Tips for Creating Accessible Microsoft Word Documents

• Choose font styles that are easy to see and read. For example: Arial, Times New Roman, Helvetica, etc. These fonts will also be legible when magnified using screen magnification software.
• Use Bold, Underline and Italics sparingly as they can be difficult to read.
• Use 12 to 16 point font in order to make the document easier for people to see and read.

• Use good contrasting colors – this will reduce eye strain and eye fatigue for anyone reading the document.
  It will make the document easier to read and process.
• Here is an example of a poor color contrast:
  

• Heading Styles should be used to create headings. This will allow users to skim and navigate the document quickly and with ease.
• Solely using Bold, Underline and Italics to identify headings will not make the document accessible to users who are visually impaired and blind users who use screen reading software.
• Along with heading styles, it is good practice to use consistent paragraph alignment, fonts, font size and spacing to create a well structured document.

Use Styles to Create Headings

• Type the name of the heading.
• From the Home tab on the ribbon, navigate to the Styles section.
• Choose a style, for example: Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.

Note: There should only be one “Heading 1” per document. Headings should follow a logical sequence, similar to using roman numerals and numbers and letters when creating an outline for a term paper.

View the Navigation Pane to ensure a good logical outline and structure to the document.

• From the View tab on the ribbon, check the box next to Navigation Pane in the Show section.
•  The Navigation Pane will appear on the left side of the document.
•  Select headings to view the outline of your document.

Use the bullets and numbering features to create lists. Don’t create lists manually by using characters such as hyphens, dashes, asterisks, etc. They will not be recognized by assistive technology programs as actual lists.

Inserting a Bulleted List

• Place the cursor where the bulleted list will begin.
• From the Home tab on the ribbon, navigate to the Paragraph section.
• Select the bullet icon.

Inserting a Numbered List

• Place the cursor where the numbered list will begin.
• From the Home tab on the ribbon, navigate to the Paragraph section.
• Select the numbering icon.

• Label hyperlinks correctly using meaningful hyperlink text. For example: do not use “click here”, “read more”, or “here” etc. The text in the hyperlink should indicate what the user should expect once they activate the link. Do not include a long confusing hyperlink as users of screen readers often read links out of context when navigating documents.
• Example of a hyperlink that’s labelled incorrectly: Here is how Facebook took action against spam: https://www.cnet.com/news/social-media/facebook-took-action-against-1-4-billion-pieces-of-spam-content-in-a-3-month-span/
• Example of a hyperlink that’s labelled correctly: Here is how Facebook took action against spam.

Create a Meaningful Hyperlink

• Right click on the hyperlink.
• Select Edit Hyperlink from the menu.

• In the dialog box that appears, in the Text to Display box type an appropriate meaningful name for the hyperlink.

• Select the OK button
  

• Any images such as graphics, charts, tables, etc. must have descriptive alt text describing what is represented by the image. It is recommended to use high quality images for optimal viewing for everyone.
• Don’t use images of text. If it is necessary to do so, add an alt text description for the image.

Add Descriptive Alt Text to Images

• Right click on the image and choose View Alt Text.

• The Alt Text dialog box appears on the right side of the document, type an appropriate description of the image in the box.
• Select the “X” on the upper right corner of the dialog box to close it.

Simple data tables can be created in Microsoft Word. However, the table can only be limited to one row of column headers at the top. When the column header is set, screen readers will read the column header followed by the associated data cell which will make sense to the user.

Always insert a table by using Insert Table from the Insert menu on the ribbon. Do not use Draw Table.

Defining a Header Row in a Table

• Place the cursor in the first row of the table and right click.
• Select Table Properties from the menu.

• Select the Row tab.
• Ensure the “repeat as header row at the top of each page” check box is checked.
• Select the OK button.

• From the Review tab on the ribbon, select the Check Accessibility icon and choose Check Accessibility from the menu.

• The Accessibility Checker dialog box appears on the right side of the document, possibility displaying errors and suggestions to fix the errors.
• Select an error to get a menu with recommended actions. The corresponding item in the document will be highlighted.
• Apply fixes to each error that appears in the document.