Word Accessibility
Accessibility Checker
Use Word’s built-in accessibility checker to check for common issues. Note, these tools may not catch all possible accessibility issues.
Navigate to the Review tab and click Check Accessibility.
- Select Review tab
- Choose Check Accessibility button
- The Accessibility Panel will open and show issues
- Select each issue to see it highlighted in the document
- Select the arrow next to each warning to see further information
To see real time accessibility status:
- At the bottom of the Accessibility Assistant panel select the Settings button.
- In the Settings window, check the Keep accessibility checker running while I work checkbox.
- Click Accessibility: Investigate in the status bar at the bottom of the window to open the Accessibility Assistant pane.
Checker Results
Like any automated tool, Word’s accessibility checker will not catch all accessibility issues. Here is a summary of what it does look for and how well it catches those issues:
| Element checked | Reliability of checker |
|---|---|
| Structure and use of heading styles | Poor. Will show if there are no headings on a long document but doesn’t flag issues on shorter documents. A single heading is enough to pass the checker even though the document remains inaccessible. It cannot test the logic of the heading structure. Use View > Navigation Pane > Document Map/Headings to verify heading structure. |
| Colour | Moderate. Can find poor colour contrast but cannot tell if colour has been used as a sole indicator for information. |
| Use of images | Moderate. Will find images that have neither Alt text, nor are marked as decorative as well as those where the Alt text is just the file name. But it cannot identify whether the Alt text is appropriate or even meaningful. It will find images that are not in line with the text. In-line images may not be as aesthetically pleasing but they are easier for screen readers to find. |
| Links | Poor. Checker does not check for link text. |
| Plain English | Poor. Checker does not check for this, but you can check yourself by switching on the readability stats as described in the section on Understandable Content. |
| Tables | Fair. Checker finds whether the table has the Header row marked. It may warn if tables have split or merged cells. |
| Miscellaneous | Poor. Does not check text justification, videos for captions, or form labels. |
Read more about checking for accessibility issues with the Office Accessibility Checker and learn about Office Accessibility Checker rules and messages.
- This table is adapted from work originally developed by AHEAD and Alistair McNaught and is made available under a CC BY-NC-SA creative commons license. ↵
definition
Automated tools built-in to many platforms that check for common accessibility issues. Are not to be considered a guarantee of accessibility.
