Creating Accessible Microsoft Word Documents

Microsoft Word includes built-in tools to help you create accessible documents that work well for all users, including those using assistive technologies. Creating documents with accessibility in mind ensures your content is perceivable, operable and understandable by everyone.

When converted to other formats, like tagged PDFs, Accessible Word documents maintain their structure and readability. By following the best practices below, you can ensure your documents are inclusive and easier to navigate. For more information, visit the Microsoft website.

 Table of Contents

• File Names & Titles
• Headings
• Lists
• Images
  • Steps to Add Alt Text
• Hyperlinks
• Tables
• Color
  • Best Practices
  • Tools
• Export to Other Formats
  • Steps (with Acrobat)
  • Steps (without Acrobat) 

File Names & Titles 

Descriptive file names and document titles are essential for accessibility. They allow users to understand the document’s purpose even before opening it. Screen readers announce file names, making it critical for these to be meaningful and clear. Authors can assign a descriptive file title to each document in all Microsoft Office applications, ensuring it conveys the document’s purpose. 

An example of a descriptive file name is Spring2025_ArtHistory_Syllabus.docx, instead of Syllabus.docx. 

Steps 

1. When saving a document, click ‘File > Save As’
2. Enter a meaningful file name (e.g., Spring2025_ArtHistory_Syllabus)
3. Choose .docx format to maintain accessibility features 

Add a Document Title

1. Go to File > Info
2. Under Properties, type a title for the document in the Title box.

For a detailed video guide, visit Microsoft Support: Create Accessible File Names.

Style Headings

Headings provide structure and help communicate the hierarchy of content. They allow screen reader users to skim the document, navigate to specific content, and quickly jump between sections. Clear headings improve usability for all users, and using built-in styles ensures compatibility with assistive technologies.   These are a really useful tool even for those not using the screen reader because they provide a table of contents anyone can use to jump around a document.

Steps

1. Open the Styles Pane from the Home tab.
2. Select the text you want to make a heading.
3. Select the desired heading style, like Heading 1, Heading 2, or Heading 3.
4. To update a heading style:
   • Highlight the heading, use the font and formatting tools to change its appearance, right-click the heading style, and select “Update Heading to Match Selection,” which will automatically update all heading styles in the document.

Tips

• Use one Heading 1 per document.
• Follow a logical hierarchy (Heading 2 under Heading 1, etc.).
• Avoid skipping heading levels.
• If needed, adjust the color for contrast (the default Heading 1 and 3 are too light; you can change them to dark blue or black).

For a detailed video guide, visit Microsoft Support: Improve Accessibility with Headings. 

Lists

 Lists give order to grouped content and help screen readers recognize sequences. They improve scannability and are essential for conveying steps or grouped ideas clearly. 

Steps

1. Highlight the text.
2. On the Home tab, choose the Bullets or Numbering option.

Tips

• Use built-in list options, not manual symbols like dashes or asterisks.
• Ordered (numbered) lists should show a sequence.
• Unordered (bulleted) lists are for grouped items without order.
• Lists should contain at least two items.
• Nested lists (lists within lists) are acceptable when clearly structured.

For a detailed video guide, visit Microsoft Support: Create a bulleted or numbered list.

Images

Images that convey important information must include a text description (commonly known as “alt text”) that explains the purpose or content of the image. Alt text allows individuals using assistive technologies to understand the visual content through audio or braille outputs. Alt text should be brief and focus on the main idea the image is supposed to communicate. Decorative images, which do not add meaningful information (e.g., borders, abstract images), can be marked as decorative so they are skipped by assistive technologies. For more examples of decorative images, visit Examples of Decorative Images from the W3C. 

Suppose an image requires a more detailed explanation to be understood. In that case, it is recommended that a longer description be included within the main text of the document, either immediately before or after the image.

Steps to Add Alt Text

1. Right-click the image.
2. Select Edit Alt Text.
3. Enter a short, clear description and close the window.
4. If the image is decorative, right-click the image, select Edit Alt Text and check Mark as Decorative.

Tips

• Keep alt text under 120 characters.
• Avoid phrases like 'image of' or 'picture of'; screen readers automatically announce that it’s an image.
• For complex visuals, provide context in the surrounding text.

For more information on adding alt text, visit Microsoft Support: Adding Alt text. 

For more details and examples of specific guidelines on adding meaningful alt text, visit Section 508: Alt text. 

Hyperlinks

Accessible hyperlinks are essential for users who rely on screen readers. Screen readers often scan a list of all links to navigate a document. Links should convey clear and accurate information about their destination to enhance usability and avoid confusion.

• Accessible link example: To learn more, visit the National Park Service Guide to Colonial Williamsburg. 
• Inaccessible link example: To learn more about Colonial Williamsburg, click here.

Steps

1. Right-click the link or text.
2. Choose Edit Hyperlink.
3. In Text to Display, type a clear, concise description.
4. Click OK.
5. To create a link automatically, press Enter or the spacebar after typing a webpage address. 

Tips

• Use descriptive link text instead of displaying full URLs (which the screen reader will read out loud).
• Don’t use generic text like “click here”.

For a detailed video guide, visit Microsoft Support: Creating accessible links.

Tables

Tables should be used only for presenting structured data, not for layout. Accessible tables help assistive technology interpret the relationships between headers and data cells correctly. Properly formatted tables must include clear headers and a concise Alt text description summarizing the table’s purpose. 

Steps

1. Insert a table using the Insert tab. 
2. Click anywhere inside the table to reveal the Table Design tab. 
3. Under Table Design, check Header Row to identify the first row as a header and/or First Column if the first column contains row headings.
4. Right-click the table > Table Properties > Row tab.
5. Check Repeat as header row at the top of each page to maintain headers across multi-page tables.
6. Right-click the table and select Table Properties. In the Alt Text tab, add a one-sentence summary of the table’s content. (Note: Alt text for tables should summarize what the table presents rather than describing every cell.)

Tips

• Avoid merged cells or nested tables. 
• Keep the table layout simple.
• Use column and row headers to clarify data.
• Consider summarizing the key data points in the surrounding text for complex tables.

For a detailed video guide, visit  Microsoft Support: Creating accessible tables. 

Color

Color can be a helpful tool for emphasizing ideas and drawing attention to key information. However, to ensure accessibility for all users, including individuals with visual impairments or color blindness, it is important to combine color with other formatting cues and maintain sufficient contrast between text and background.

Best Practices

• Use dark text on light backgrounds.
• Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning; make sure to add another visual indicator (e.g., use bold formatting along with red text)
• Ensure minimum contrast ratios:
  • 4.5:1 for regular text
  • 3:1 for large or bold text (18-point larger, or 14-point bold)

Tools

• WebAIM Contrast Checker
• TPG Color Contrast Analyzer

Export to Other Formats

Building accessibility directly into your Microsoft Word documents ensures that when you export them to other formats, most or all accessibility features are preserved. Avoid using the “Print to PDF” option, as it produces a PDF without important accessibility elements like tags, heading structures, alternative text, and logical reading order. PDFs created this way can pose significant barriers for users who rely on assistive technologies to navigate and understand content.

Steps (with Acrobat)

1. Select the Acrobat tab in the ribbon.
2. Choose Create PDF.
3. On Mac: Choose Best for electronic distribution and accessibility.
4. Click Export.

Steps (without Acrobat)

1. Go to File > Save As.
2. Choose PDF as the file type.
3. Click Options next to the Save button and check Document structure tags for accessibility.
4. Save the file.

Tips

• Don’t use “Print to PDF”, it strips out tags and structure.
• When possible, edit in Word and export rather than trying to fix an inaccessible PDF.