This tutorial covers how to build accessible Emails in Outlook, Documents in Word and Presentations in PowerPoint. The overall videos below cover all items in longer videos and each topic is covered in a shorter video in the sections that follow with some additional information.
Alternative Text is a complex topic. It is only covered at a very high level in the overview video. It is strongly suggested to review the section on Alt-Text in the detail section.
Overview Videos
Making Accessible Emails in Outlook
Making Accessible Word Documents
Making Accessible PowerPoint Documents
MS Accessibility Checker does not identify all accessibility issues. Descriptive Links, Styles, List Tool Usage require manual checks. It may also miss issues it usually identifies, so always look through the document, email or presentation to manually check.
- Click on Review Tab on Ribbon
- Click Check Accessibility
OR
3. Click Accessibility: Investigate in footer
With an Email in Draft Mode
- Click on Options
- Check Accessibility
Items Requiring Manual Checks (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint)
- Descriptive Links
- Use of Styles
- List Tools
Microsoft Accessibility Checker (Outlook Word, PowerPoint)
- Alternative Text for Images
- Proper Color Contrast
- Table Header Rows
- Videos have Captions (Or can be linked out to a resources with Captions, ex. Youtube)
PowerPoint Only
- Slide Titles (Never have duplicates)
- Reading Order (Manual Check, but may be identified by Accessibility Checker)
"Naked Link"
Descriptive Link
A descriptive link is easier for sighted readers to parse and allows assisted technology to work more effectively.
Steps to make a Descriptive Link
- Highlight and cut (Ctrl-X) the url to the clipboard
- Type the Descriptive Text to place the link over
- Highlight the text and right click
- Choose Link tool
- Paste the link into the box
- Click Save
In Microsoft Word documents, use the Title style for the document’s main title. Only one line in the document should use the Title style.
Use Heading 1 for major sections and Heading 2 for subsections within those sections. A Heading 2 should always appear under a preceding Heading 1.
A document may include:
- One document title
- Multiple Heading 1 sections beneath the title
- Multiple Heading 2 subsections beneath each Heading 1
Example structure:
Title
Heading 1
Heading 2
Heading 2
Heading 1
Heading 2
- Highlight the text to apply the style to
- Right Click
- Click Styles
- Choose correct Style
Unordered Lists (Bullets) are for lists of items that do not follow a specific sequence. In other words, if they were ordered differently it would not change the effectiveness of the list.
Ordered Lists (Numbers) are used when the sequence of the items matters. If they were placed in a different order it would change the lists communication effectiveness.
To Apply lists
- Highlight the entire text to apply the list type to. A return must be placed at the end of each seperate item.
- Click either bullet or numbers tool on the ribbon under the Home tab
Alternate Text for Images (Detected by Accessibility Checker)
Alt-text (short for "alternative text") is a brief written description attached to an image, chart, graphic, or other visual element in a document. While the image itself isn't visible to everyone, alt-text is read aloud by screen readers or displayed if an image fails to load.
Writing Alt-Text correctly can become complicated. Alt-text should be limited to roughly 120 characters to ensure that legacy screen readers are able to read the text.
Word, PowerPoint and Outlook will generate suggested alt-text using AI. It frequently will exceed 120 characters. Edit down the suggestion when possible.
There are 3 alt-text situations -- Decorative Image, Alt-Text and Long Descriptions
Decorative Image
An image used purely for visual style — a border, a divider line, a stock background photo — that adds no meaningful content to the document. These images should be marked as "decorative" (most Office apps have this option) so screen readers skip over them entirely instead of interrupting the reader with irrelevant descriptions.
Alt-Text
A short, written description (typically one sentence, ideally under ~125 characters) for an image that conveys meaningful information — a photo, icon, simple chart, or diagram. It should describe the content and purpose of the image concisely, as if summarizing it to someone over the phone.
Long Descriptions
Used for complex visuals — detailed charts, graphs, infographics, flowcharts where the information can't be adequately summarized in a short alt-text sentence. A long description provides a full, structured explanation of the visual, usually placed in the surrounding body text, in a linked document, or in a caption below the image, with the alt-text field pointing the reader to it.
Tables as Images (Rebuild the table)
When a table is presented as an image, alt text is not appropriate. Rebuild the table in a readable format in the document and remove the image.
To Add Alt-text
- Click on the image
- Right Click then choose View Alt-Text
- Fill in Alt-Text in fly out window
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