Microsoft PowerPoint

All documents should have the title and language set in Document Properties. The title should be concise and meaningful, reflecting the document's purpose. The title can be used to quickly identify the intent of a document without opening it. Meanwhile, the document language indicates the spoken language in which the text is written. Correctly set language properties allow screen readers and assistive technologies to accurately read and interpret the content. 

Add Metadata

A document's title and language are part of its metadata. Metadata is the descriptive information embedded within a file that helps identify and organize the document. This data is not visible to the eye; rather, it is contained within the code. Additional metadata includes the author's name, a subject description, and keywords. This metadata helps users and systems quickly locate the document in a library, database, or search engine by matching the keywords to search queries. In PowerPoint, this additional data can be entered in the same dialogue box as the document title.

In PowerPoint, slide titles serve as Headings, guiding viewers through a presentation's structure. Beyond formatting elements (bolded or italicized words), slide titles provide critical metadata regarding the structure and organization of the presentation at the code level. To enable screen readers to read your PowerPoint slides correctly, you will need to create unique headings identifying slide titles and major section breaks. For more information, see Microsoft Support's documentation on Slide Titles. 

Adding Titles to Slides

There are multiple ways to add titles to your slides in PowerPoint. 

The most straightforward way to add a title is to use the Click to add title field at the top of each slide.

 

PowerPoint's pre-set slide layouts are designed with formatting, color schemes, and reading orders that are optimized for screen readers.  These templates help establish a consistent reading order that ensures content is presented logically and can be easily interpreted by assistive technologies. By utilizing these layouts, presenters avoid the need to design each slide, minimizing the risk of design-related accessibility issues. Ultimately, this saves time and ensures that all users can effectively engage with the content.

Using Pre-Set Slide Layouts

To use pre-set slide layouts that have the reading order already established, go to Home and select the Layout drop down menu.

 

Select the layout that best matches your content needs. 

Alternative text (or alt-text) is the short written description that typically appears in place of an image on a webpage or in a document. The purpose of alt-text is to textually describe a visual image in such a way that someone who can't see the image can understand that image's meaning. This is especially important for screen reader users. When screen readers encounter images in PowerPoint, they read them as images. Unless alternative text (alt-text) describing what is in the image, chart, or graph is provided, a screen reader will simply announce “Image” and move on.

To set alternative text for an image in PowerPoint, right-click on your image. Then, select Edit Alt Text (Windows) / View Alt Text (Mac) from the menu.

An Alt Text Pane will open on the right-hand side of the screen.

Important note: Microsoft PowerPoint usually attempts to generate automatic alt-text. These auto alt-texts are generally inaccurate. It is always best to edit the alt-text yourself.

Type your alt-text into the text box. This text will auto save. When you have added your alt-text, X out of the Alt Text Pane. 

Demonstration

Watch TTaDA's Introduction to Creating Alternative Text in Microsoft Office.

Automatic Alt-Text

Microsoft Office automatically generates alt-text for images, either using artificial intelligence, or inserting the filename or URL that the image originally came from. Automatically generated alt-text is, at best, only a guestimate. At its worst, automatic alt-text is actually more harmful than helpful. It's important to check alt text manually to ensure that if offers a helpful description.

Ensure that text, diagrams, charts, and other meaningful content meet a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for regular text. For large text (18+ pt or 14+ pt bold), a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 is acceptable. Use online contrast checkers like WebAIM to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.

Descriptive links provide users with proper context for links. In other words, they tell the user exactly where they will go if they click on a descriptive link. This ensures all users can easily understand and navigate your document. Descriptive link text is especially important for people using assistive technology. Screen reader users navigate documents by either tabbing through links or viewing a links list, which takes the link out of the context of the surrounding text. Additionally, people using voice recognition also rely on precise link text to navigate efficiently.

• For more information on descriptive links, download our Guide to Writing Descriptive Links. 

When creating tables in PowerPoint, simplicity is key. Complex table designs can confuse users of assistive technologies. To ensure table accessibility, follow these best practices:

• Build all tables in the original document. Avoid drawing, importing, or inserting tables as an image file.
• Use tables for data only, not for layout purposes.
• Use a simple table structure with a clearly marked header row and first column.
• Avoid using blank, merged, and split cells. These can create issues for screen reader users, who may not be able to navigate the table in a logical reading order.

Setting Table Header Row

A table header row is the top row of a table that acts as a title for the type of information users will find in each column. You are probably used to bolding or italicizing information in table header rows, but this alone does not enable screen readers to recognize and read aloud header information. Table headers must be marked at the code level so the change is structural. You can't tell from looking at a table if it's been manually bolded or not - but screen readers will read structural headers aloud, aiding in ease of navigation and accuracy.

The reading order of a document or presentation determines the order that a screen reader will read out content. Users who use screen readers can easily become confused, lost, or miss parts of the content entirely if the reading order of a presentation is incorrect. Verifying the reading order is imperative to ensuring that all students have equal access to the materials. Even if objects in your presentation appear to be ordered logically, you should always manually check the reading order.

Selection Pane

In PowerPoint, the Selection Pane can be used to check reading order and reorganize presentation elements. The Selection Pane displays all slide elements in the order that a screen reader would read them. It is important to note that the reading order in PowerPoint is from bottom-to-top, with the bottom item being the first item read. To launch the selection pane, go to the Home tab and select the drop-down menu next to Arrange. Select Selection Pane.  The Selection Pane will open on the left. 

Click on any of the elements in the Selection Pane to select that element on your slide. To re-order your content, drag and drop the elements within the Selection Pane. 

Group Objects Together

To simplify the reading order, group objects together. Grouping objects together can help screen reader users understand the relationship between images on a slide. Furthermore, it helps reduce the number of objects needed to be ordered in the Selection Pane. For more information, visit Microsoft Support's page on Grouping and Ungrouping Shapes, Pictures, and Other Objects. 

Delete Empty Elements

Ensure that all empty elements are deleted. If elements are left empty but not deleted, screen readers will detect these elements and read them as “empty.” This may overwhelm or annoy screen reader users. 

Run the Accessibility Checker to test for accessibility issues. This checker scans your presentation for potential issues that might prevent people with disabilities from accessing the content properly.  It will highlight the issues, provide suggestions on how to fix them, and then prompt you to fix these issues. For more information, see Microsoft's Support documentation on Improving Accessibility with the Accessibility Checker. 

There are several ways to convert Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to PDFs, but none of these ways preserve the accessibility of the original document in PDF form. Exporting a PowerPoint to a PDF will strip the PowerPoint of all metadata, links, bookmarks, and heading structures. For this reason, it is best to upload and share PowerPoint presentations in their original source format. If security or notes are a concern, you may share different versions of your PowerPoint.

PowerPoint to PDF

Watch TTaDA's Introduction to PowerPoints as PDFs.