Making Your Word Documents Accessible | Montclair State University

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Making Your Word

Documents Accessible

Montclair State University is committed to making our digital content accessible to

people with disabilities (required by Section 508). This document will discuss the best

practices for making Word documents accessible. Information is based off Microsoft

Word versions 2013 and 2016.

Structure

A document with good structure contains logical headings for all of its sections. To

make it easier for screen readers to read your documents, use a logical heading order

and the built-in formatting tools in Word. For example, organize headings in the

prescribed logical order. Use Heading 1, Heading 2, and then Heading 3 and organize

the information in your documents into small chunks. Ideally, each heading would

include only a few paragraphs.

Apply Built-in Heading Styles

1. Select the heading text

2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, select a heading style, for example,

Heading 1 or Heading 2

To test if structure is available in your document, open the Navigation Pane.

1. Click View

2. Select Navigation Pane in the Show group

3. Click Headings

If there are no Headings listed, your document has no structure.

Table of Contents

A Table of Contents (TOC) aids in the document navigation for those using assistive

technologies. TOCs are created using the styles Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.

1. Apply the Heading styles to your document

2. Click the References tab and click on Table of Contents

3. Click Custom Table of Contents

Note under Print Preview it displays Heading 1, Heading 2 and Heading 3 as your TOC

structure.

4. Click OK to create the TOC

Update Table of Contents

1. Right-click anywhere in the TOC

2. Click Update Field

3. Select Update entire table

4. Click OK

Columns

For multi-column documents, use the Column layout feature instead of using text boxes

and manual spacing to create columns. This will ensure that columns are interpreted

correctly by screen readers.

1. Select the text

2. Click the Layout tab

3. Click Columns and chose the number of columns you wish

Lists

Use Word’s lists features when creating lists in your document.

Bulleted Lists

1. Highlight the text

2. Select the Home tab

3. In the Paragraph group, select Bullets and select a bullet style

Ordered Lists

1. Highlight your text

2. Select the Home tab

3. In the Paragraph group, select the Numbering button

4. Select a numbering style

Headers & Footers

Headers and Footers must be formatted properly using the Header/Footer feature in

order for users of assisted technologies to distinguish headers/footers from page

content.

1. Position the cursor anywhere in your document

2. Select the Insert tab

3. Click Header or Footer in the Header & Footer group

4. Select a built-in Header/Footer or chose Edit Header or Edit Footer to create

your own

Some assistive technologies may not pick up headers/footers in your document so it is

important not to include pertinent information in these areas.

Non-Text Elements

Non-text elements are the things in a Word document that are not text such as an

image, graph, table, etc. In order for non-text elements to be accessible, alternate text

must be added. Enter information that states the purpose and/or function of the object

(in about 250 characters or fewer) for a meaningful image or object.

Adding Alternative Text to Images, Shapes and Charts:

1. Right-click on the non-text element and select Format Picture

2. Under Format Picture, click on Layout & Properties

3. Click on Alt Text

4. Enter the descriptive text about the non-text element under Description. Title is

not always read by screen readers so it is not necessary.

Adding Alt Text to a Table

First Name

Last Name

Department

Extension

Peter

Jones

5555

John

Smith

5555

1. Right-click on the Table and select Table Properties

2. Select the Alt Text tab and type a Description

Moving Objects Inline for Accessibility

Some types of objects (text boxes, word art, etc.) in Word are not part of the document's

“normal structure”. They are on a separate "Drawing Layer" that is unavailable to screen

readers. In some cases, the objects can be inserted inline with the text, and can

therefore be read in the flow of the document by screen readers, but the results will vary

from one screen reader to another. Unfortunately, Smart Art is not directly accessible to

screen reader users. The object would not be read when the user reads the document

top to bottom. Therefore, it is not recommended to use Smart Art.

 Right-click on the object

 Click on Wrap Text

 Click on In Line with Text

Making Complex Charts and Graphs Accessible

Sometimes you need to use complex images like pie charts or bar graphs. Most types

of objects in Word allow writers to add alt text, but alt text is generally meant to be short.

