Making Accessible MS Word Documents For as long as you’ve been using word processor software, odds are, you’ve been doing it wrong. Rather than use the built in styles, they instead choose to enlarge the font, make it bold, underline it, etc. In doing it this way, the document has no real structure for a screen reader to interpret. For a document to have proper structure, you must use the styles menu in Word to format your contents. Like style sheets for the web, the drop-down styles list in Word lets you create true headings, as well as apply changes to all instances of any previously-created custom style.

The two keys to creating an accessible Word document:

• Provide a layout that has a clear structure (use headings, lists, tables, columns, etc. appropriately)
• Supply text equivalents for information conveyed via graphics or color.

There are advantages to having styles structure in Word documents. Firstly, when you export the file to HTML, it will retain the structure, making it screen reader friendly. Second, the structure will be retained when you export to PDF. This increases the readability of the document for persons using assistive technology.

But wait! There’s more to your document than just text right? Sometimes you have images inserted into those files. So before you export to HTML or PDF, you need to set the “Alt text” or alternative text for all of your images. Right-click on the image, then select Format Picture. A small window opens, and clicking on the Web tab, you will find the place for you to add your alternative text.

If you create complex documents, with carts, tables, and such embedded in them, the conversion to PDF or HTML will likely not create a file that is completely accessible to screen readers. The embedded parts probably be ignored by the screen reader because they are unreadable. In these cases, you should provide a text description of the elements within the context of the document itself.

Specific Tips:

Headings

• Heading 1 for the document's title
• Heading 2 for the document's main section headings.
• Heading 3 for subsection headings.
• Normal for regular paragraph text.
• DON’T use Heading styles just to achieve bigger, bolder text – either create a new style for yourself (maybe calling it “special”) and use that for specialized emphasis, or use the bold/italic functions for simple emphasis.

Lists

• Use Word's Bullets feature to create bulleted lists; don't use asterisks or hyphens.
• Use the Numbering feature to created numbered lists.
• Consider using a list in place of a dense paragraph; lists are easier to read and understand.

Tables

Use tables to present and arrange data, never use the Tab key and especially not multiple spaces. It’s a mess for both you and the reader, because when they open the file, their system may substitute fonts that have a different spacing scheme, which will through all that tab and space bar work out the window.

• Whenever possible, tables should be organized so as to make sense when read row by row across columns.
• Include informative row and column headers wherever it makes sense to do so.
• Avoid complex tables and merged cells whenever possible.

Colour

Always provide suffcient contrast between background and foreground colors; this goes for both text and images.

Never rely on color alone to convey important information. For example, don't write, "Classes in red are offered at the Costa Mesa Center; classes in blue are offered at the Garden Grove facility."Find another way to differentiate between the classes that doesn't require color discrimination.

Other Tips

• Use a font size of at least 12 points for your document's main text.
• Never use a font size under 10 points, even for footers, footnotes, disclaimers at the bottom of a document, etc.
• On longer documents, generate a Table of Contents to provide context and navigation.
• Avoid using text boxes. They are really great for letting you position text anywhere you want, but they don’t allow for proper flow of text reading when converted to HTML or PDF Use footnotes rather than endnotes.
• Avoid animated text. It just won’t be translated to normal text.
• Avoid flashing or blinking elements (which can trigger seizures in some individuals).

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