Student Disability Resource Center

Creating Accessible Word Documents

Microsoft Word is one of the most commonly used programs to create text-based documents. Other word-processing titles include OpenOffice, Google Docs, LibreOffice, WordPerfect, even WordPad.

Headings

Clear headings can help to make Word documents easier to navigate and meet accessibility standards.

For those that use screen readers, headings allow the software to make a list of headings so they can skim the document to find what they want. This only works if the author has enabled heading styles, as screen readers and text-to-speech tools can recognise them.

Alternative (Alt) Text

Screen readers read alt text. This provides an audio description of images, charts and other objects for people who have low vision or who are visually impaired. You can add alt text to objects, such as pictures, clip art, charts, tables, shapes, SmartArt, embedded objects and audio or video files.

Hyperlinks

Changing a hyperlink's display text to ordinary language can make it easier to understand for users who rely on screen-readers.

Here is a typical URL in the text of a document:

https://sdrc.ucr.edu

For a sighted user, this might seem fine, but if you rely on a screen reader or text-to-speech program, it might read the URL out one letter at a time.

Avoid phrases like "Click here" or "Learn more" when adding display text. These can be vague and not very useful out of context for a screen reader user. Instead use something meaningful that gives the user an idea of the content or says where the hyperlink goes.

Tables

Tables organise information visually and help you show relationships between items.

Tables should only be used to present data; this data should usually be numeric. Do not use tables to present information that could be displayed as a list.

Tables should be simple:

• present only a small number of data values
• a maximum of 4 columns
• avoid splitting single cells or merging multiple cells

Complex tables can be less accessible and less effectively communicate the important information. If it looks like too much, think about splitting your data between tables.

Setting up tables correctly allows screen readers to read them aloud and in the right order to users with low vision and visual impairments. Check you can navigate all the way through a table in a logical order using only the Tab key.