The Microsoft Accessibility Checker is a built-in tool within Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that automatically scans documents for potential accessibility issues, highlighting areas where content might be difficult for people with disabilities to read or interact with, providing suggestions to improve the document's accessibility by identifying errors, warnings, and tips related to things like text contrast, headings, alt text for images, and table structures.
Using the Microsoft Accessibility Checker
The Accessibility Checker is available under the Review tab (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1: The top portion of a Microsoft Word window indicating the Review tab and the Check Accessibility icon on the menu ribbon.
Examples of accessibility barriers to check
- Ensure that bulleted and numbered lists are correctly formatted.
- Use descriptive link text for content that will be viewed online. If material will be printed, provide shortened links and disable hyperlinks. QR codes are also acceptable, but don’t forget to add alternative text.
- Ensure that equations have been created with the Equation Editor or have alternative text.
- Add descriptive alternative text to images, including SmartArt and equations.
- Ensure high color contrast between the text and any background colors used.
- Define header cells for tables and eliminate split and merged cells in tables.
Microsoft Word accessibility barriers to check
- Provide correctly nested headings.
- Define header cells for tables.
- Eliminate split and merged cells in tables.
For further guidance, see the Microsoft Word Support article, make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities.
Microsoft PowerPoint accessibility barriers to check
Note: If your slides will accompany a live or recorded presentation, be sure to resolve any accessibility issues before you present or record.
- Ensure that each slide has a title, and that each title is unique.
- Confirm correct reading order for each slide.
For further guidance, see the Microsoft PowerPoint Support article, make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities.
Microsoft Excel accessibility barriers to check
- Ensure each sheet tab has a meaningful name.
- Eliminate split, nested, and merged cells.
- Avoid red-only formatting for negative numbers.
- Provide alternative text for any images, including graphs and charts.
For further guidance, see the Microsoft Excel Support article, accessibility best practices with Excel spreadsheets.