The Accessibility Checker is accessible from the main menu ribbon for Word, Excel, & PowerPoint in Office 365. It does a good job of scanning your materials for accessibility errors while offering information about the error and ways to fix it.
*Please note that the Accessibility Checker doesn't ensure the complete accessibility of your materials, but it is a great place to start. Human intervention is almost always required.
To check your materials:
Review Tab > Check Accessibility
For older versions of Word, Excel, & PowerPoint:
File > Info > Check for Issues (click to open drop-down) > select Check Accessibility
Following the guidelines below will help you create accessible materials; however, this list is not exhaustive. Using Microsoft’s Accessibility Checker will help you remedy any errors found in your materials. Many of the rules apply to both documents and slides.
Every Document has to have one, and only 1, Heading 1.
Use Microsoft's built-in Styles for headings.
Every document can have multiple Heading 2’s, 3’s, etc. Don’t skip heading levels and follow a logical order (think back to creating a proper outline).
Avoid “hard enters.” Instead of adding extra space by pressing enter, adjust your line spacing with the icon, or simply accept the automatic formatting Office offers you.
Use left align. Do not justify text or center text.
Use meaningful hyperlinks that describe what the link does rather than adding long URL links.
“Click here” is too vague and inaccessible. A screen reader would say something like, “Link, click here,” which is not descriptive to the user.
If a link will open in a new tab you should alert the user.
If wanting to show the link, create a shortened link at bitly.com or tinyurl.com.
Ensure inserted text boxes, images, shapes, SmartArt, videos, charts, and embedded objects have alt text by right-clicking on the image and selecting “Edit Alt Text”.
Images that are purely included for decoration, should be “Marked as decorative” in the alt text window.
Keep all images “In Line with Text” and use the alignment buttons to change the location of the image. Images not inline will not be read by a screen reader.
When adding a bulleted or numbered list, use the bulleted or numbered list and indent tools in the toolbar only.
Use good contrast. Black on white is always a solid option.
Color should not be the only way you convey meaning.
Use a simple table structure, and ensure that you have a header for each column. You must also specify column header information; make sure that Header Row is checked on the Table Tools Design tab.
Caption all video content.
Check your doc for accessibility with Microsoft’s built-in Accessibility Checker.
Use the provided slide layouts; creating your own layout causes disruption in the reading order for use with a screen reader.
All slides need unique titles:
When information continues onto a new slide, make it unique by adding numbers to the titles (i.e. Accessibility 1 of 2 , Accessibility 2 of 2, etc…).
If you don’t want a title to be shown, you can adjust its visibility in PowerPoint from the Home tab > Select > Selection Pane > turn off visibility by clicking the eye icon
When adding a bulleted or numbered list, use the bulleted or numbered list and indent tools in the toolbar only.
Make sure all videos are properly captioned and play video with the captions on.
Ensure inserted text boxes, images, shapes, SmartArt, videos, charts, and embedded objects have alt text by right-clicking on the image and selecting “Edit Alt Text”.
Images that are purely included for decoration, should be “Marked as decorative” in the alt text window.
Avoid “hard enters.” Instead of adding extra space by pressing enter, adjust your line spacing with the icon, or simply accept the automatic formatting Office offers you.
If you are adding a logo to all of your slides, add it to first slide with alt text and then insert it into the rest of your slides via the slide master.
Use meaningful hyperlinks that describe what the link does rather than adding long URL links.
If wanting to show the link, create a shortened link at bitly.com or tinyurl.com.
Use sufficient font size and avoid the use of multiple fonts:
Approx. 40 point font titles and approx. 24 point font for text.
Ensure that slide has a sensible reading order:
Reading order can be tested in both PowerPoint and G Slides by clicking in the inactive space beside the slide and using the tab key to move object to object. The order in which items are highlighted is the slide reading order. If you have a slide number, that should be read first, then the slide title, followed by the body text boxes.
A second method for checking reading order in PowerPoint is click on the Home tab > Editing Tools- click "Select" drop-down > Selection Pane. Re-order by dragging and dropping items. The first item to be read aloud will be located at the bottom of the selection pane. This should be the slide number if present. If no slide numbers are present, the first item should be the slide title.
Recommendation for fixing an illogical reading order - create a new slide and then copy and paste in items from inaccessible slide onto the new slide in the order you want them to be read.
Ensure slide backgrounds and font include sufficient contrast.
Color should not be the only way you convey meaning. Consider this when creating graphs or charts. You may need to add repeated shape icons to line graphs or patterns to bar graphs, for example.
Avoid flashing content.
Check your slides for accessibility with Microsoft’s built-in accessibility checker.