There are several creative ways to provide long descriptive alternate text for complex

graphics and objects.

 Describe the complex image in text below the image.

 Provide an equivalent data table below the image.

Fonts

 Use sans serif font types such as Helvetica, Arial and Verdana

 Font size should be no smaller than 12 point

 Avoid the use of italic font style

Color

 When using color to communicate information, make sure that color is not the

only means of conveying the information. For example, include an * to the

colored text or underline the text.

 Don’t rely on highlighting alone to convey meaning. Screen readers do not

convey any information about highlighting to blind users. Include text such as

“Important”, Attention” before highlighted content.

 Be sure your document has a sufficient degree of color contrast. If your

document has a high level of contrast between text and background, more

people can see and use the content. You can download a free tool Colour

Contrast Analyser to check your color contrast.

 When your document contains charts/graphs, use patterns along with color.

Links

When links exist in your document, ensure the link text is meaningful. Use the Word link

tool instead of copying and pasting the URL.

1. Click on the Insert tab and click on Hyperlink

2. Type a descriptive title for the link under Text to display

3. Paste the URL under Address:

Data Tables

When working with tables in your document, use a simple table structure, and specify

column header information.

First Name

Last Name

Department

Extension

Peter

Jones

5555

John

Smith

5555

1. Click within the table and click the Design tab under Table Tools

2. Select a Table Style

3. Click in the first row of the table

4. Click the Header Row option under the Table Styles Options group to select it

5. Then click the Layout tab

6. Click Repeat Header Rows in the Data group

Also, when working with tables in your document it is important that the table does not

contain merged or split cells.

Accessibility Checker

The Accessibility Checker tool in Word finds accessibility issues in your document. The

tool generates a report of issues that could make your content difficult for people with

disabilities to understand. Accessibility Checker also explains why you should fix

these issues and how to fix them.

Start Accessibility Checker

The Check Accessibility tool may be found on the Review tab depending on the

version of Word you are using.

If your version does not have the option, click on the File menu, under Info click on

Check for Issues and select Check Accessibility.

The Accessibility Checker pane will appear on the right. To see details of an Error or

Warning, click on an issue under Inspection Results. Under Additional Information,

you can get an explanation of why this issue should be fixed as well as how to fix it.

Understanding the Accessibility Checker Results

 Error: An error is for content that makes a file very difficult or impossible for

people with disabilities to understand.

 Warning: A warning is for content that in most, but not all, cases makes a file

difficult for people with disabilities to understand.

 Tip: A tip is for content that people with disabilities can understand, but that

might be better organized or presented in a way that would improve their

experience.

Document Formats

Adjusting the document’s meta data can assist in making your document more

accessible for those using assistive technology.

Giving the document a title:

1. Click on File

2. Click Info and click in the Title field and enter a title

3. To edit the existing Author, right-click on the author’s name

Saving Your Document as a Template

Once you have made your document accessible, saving it as a Template will help to

preserve structure for future documents.

1. Click on File and select Save As…

2. Pick a file location

3. Select Word Template as the Save As Type…

Saving as a PDF

If saving your Word document as a PDF, making your document accessible will reduce

the amount of time it will take to make the PDF file accessible. Headings, lists and table

structures will automatically carry over to the PDF.

1. Click on File and select Save As…

2. Pick a file location

3. Select PDF as the Save As Type…

Note: It is important to save your document via the steps above. Creating a PDF via

File / Print does not tag the file in Adobe and therefore it will not be accessible.

Test It

You can listen to your document to test if it is readable in the Read Out Load feature in

Adobe Acrobat Pro. Read Out Load is a Text-to-Speech tool.

1. Click File and select Save As

2. Select a location

3. Choose PDF as the Save as type:

4. Open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Pro

5. Click on View and select Read Out Load / Activate Read Out Load

6. Click on View again and select Read Out Load and click on either Read this

Page Only or Read to End of Document

References:

“Make your Word documents accessible.” https://support.office.com