Digital Accessibility

Creating Compliant Documents

The information on this page will be updated as new guidelines & best practices are established

PDFs are the preferred format for all digital documents distributed online. The easiest way to create compliant PDFs is to export directly from Microsoft Word. Visit the Testing PDF Documents for Accessibility page for more information on scanning PDF documents.

Microsoft Word Documents

The accessibility of your final PDF heavily depends on the source Word document. Use proper heading styles, alt text for images, and clear table structures in Word before exporting to PDF.

  • Use Headings Properly

    Using Microsoft Word's built-in heading tool is essential for creating well-structured and accessible documents. Headings (Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, etc.) not only visually organize your content but also provide crucial structural information for assistive technologies like screen readers. Properly formatted headings allow users to navigate documents easily, understand the hierarchy of information, and quickly find specific sections. Using Word's built-in heading styles ensures consistent formatting and creates a logical document outline, which is vital for accessibility and overall document usability.

    Changing the size, color, or boldness of plain text does not create a heading. You can, however, change the size, color, and boldness of the different headings if the default options do not work with your document. Headings should cascade upward

    Headings can be found in the Styles pane under the Home tab in Microsoft Word.

      

  • Alt text for all photos & graphics

    Adding alternative text ("alt text") to images in Microsoft Word is crucial for making your documents accessible to people with visual impairments who use screen readers. Alt text provides a textual description of an image, allowing screen readers to convey the image's content and context to the user. Here's a guide on how to add alt text in Word:

    This is the most direct and reliable method, especially in newer versions of Word.

    1. Select the image
      Click on the image you want to add alt text to.
    2. Open the "Picture" or "Format Picture" tab (depending on your version)
    3. Click the "Alt Text" button
    4. Add your description
      Make sure your description is a concise and descriptive explanation of the image

    Writing Effective Alt Text

    • Be concise
      Keep your descriptions brief and to the point. Aim for under 125 characters if possible.
    • Be descriptive
      Provide enough detail so that the user understands the image's content and purpose.
    • Provide context
      Consider the surrounding text and how the image relates to it.
    • Avoid redundancy
      Don't repeat information that is already in the surrounding text.
    • Don't start with "Image of..." or "Picture of..." 
      Screen readers already announce that it's an image.
    • For decorative images
      If an image is purely decorative and doesn't convey any meaningful information, you can either leave the alt text blank (in newer versions of Word) or use two quotation marks with no space between them ("") in older versions. This tells screen readers to ignore the image.
    • For complex images (charts, graphs, etc.)
      If an image contains complex information, provide a brief summary in the alt text and consider including a more detailed description in the surrounding text or in a caption.
    Example:

    Instead of:

    Photo of a student

    Use:

    Undergraduate students studying in the Student Center

Export Documents as PDFs

Exporting Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents as PDFs is generally straightforward across different operating systems. This is the most reliable method to create accessible PDFs as it preserves document structure and metadata.

Generally all documents can be exported as PDFs, but it may not be appropriate for all documents. Excel files, for example, may be too large to export meaningfully into a PDF while retaining readability for users. In that case, it is perfectly reasonable to keep the document in the Excel format, assuming it complies with ADA regulations and guidelines.

Heading 1

Generally, there should only be one Heading 1 in your document. This is usually the title of the document.

Heading 2

Heading 2 denotes subheadings within a section under Heading 1.

Heading 3

Use Heading 3 to break up content within sections already defined by Heading 2.

Heading 3

This is a section sub-section under the same topic defined in Heading 2

Second Heading 2

A second Heading 2 divides the information defined by the Heading 1 even further.

These heading levels create a clear structure for the information within the document, improving readability. A clear outline can be created using the heading levels:
  • Heading 1
    • Heading 2
      • Heading 3
      • Heading 3
    • Second Heading 2

Heading 1

Generally, there should only be one Heading 1 in your document. This is usually the title of the document.

Heading 3 × Incorrect

Headings should always cascade upward one at a time. Heading 1 should be followed by Heading 2, followed by Heading 3, etc. You should never skip a heading level. The formatting of the heading can be changed without changing the heading level.

Heading 4 Correct

This is the correct usage of Heading 4—to break up content under Heading 3 into sub-sections

Heading 2 Correct

While you should never skip Heading levels as they ascend, it is ok to jump to a lower Heading level when appropriate. Remember, the content under each subsection should relate to the next lowest Heading the precedes it. In this case, this Heading 2 is sectioning information defined in the Heading 1 at the top of the page.

Heading 1 × Incorrect

Generally, you should never have more than one Heading 1 in your document.

Heading 5 × Incorrect

It might be tempting to jump several heading levels to create smaller sub-headings for additional notes about a section. This is incorrect. You should always use the next sequential heading level when subdividing content. You can restyle the heading once the correct level has been selected.

The above document would create the following outline in assistive technology:

  • Heading 1
      • Heading 3
        • Heading 4
    • Heading 2
  • Heading 1
          • Heading 5