Document accessibility - Accessibility Checker

Overview

Microsoft Office has a built-in Accessibility Checker, which finds accessibility issues and warnings, explains the reasons for them, and offers solutions.

Considerations

The Accessibility Checker is an automated tool and will not catch every accessibility issue that may exist in your document. Use it together with a manual check.

Issues that you should inspect manually include:

• alternative text quality
• complex image descriptions
• captions
• use of headings
• formatted lists
• descriptive links

How to access the Accessibility Checker

1. Go to the ‘Review’ tab on the ribbon bar and select ‘Check Accessibility’ under the Accessibility area of the ribbon.
2. Choose ‘Check Accessibility.’
3. The Accessibility panel will open on the right-hand side of the window and will display any accessibility errors it has detected along with explanations and ways to fix them.

Check the ‘Keep accessibility checker running while I work’ checkbox to be notified of accessibility errors while you work.

Resources

• Microsoft Support: Rules for the Accessibility Checker