Titles

PowerPoint slides must have unique, descriptive titles. Slide titles act as navigational waypoints for viewers.

Who benefits from slide titles

Users of assistive technology, particularly blind and low vision people, rely on navigational waypoints to access content. Without descriptive slide titles users may find it diffiuclt  to orient themselves and understand the order, hierarchy of ideas, and content of a PowerPoint presentation.

This video shows JAWS screen reader software moving between slides demonstrating how information is lost when a slide does not have a title.

How to ensure slides have titles

Ensure slides have a title placeholder (most default layouts do). Slides must have a “Click to add title” placeholder to create a properly coded title. Manually adding a text box and increasing the font size does not make a proper title. If you find many of your slides do not have title placeholders, review the slide masters and add title placeholders.

Ensure each slide has a descriptive, unique title. Effective titles help orient all users and provides structure to draw connections and enhance understanding.

For slides that contain media, such as a full-size image, chart, or other graphic or video, consider “hiding” the slide title.

To hide a slide title:

1. Move to the Accessibility tab.
2. Open the Slide Title menu and choose Add Hidden Slide Title.
   
3. Or click and drag an existing slide title out of the frame of the slide.

How to title a slide from Microsoft support.

Learn more about the structure of slides.

Double Check

Use the PowerPoint Check Accessibility tool to verify slides have titles. The Check Accessibility tool will flag Missing slide titles and Duplicate slide titles.

Consult how to fix slide title errors for more information.