Word Accessibility Assistant

Word has a built-in tool to check for common accessibility issues.

Check Accessibility

To open the Check Accessibility tool:

  1. Move to the Review tab
  2. Select Check Accessibility

This opens the Accessibility Assistant panel displaying the following list of issues:

Color and Contrast

Hard-to-read text contrast

Media and Illustrations

Missing alt text

Image or object not inline

Tables

Missing table header

Use of merged or split cells

Document Structure

No headings in document

Document Access

Restricted Access

Each of the above will be explored in greater detail in this course.

In the Accessibility Assistant panel open Settings and check Keep accessibility checker running while I work.

This adds a message to the status bar to the bottom of the PowerPoint window. The message will update automatically as you add or change content. Accessibility: Good to go means you have no issues. Accessibility: Investigate indicates something is broken. Click the message to go directly to the Accessibility panel.

Consult Microsoft Support for more information about using the accessibility checker.

Check-in

While the Check Accessibility tool helps flag many errors, it does not check for every possible accessibility issue. In addition to the listed results, this guide explores manual checks you should do to maximize the accessibility of your content.

Next Steps

Return to the start here module or press your browser’s back button to check your documents for accessibility issues.

License

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Digital Accessibility On-demand Copyright © by Luke McKnight is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.