Microsoft Word

Word documents will work fairly well with assistive technologies as long as they are primarily text. It will be more difficult to make documents containing images, math content, and complex tables accessible (see the LinkedIn Learning course on the Resources page of this lesson), but it is possible. In general, Word documents are preferred (second only to HTML pages) for students with disabilities because of the built-in accessibility features they provide.

If you need to create a Word document for a course, the following best practices can help you design it with accessibility in mind.

Creating Accessible Word Documents

Note: The following images were captured in Microsoft Word for Mac Version 15. Your options may appear slightly different depending on your operating system and version.

Headings

One of the first topics in this course covered the importance of navigation, and this information is just as important when it comes to Word documents. Don't just change the font size or make text bold to create headings. There are actual heading styles available in Word that will be recognized by screen readers. You will find these heading styles on the toolbar under the Home tab when you select Styles or the Styles Pane.

styles pane in Word showing various heading options
Figure 3. Styles Menu in Word

You can create a style by selecting New Style... in the Styles Pane. From there you will be able to give your style a name, choose its type, select a style it is based on, and other formatting options. Before finalizing the style, you can choose to add it to a template or place it on the Quick Style list. 

You can also highlight text in the document, and then right-click an existing heading style and choose Update heading # to match selection to change one of the existing headings to look the way you want.

See the Customize or Create New Style in Word page Links to an external site. from Microsoft for other ways to do this.

Lists

In Word, do not just use the Tab key to create visual lists. Instead, apply either the numbered or bulleted list style. There are even more options available in Word's list library, which can be accessed on the main toolbar under the Home tab by clicking the Multilevel List icon.

list menu in Word showing various list formatting options
Figure 4. List Options in Word

Tables

All of the same accessibility best practices also apply to the tables you create in your Word documents. You can designate a row as a header and add a caption to a table in Word. Add a table by clicking the Table icon on the toolbar under the Insert tab. If you have a complex table with multiple header rows, merged cells, and so on, try to reformat it as a series of smaller tables.

Table builder in Word
Figure 5. Inserting a Table in Word

After you insert the table into the document, click anywhere within the table to make the Table Design tab appear above the document area. Check the Header Row box, and add text to the first row of the table to create headers. You can right-click the table and select Table Properties to add a description of the table for screen reader users under the Alt Text tab. To add a visual caption, just add the text above the table.

Table styles in Word
Figure 6. Adding a Header Row

Images

As for images in Word, you can right-click any image and select View Alt Text to add alt text. You can write your own alt text, mark the image as decorative, or have the alt text generated for you. Please keep in mind that this option often offers simplified or incorrect alt text, so make sure you review the results. If an image requires a longer description, that should be included within the body of the document.

alt text pane in Word with field to enter description
Figure 7. Adding Alt Text in Word

Links

If you provide a link in a Word document, don't use the URL address as the link. Instead, create a hyperlink with link text that makes sense outside of the context of the page so that screen reader users can understand it when tabbing from link to link. To do this in Word, follow these steps:

  1. Type the link text.
    • Remember to make the first word the most descriptive (e.g., "Accessibility Policy website" rather than "website about accessibility policies").
    • Be specific; for example, use the name of an article rather than "Click here to read the article."
  2. Highlight and right-click the text.
  3. Select Hyperlink.
  4. Enter the URL in the Address field.
  5. Select OK, and test the link to make sure it works.
  6. You may want to include the URL address as unlinked text if the document will be printed.

Math

You can add and edit accessible equations in a Word document by selecting Insert followed by Equation. If the equation option is not showing up in your version of Word, you can follow these steps to add the equation editor in Word Links to an external site.. Equations can be written in Unicode, LaTex, or text, and there are a number of built-in equations available. You can also create additional equations and save them to the built-in library. Review Microsoft's documentation for more details on how to write an equation in Word Links to an external site..

examples of built in equations in the word equation editor
Figure 8. Adding Equations in Word
Updated April, 2025