilevel list ............................................................................ 12

Using Tables in Word .............................................................................................................. 13

Adding a table in Word ........................................................................................................ 13

Example of accessible table vs a not accessible table ........................................................ 14

How to insert a data table from Excel into Word .................................................................. 15

Running the accessibility checker ........................................................................................... 15

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HOW TO MAKE ACCESSIBLE WORD DOCUMENTS

Microsoft Word tends to be the easiest platform for screen reader technology to navigate

through. By using the below steps, you can make any of your Word documents accessible for

students who use screen reading technology.

PROVIDING HEADINGS FOR YOUR DOCUMENT IS KEY

Headers are the structural markup to provide hierarchy of information within a document and

allows screen reader users to skim a document efficiently. Think of headers like a table of

contents for your document.

listing in the styles list.

So, instead use Heading 1 for the title of your document.

Then use Heading 2 for the start of the document sections.

If there is an additional subsections use Heading 3

HOW TO HAVE THE HEADERS MATCH YOUR CURRENT DOCUMENT THEME

:

1. In the document, select the section of text that you want the header to match- Such as

this example title-

2. Right click on the header level you want for the text and choose Update Header To

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you would like them by clicking on the View Tab and clicking on Navigation Pane. This will

show you how your document is currently laid out based off the header levels you gave to

different parts of your document.

HOW TO BOLD AND ITALICIZE IN A DOCUMENT SO IT IS SCREEN READER FRIENDLY

Screen reader technology cannot identify if a word is bolded or italicized.

However, there is a simple trick that you can use to bold or italicize a word, while still making it

accessible to a screen reader. Highlight the word you want to bold or italicize. Then in the

Styles toolbar, choose the corresponding heading setting:

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FONT TYPE MATTERS FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE LIMITED VISION

Not all font types are treated equally. In fact, sans serif font styles are recommended because

they are easier for individuals with low or limited vision to read.

Font types that are recommended include Arial, Calibri, Verdana, and Tahoma.

COLOR CONTRAST IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR STUDENTS WHO HAVE LIMITED VISION

Sufficient contrast should be kept in mind during document creation to help make sure the

information is viewable for individuals who have limited vision. A Color Contrast Analyzer

accessibility checker on your document. If color contrast is an issue you will see a

warning that says “hard to read contrast” and can easily fix it within the checker. (The

word or phrase that has challenging contrast will show in the checker for this example it

is the word “important.”)

 If the new color you choose meets contrast requirements the error will disappear.

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 Color contrast cannot really be fixed once it is converted to a PDF Format. So make

sure to make changes before converting it to PDF.

ADDING HYPERLINKS IN A WORD DOCUMENT

HOW TO ADD A HYPERLINK IN A WORD DOCUMENT (OR E-MAIL)

Highlight the part of the sentence that you want to turn into a hyperlink, right-click, and choose

the Link option:

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Once the hyperlink is in place, when you hover over it with your mouse you will see this

message:

ADDING ALTERNATIVE TEXT TO PICTURES

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2. Type in an image description. You want to keep your description as short and concise as

possible. The image description should have the essential information that you want a

student to be aware of, such as the example below:

A FEW PRO TIPS TO BE AWARE OF WHEN MAKING ALT TEXT

1. NEVER use the generate a description box to come up with an alt text for you. The

descriptions that Word comes up with automatically are in no way going to accurately

represent your image.

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There may be times that you want to show text side-by-side. If that is the case, use the columns

option under the layout tab to insure proper reading order. (Do not use tabs or spaces to

attempt to format your information into columns because it will not read correctly with the screen

reading technology.)

Example: Let’s pretend you want to put the following information into two columns.

1. Select the information you want to switch into columns from the above example (Tip: if

you want to do it for the whole document, no need to select specific information--move

on to step 2):

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2. Go to the Layout Tab and choose Columns and choose the number of columns that

you want (for more options click on More Columns)

Once you have found, and run the Accessibility Checker, a pane will open on the right side of

your screen with the Inspection Results. You have to learn how to read the results and repair

any errors identified therein - you will see what Microsoft has identified as an Error, Warning, or

Tip.

for people with disabilities.

understand for people with disabilities.

different way to improve the user’s experience.

Note: Whenever possible, it is best to give a student who uses screen reader technology a

Word version of a document because that tends to be most accessible for them to navigate

through.

When/if you would like to save your Word document to a PDF there is one specific way that you

want to do it to help insure that as many of the accessibility features convert over as possible.

(Note: Converting a document to PDF will cause a couple of accessibility errors that would need

to be addressed.)

 Under the File Tab, choose Save as Adobe PDF

 Do NOT do a Print to PDF

BONUS TIPS

CAN USE TEMPLATES IF DO NOT WISH TO BUILD AN ACCESSIBLE DOCUMENT FROM SCRATCH

Accessible templates can be found under the File tab by clicking New and typing in accessible

online.