The purpose of this documentation is to highlight some of the most important steps and best practices for making Word documents accessible. Following these is critical to creating accessible documents and exporting accessible PDF versions of them as well. Visually-impaired individuals often use screen reading software/features to read the contents of a document. In general, the more logical the page order and structure, the more accessible it will be. Screen readers give users additional auditory feedback which enable users to more easily navigate get a logical sense the document efficiently. This additional feedback includes alerting the user to titles, heading including level numbers, normal paragraph, images, lists, etc.
Use headings and document styles properly
- Make use of document styles including title, headings, and normal paragraph.
- Use headings in proper order. For example, your document should only ever have a single Heading 1 (document title). Heading 2 should be used for top-level section headings, and increasing heading levels for sub-sections nested in order.
- When nesting your headings, don't skip levels. For example, you should not go from a Heading 2 straight to a Heading 4 without having a Heading 3 in between. If you don't like the appearance of the heading levels, you can edit those styles. (link to MS docs) Be aware that changing font styles, especially colors, may carry other accessibility implications.
Include a table of contents
Word has a table of contents feature which automatically generates a table of contents from your headings and creates anchor links to each section. This feature is especially useful for longer documents as this allows a user to efficiently skim your document using a screen reader. This can be particularly useful when sharing detailed course lecture notes that a user may want to refer back to during study and locate a specific section.
Images
- alt text
- descriptions
- layout/structure
Other resources for creating accessible Word documents
WebAIM is one of the most authoritative sources regarding digital accessibility and they offer some detailed resources to further assist in the creation of accessible documents. Learn more at: https://webaim.org/techniques/word/