Making Word Documents Accessible

Posted by rrebello on

When striving to provide accessible Word documents, consider a few options first:

  1. Ask your Publisher for accessible versions first! Publishers are also required to provide accessible content to their customers.
  2. Use MS Word templates.
  3. Create accessible headers throughout your document.
  4. Run the Accessibility Checker in MS Word.

The Accessibility Checker verifies your file against a set of rules that identify potential issues for individuals with disabilities. Depending on the severity of the issue, the Accessibility Checker classifies each issue as an error, warning, or tip. 

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Get Started with the Accessibility Checker:

  1. To start using an accessibility feature or Microsoft Accessibility Checker, open your document in Word
  2. Click View/Review tab and select the tool you want to use.
  3. Click Review select Check Accessibility. The Accessibility Assistant opens and will show any issues and suggest fixes to make your content easier for everyone to read and use.

Want to learn more? Check out this self-paced (25 minutes) course on Creating Accessible Documents in Microsoft Office.

Here is a quick tutorial on making sure that hyperlinks in your documents are descriptive: