Slide Titles

PowerPoint slides must have unique titles. Slide titles act as navigational waypoints for viewers. The Check Accessibility tool will flag Missing slide titles and Duplicate slide titles.

Who missing or duplicate slide titles impacts

Users of assistive technology, particularly blind and low vision people, rely on navigational waypoints to navigate content. Without descriptive slide titles, those users may struggle 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 fix it

The Check Accessibility tool will flag Missing slide title as an error and Duplicate slide title as a tip.

To address missing slide titles:

1. Select the menu beside the error and select Add Slide Title or Add Hidden Slide Title.
   
   A hidden slide title may be useful for a slide with a full-size image or video content. All slides must have a coded title, even if it is a hidden title.
2. Slide titles and hidden slide titles can also be added via the Slide Title menu on the Accessibility tab.
   

Ensure you verify the reading order of the slide after adding missing titles.

Duplicate Slide Title

Duplicate slides lack useful meaning to orient users of assistive technology. However, the Check Accessibility tool flags duplicate slide titles under Tips meaning it is not essential, but better practice. Avoid duplicate slide titles by using unique titles, or for topics that span multiple slides, include “1/2” and “2/2” in the titles.

How to prevent it next time

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.

Learn more about the structure of slides.

How to title a slide from Microsoft support.