Creating Accessible Word Documents: A Guide by James Baverstock
Discover tips on making Word documents accessible in September 2025 with insights from James Baverstock, an Accessibility Consultant at AbilityNet. Learn about AbilityNet's support for all ages to use technology effectively and enhance document accessibility.
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Presentation Transcript
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 An introduction to making Word documents accessible James Baverstock, Principal Accessibility and Usability Consultant at AbilityNet Annie Mannion, Digital Marketing Manager, AbilityNet 1
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Welcome Live captions from MyClearText switch on via control panel CC Additional captions: www.streamtext.net/player?event=AbilityNet Slides and recording: abilitynet.org.uk/WordWebinar Feedback form for post-webinar questions 2
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 About AbilityNet AbilityNet supports people of any age, living with any disability or impairment to use technology to achieve their goals at home, at work and in education. 3
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 About your speaker James Baverstock: Principal Accessibility Consultant at AbilityNet Specialisms: Document accessibility accessibility audits user testing training design reviews web accessibility and usability 4
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Poll: Please estimate the percentage of your organisation that create accessible Word documents: 100% 80% 50% 20% 0% NA 5
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Introduction to Word accessibility James Baverstock 6
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Setting heading levels in Word On the Home tab, in the Styles group, select a heading style, for example, Heading 1 or Heading 2. Do not use headings only for styling.
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Formatting: Links Ensure that the purpose of links is obvious and self-evident from tabbing onto them. Where possible, enter a meaningful name into the text to display field.
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 NVDA screen reader demo headings & links
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Adding ALT text to graphics in Word From the images Right click an image Edit Alt Text Type a description or mark as decorative From accessibility checker Select dropdown on graphic and choose appropriate option
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Bullets and lists Use bulleted and ordered lists as opposed to images, clip-art, etc to create lists. List paragraph styles can be used to adapt spacing and fonts
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Formatting Tables Avoid complex tables Use table headers: Table Design > Table Style Options Select Header Row and First Column (if first column is acting as a header) Do not use tables for formatting!
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Font size, style and colour Text size of 12 point or higher will benefit most users, but Word documents allow easy text- resizing Avoid overly-decorative fonts and continuous capitalisation as they can be difficult to read Provide at least a 4.5:1 colour contrast between text and background (3:1 for large text)
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 File name and title Provide a descriptive file name for your file. Providing a descriptive title will ensure this is inherited by a PDF created from your Word file
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Microsoft Office Accessibility Checker / Assistant The Accessibility Checker / Assistant finds accessibility issues, explains why you should fix these issues and how to fix them: Review > Check Accessibility
Introduction to Word accessibility| September 2024 Microsoft Word accessibility Golden Rules: Use the formatting tools to provide meaningful structure with built-in headings and styles Ensure that meaningful non-text content (e.g. images) has alternative text Use colour and meaningful hyperlink text to ensure perceivability Microsoft: Make your Word documents accessible AbilityNet: Creating accessible documents
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Accessible documents discussion Q1: Why aren't people already using Word accessibility features? Q2: How can organisations embed accessible documents into their workflow - what positive steps can they take? 17
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 eLearning/in-house team training Online learning for individuals How to create accessible documents and presentations - 31 October abilitynet.org.uk/AccessibleDocuments In-house training for your team Book in-house team training: abilitynet.org.uk/AccessibleDocumentsEnquiry eLearning for your whole organisation Creating accessible content in Office 365 abilitynet.org.uk/eLearningO365 18
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Open Q&A Please use the Q&A window Slides, transcripts and a recording of this online event will be made available 19
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Digital accessibility and inclusion training Train your team with our in-house team training and eLearning options: www.abilitynet.org.uk/eLearning Save 10% on 2024 online training courses for individuals: discount code AbilityNetWebinar10 www.abilitynet.org.uk/training Contact us: abilitynet.org.uk/TrainingEnquiry 20
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 How AbilityNet can help AbilityNet charity uses technology to help transform the lives of disabled people, at home, at work and in education. Ask us about: Accessibility audits and testing User research and testing In-house training and eLearning Accreditation and certification Consultancy and Strategy Contact us: abilitynet.org.uk/speak-our-experts 21
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 TechShare Pro 2024 Early Bird tickets! Save on TechShare Pro conference 2024 with AbilityNet's early bird discount! Ends on 1 October - book before then or pay full price: www.techsharepro.com 22
Introduction to making Word documents accessible September 2025 Keep in touch AbilityNet newsletter: abilitynet.org.uk/newsletter Free webinars: abilitynet.org.uk/webinars 17 Oct 2024: Empowering Seniors: 5 Essential Tips for Online Safety and Support 23 Oct 2024: Accessibility Planning for 2025 20 Nov 2024: Introduction to AI for older people 23
