Document Headings

Headings—when created properly—benefit all learners to indicate logical structure, create connections between key concepts, provide an overview of information, and act as navigational waypoints to chunk information and increase readability. However, headings are not created by changing the font formatting with larger or bold text alone. In Word, Headings must be created using Styles.

Who headings benefit

Readers tend to skim through documents to gain an overview or find a specific section. Users who cannot see the document or have difficulty reading it can use assistive technology to browse in a similar way, provided a document has properly crafted headings.

If a document has no headings, or improperly created headings, users of assistive technology have to read line-by-line through the whole document to get to a specific point, instead of using headings to move to the section they need. Additionally, all users have no sense of overview, connections between topics, or hierarchy of information.

How to ensure accessible headings

On the Home tab use the Styles gallery to set headings.

To create headings:

1. Select an existing line of text and then choose the appropriate heading level from the Styles gallery.
2. Choose the appropriate heading level from the Styles gallery before typing a new line of content.

Structure headings with a heading level 1 as the broadest, most important level, such as a title.

Use heading level 2 for major sections under heading level 1.

Use heading level 3 for subsections under preceding heading level 2.

Use heading level 4 for subsections under preceding heading level 3.

Create a nested, sequential heading structure in which each nested heading contains related information and, if necessary, headings. Increase by one heading level at a time without skipping a level. Any type of content can follow any heading level.

Brief but descriptive headings help all users navigate quickly to information they need and understand the purpose of various sections.

The appearance of headings can be customized to fit an aesthetic theme, colour scheme, or brand guidelines.

Double Check

The Word Accessibility Assistant will flag No headings in document if a document over 10 pages does not have any headings. 10 pages is an arbitrary choice by Microsoft and headings should be included in any length of document that has distinct sections. Learn more about creating headings and building an accessible document structure.