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Sensus
Accessibility Consultants
Sensus
Accessibility Consultants
Accessible Microsoft Word Documents
Provided courtesy of Sean Keegan. The material may be used in connection with SensusAccess solutions
provided Sean Keegan is credited.
Microsoft Word provides various options for including accessibility information into the document to
support individuals using assistive technologies. Such information also provides improved accessibility
when converting the document into other formats (e.g., tagged PDF, EPUB, DAISY, etc.). Microsoft Word
document accessibility can be improved for the following content items:
Document Headings
Descriptions for Images
Tables for Data
Multiple Columns
Document Hyperlinks
Mathematical Content
Document Headings
Headings can provide an organizational and navigational framework for a document's content. Headings,
when used appropriately, can be effective to communicating a document's informational hierarchy and
the relationship between different sections of content. For an individual using assistive technology, the
presence of headings offers a simple mechanism to determine the organization of the content and to
"jump" from heading to heading when navigating the document. Such headings can also be used as the
navigational landmarks upon conversion into other formats, such as tagged PDF, HTML or EPUB.
Styles in MS Word 2010
1. From the Home tab in the top ribbon, select the appropriate heading level.
2. Headings should follow a logical structure that identifies content based on its importance in the
document.
3. Maintain a sequential organization for headings, e.g., avoid having a heading 2 before a heading
1.
4. You can change the formatting of a heading by using the formatting palette.
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Styles in MS Word for Mac 2011
1. From the Home tab in the top ribbon, select the appropriate heading level. You can also set
headings from the Styles formatting palette.
2. Headings should follow a logical structure that identifies content based on its importance in the
document.
3. Maintain a sequential organization for headings, e.g., avoid having a heading 2 before a heading
1.
4. You can change the formatting of a heading by using the formatting palette.
Descriptions for Images
For images in MS Word, you can add a text description (also called "alt text") that communicates the
purpose and/or content of the image. This information is then communicated to individuals who cannot
view the image using their assistive technology. Image descriptions should be short and communicate
the main purpose of the image. If a longer description of the image is necessary to fully explain its
content, consider inserting a more detailed description of the image within the document text that
precedes and/or follows the image.
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Image descriptions in MS Word 2010
1. From the Insert ribbon, choose Picture and select the desired picture to add to the document.
2. Right-click on the image and choose Format Picture. In the left-side settings, choose Alt Text.
3. Enter the description of the image in the Description region. Leave the Title field empty.
4. The image description should focus on the purpose and/or content of the image in the
document.
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Image descriptions in MS Word for Mac 2011
1. Choose Insert > Photo > Picture from File... and select the image to add to your document.
2. Right-click on the image and choose Format Picture. In the left-side settings, choose Alt Text.
3. Enter the description of the image in the Description region. Leave the Title field empty.
4. The image description should focus on the purpose and/or content of the image in the
document.
Tables for Data
Tables should be used for information, not for controlling the layout or presentation of a MS Word
document. To create a data table in MS Word, choose "Table" from the menu bar and select "Insert
Table". Identify the appropriate columns and rows and enter in the data for your table. A simple data
table is as follows:
City
State
Zip Code
San Jose
California
95101
San Francisco
California
94126
Denver
Colorado
80210
The first row of the table consists of the column headers. These help "define" the category of
information for the data in that column. In MS Word, it is possible to identify the headings such that
when the data table is interpreted by assistive computer technologies and read to the student, the
information in the cells below each heading will have meaning and context.
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Table headings in MS Word 2010 and Word for Mac 2011
1. Create your data table using the Insert Table option under Table on the menu bar.
2. Select (highlight) the first row of the data table with your column headers.
3. Right click in the highlighted area and choose the Table Properties menu.
4. Under the Row tab, check the checkbox Repeat as header row at the top of each page.
5. Choose OK and return to the MS Word document.
At this time, there is only support for adding table heading information for table column headers, not
row headers. This does not mean you are limited as to the types of tables you can create, rather this is a
limitation in MS Word.
Multiple Columns
The Column tool provides the capability to create multi-column documents using MS Word. The
advantage to using the Column tool is that multi-column documents will retain the proper reading
order if using assistive technologies or when converting to other formats. Creating a multi-
column layout using the tab-key, spacebar, or text boxes will result in an incorrect reading order
and reflow of the document.
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Columns in MS Word 2010 and Word for Mac 2011
1. Select the text you wish to change from a single column to a multi-column layout.
2. Choose "Format" on the menu bar and select "Columns...". Alternatively, choose the Column
tool in the Home ribbon.
3. Select the number of columns or set your specific spacing requirements. Return to the document
to review the new layout.
Document Hyperlinks
Documents containing hyperlinks to websites or other online resources can be improved by including
hyperlink text that is understood by the reader. For instance, using the full hyperlink URL may not make
sense to the reader without some context. You can modify the text to display in the document while
retaining the hyperlink destination.
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1. Right-click on the hyperlink text in the document and choose Edit Hyperlink, or press Ctrl+K
(Mac: Cmd+K).
2. In the field "Display" (or "Text to Display" for MS Word 2010) enter the correct text information.
3. You can include both the text description and full URL if you prefer. Using the full URL is helpful
for when the document is printed.
Mathematical Content
Microsoft Word documents that contain math equations using the MathType Equation Editor can be
converted into other formats while retaining the accessibility functionality of the mathematical content.
At this time, MS Word documents must be saved as DOCX and use the MathType Equation Editor to
input the math equations. Alternatively, you can input equations using LaTeX, but these equations will
need to be converted to MathType Equations before the document can be used with assistive
technologies or submitted to SensusAccess.
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Key Points
1. You will need to install the MathType Equation Editor from Design Science to support accessible
math equations in MS Word documents. MathType is available for both the Mac and Windows
platform.
2. With MathType installed, you can enter equations using the MathType Equation Editor or by
adding LaTeX. If using LaTeX, you will need to convert all equations to MathType equations.
3. MathType should be used for equations and not for entering text information. Avoid using
MathType for formatting purposes.
4. At this time, documents must be saved as DOCX in order to be converted into alternate formats
using SensusAccess (e.g., DAISY+Math, EPUB 3, etc.).
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5. We are investigating additional input formats, including LaTeX and MathML, to support
conversions into alternate document formats. Thank you for your patience.
