Documents & presentations

Digital document accessibility is also affected by how the authoring application is used to format and structure the document. The software’s built-in tools must be used for their intended communication function. For specific details on how to achieve this with various applications, we recommend referencing the free book Understanding Document Accessibility: A Reference for Creating Accessible Office Documents. This comprehensive resource provides instructions on how to create accessible documents, spreadsheets, presentation slides, and PDFs across a wide variety of software.

Whether a document is a presentation, spreadsheet, or word processor document, a number of common considerations apply.

Alt text

All the principles of good digital design apply to office documents, including the need for non-text content to be described with effective alt text.

Charts & graphs

Never manually draw a chart or graph. Data visualizations should be created with the built-in tools dedicated to this purposes. Ensure that all chart or graph titles, axis titles, and
data labels, are properly defined using the dedicated features.

Markup

Accessible office documents require semantic markup. This is accomplished in part by using paragraph styles. Use the full range of built-in default styles to add the needed markup for accessibility. Avoid creating custom styles if possible. You can edit the appearance of these paragraph styles without affecting their semantic utility.

Word processor documents also require the following considerations. Whether you are working in Apple’s Pages, Google Docs, LibreOffice Writer, Microsoft Word, or any other major word processing software, the basic principles are the same.
Anchor Images.

When placing an image in a document, always set the image to display as an inline object. You will then need to anchor the image to a specific place in the text. This will help ensure that a screen reader will read the content in the correct order.

Structure

Use the built-in features when structuring document content. This includes, but is not limited to breaks, columns, footers, lists, and more.

Tables

Never manually draw a table. Tables should be created with the dedicated table tools. Ensure that the table title and header cells are all properly defined using the dedicated features.

Spreadsheet documents also require the following considerations. Whether you are working in Apple’s Numbers, Google Sheets, LibreOffice Calc, Microsoft Excel, or any other major spreadsheet software, the basic principles are the same.

Define the cells

Ensure that the title, header cells, and all other cells with a special function are properly defined using the built-in features. If this type of information is presented in regular table cells, assistive technologies will not be able to interpret it properly.

Describe the functionality

Add a description to the top of the spreadsheet that explains how to navigate the document. A brief plain language explanation will provide additional context for all users, especially those reliant on a screen reader. An example of this might read like the following: “This spreadsheet contains three data tables. The first begins at cell A3 and lists rental revenue. The second begins at cell A17 and lists addresses. The third begins at cell A34 and lists landlord names.”