Common Microsoft Word Accessibility Issues Flagged by Panorama

All Microsoft Word documents should be accessible. This article identifies commonly flagged accessibility issues within Word documents according to Panorama’s accessibility checker and addresses how to fix them.

All documents created within Microsoft Word should be accessible. Microsoft Word has a basic accessibility checker which should be used while your Word document is being created. Refer to the helpful resource- Creating Accessible Word Documents to ensure you are creating accessible Word content.

Be advised that there are several accessibility issues the Panorama accessibility checker within eLearn may flag as accessibility issues which aren't caught by the Word accessibility checker. This article identifies commonly flagged accessibility issues within Word documents according to Panorama and addresses how to fix them.

When fixing Microsoft Word accessibility issues identified by Panorama, please complete the accessibility remediation work within Microsoft Word. Open the original Microsoft Word file or download it from eLearn and then begin your accessibility work. Do NOT fix the Microsoft Word accessibility issues within Panorama. Once you fix the identified accessibility issues, replace the new accessible file in eLearn with the file that had the flagged accessibility errors.

The title is missing from the document's properties.

1. In Word, Click on “File”.
2. Click on “Info”.
3. On the right side of the page underneath Properties, click beside “title” to type in a title.

Insufficient contrast between foreground text and background.

1. In Word, Click on “Home”.
2. Select the text that is flagged in Panorama as too similar to the background color.
3. In the Font section, locate the button with the letter A with the color under it.
4. Click on the down arrow beside that button and change the text to a color that stands out from the background more.

For more information about ensuring Color and Contrast are accessible within Microsoft Word, refer to the Color and Contrast section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource.

Item does not have an alternative description.

1. In Word, Right click on the item / image.
2. Click “Edit alt text”.
3. If the image is purely decorative and a visually impaired student doesn’t need the information, click “Mark as decorative”.
4. If the image contains information that a visually impaired student does need, then type up a description in the box provided.

For more information about alt-text, refer to the Alternative Text (Alt-Text) resource and the Images section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource.

Table does not have a header.

1. First, make sure that this table is being used to sort data and information, not for design.
2. Make sure the first row has clear data categories.
3. In Word, Click anywhere on the table.
4. At the top, a new option should appear, “Table Design”.
5. Click on “Table Design”.
6. Click on the box beside “Header Row”.

For more information about making tables accessible within Microsoft Word, refer to the Tables section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource. 

The font size is smaller than 9 points.

1. In Word, Click on “Home”.
2. Select the font that is smaller than 9 points and from the drop-down menu in the Font section, increase the text size to 10 points or higher.

Text should not be justified.

1. In Word, Click on "Home".
2. Select the centered or justified text.
3. Select Align Left or Align Right from the Paragraph section in the Home tab.
4. Repeat Step 3 for all centered or justified text.

The hyperlink text is not descriptive.

1. In Word, Right Click on the hyperlink.
   Select Edit hyperlink.
2. Beside “text to display”, delete the address and type in what it is. Example: University of Michigan's Animal Diversity Website.

For more information about meaningful links, refer to the Links section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource.

This element should be formatted as a list.

If you have manually written a list (1, 2, 3; A, B, C; etc.), it needs to be reformatted by using the “Numbering” button.

1. In Word, click on “Home”.
2. Select the text that should be a list.
3. In the Paragraph section in the Home tab, select the Bullets button or the Numbering button to create an ordered or unordered list. 
4. Click on the dropdown arrow beside either button. You can choose from numbers, capital letters, and roman numerals.

Additional information about accessible lists in Microsoft Word can be found in the Lists section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource.

The document does not have any headings.

1. Place your cursor in the text that you want to make a heading.
2. Go to the Home tab.
3. Choose the appropriate heading level from the Styles group.

There are 2 quick ways to change the look of the heading style:

1. Click on the Design tab and select a different theme. Black & White (Classic) is a basic but functional option. This will change the look of your entire document with just a few clicks.
2. Highlight some text that you would like changed. Change the size, color, font, etc. to look the way you want. Go up to the styles bar and right click on the style that is assigned to that text. Click "Update Heading X to Match Selection". This change all of the selected heading levels in that document to match the style you selected. You will need to repeat the process for each heading level.

For more information about adding Headings, refer to the Headings section of the Creating Accessible Word Documents resource.