Word Accessibility
Alt text, Images, and Links
Include text alternatives for visual elements such as images and use hyperlinks in place of bare URLs.
On this page:
Text Equivalents
Assistive technologies employ alternative text (alt text) attached to images to inform users of the context and purpose of images and visual elements. Alt text is a text alternative to non-text content to ensure all users can access information.
To add alt text in Office programs:
- Right click on an image and select View Alt Text…
- Enter a description in the dialogue box.
- If a graphic is purely decorative, check Mark as Decorative.
To add alt text in Office online programs:
- Select the image
- Navigate to the Picture tab
- Select Alt Text and enter your description in the Description field.
- If the image is purely decorative, leave the Description field blank.
The Office Accessibility Checker will flag images that need alternative text. Do not rely on the automatically generated alt text, it is rarely useful. In the Accessibility pane, Missing alternative text will appear as an error.
Add alternative text to simple charts but also include table data for complex charts and data sets. Best practice is to include table data adjacent to the chart, but linking to the data elsewhere in the document is also an effective method. Ensure the link text explains the destination.
For more information
Review this Pressbooks’ chapter on Alternative Text.
Read Microsoft guides for adding alt text to images, SmartArt, shapes, and charts.
Consider Diagram Center’s comprehensive guide for alt text.
Ensure embedded media has text equivalents. Videos must have closed captions and audio must have a transcript.
Images and Graphics
Apart from adding effective alt text to images, there are a few additional considerations for visual elements in Word documents.
Hyperlinks
When linking to a website, use meaningful hyperlink text. Linked text should be descriptive, concise, unique and visually distinct. Do not use bare URLs. To learn more about writing link text, consult the accessible links chapter of this guide.
Use default styling (blue, underlined text in Word) for links including a contrasting colour and underlined text.
To add a link in Word:
- Select the text you want to link
- Right-click and select Hyperlink or press Control (Command on macOS) and k
- Verify the Text to Display text
- Paste the destination URL in the Address box
Read more about hyperlink text in Word.
Alternative text is a text equivalent of graphics in a document or webpage. Alternative text is coded to be hidden visually, but read to a screen reader user.
Information presented in a grid format of rows and columns, generally to show a relationship between sets of set
A text equivalent of audio content in a video, displayed synchronously. Closed captions are toggled on or off by viewers, as opposed to open captions that are burned into the video and always displayed.
Transcription is the process of converting audio into written text. A transcript is a written record of all audio in media. Captions are synced to the content.
