How to Make a Word Document Accessible: A Step-by-Step Guide

Here's how to make a Word document accessible: use Word's built-in heading styles for every heading, add alt text to images, create lists and tables with Word's own tools, write link text that says where the link goes, keep text contrast high, set the document's title and language, and run the Accessibility Checker (Review > Check Accessibility) before you share it. If the document is going out as a PDF, export it with Save As so the accessibility tags come along.

None of this needs special software. The problem is that Word makes it just as easy to fake structure, by bolding a line instead of applying a heading style or typing dashes instead of using the bullet button, and a screen reader can't tell what you meant. The steps below are for Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows; Mac menus are similar unless noted.

Accessible Word documents matter in Ontario beyond good practice. Organizations covered by the AODA must provide accessible formats on request, and the Word file is usually the source of every PDF you post. Fixing the source once is far less work than remediating each PDF later. Our AODA requirements overview covers who has to do what.

How to make a Word document accessible in 10 steps

Step 1: Use built-in heading styles

This is the single most important step. Select the heading text and choose Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on from the Styles gallery on the Home tab. Use the Title style for the document title. Screen reader users can then jump between headings, and Word can build a table of contents and PDF bookmarks from them.

• Go down one level at a time: Heading 1, then Heading 2, then Heading 3.
• Don't like how a heading style looks? Right-click it in the Styles gallery and choose Modify, rather than formatting each heading by hand.
• Check your outline with View > Navigation Pane. Every heading should appear there, in the right order. Anything missing isn't a real heading.

The same principles apply on web pages; our guide to accessible headings and page structure goes deeper on choosing levels.

Step 2: Add alt text to images, or mark them decorative

Right-click the image and choose View Alt Text, or select it and go to Picture Format > Alt Text. In the pane that opens, write a sentence or two that conveys what the image tells the reader in this context. If the image is purely decorative, such as a border or a stock photo that adds nothing, tick Mark as decorative instead.

Unhelpful: "chart.png" or "Graph"
Better: "Bar chart: customer enquiries rose from 120 in January to 310 in June." Put the full figures in the text or a table next to the chart.

Word may suggest alt text automatically. Treat it as a draft; it describes what an image looks like, not why it's in your document. Our image accessibility guide covers how to write alt text for photos, icons and charts. Also set images to In Line with Text (under Wrap Text) where you can, so they stay in the reading order rather than floating over it.

Step 3: Use real bulleted and numbered lists

Use the Bullets and Numbering buttons on the Home tab. Typed dashes, asterisks or "1." at the start of a line look like a list but are read as ordinary paragraphs, so a screen reader user doesn't hear "list of five items" and can't skip past it. For steps that must happen in order, use a numbered list.

Step 4: Keep tables simple and mark the header row

Screen readers keep track of where they are in a table by counting cells, so structure matters more than appearance. Use Insert > Table rather than lining up text with tabs or spaces, and use tables only for data, not for page layout.

1. Click inside the table, go to the Table Design tab, and in Table Style Options make sure Header Row is ticked. Tick First Column too if the first column holds row labels.
2. For a table that runs across more than one page, select the header row and choose Repeat Header Rows in the Data group of the table's Layout tab, or right-click, open Table Properties, and on the Row tab tick Repeat as header row at the top of each page. The selection has to include the table's first row. Word repeats the header only at automatic page breaks, not after a manual page break inside the table, and the repeat only shows in Print Layout view.
3. Avoid merged cells, split cells, nested tables and blank rows or columns used for spacing. They make screen readers lose count.
4. Introduce the table with a heading or a sentence that says what it shows, so readers know what they're entering.

After exporting a document with tables to PDF, check the table tags in the PDF. Header cells should come through as header cells, and long tables are where problems most often appear.

Step 5: Write meaningful link text

Screen reader users often pull up a list of links on their own, out of context. "Click here" and long raw URLs tell them nothing. Select descriptive words in your sentence, press Ctrl+K (or Insert > Link) and add the address. To fix an existing link, right-click it, choose Edit Hyperlink, and change the Text to display.

Unhelpful: "For the full policy, click here."
Better: "Read our full accessibility policy."

Step 6: Check colour contrast and don't rely on colour alone

Body text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background, and large text at least 3:1. The Accessibility Checker can flag hard-to-read text, but it won't catch everything, such as text placed over a photo, so check brand colours with a contrast checker. Using the Automatic font colour helps text stay readable in high contrast modes. And never let colour be the only signal: "items in red are overdue" fails for anyone who can't distinguish red, so add a word or symbol too. Our colour contrast guide explains the ratios in detail.

Step 7: Set the document title and language

The file name isn't the document title. Screen readers and PDF viewers can announce the title stored in the file's properties, so set it:

• Title: go to File > Info, click the Title field under Properties and type a descriptive title, such as "2026 Multi-Year Accessibility Plan".
• Language: select all (Ctrl+A), then go to Review > Language > Set Proofing Language and choose the document's language. If a passage is in another language, such as French, select it and set its language separately, so screen readers pronounce it correctly.

Step 8: Avoid the layout shortcuts that break reading order

• Use paragraph spacing (Layout > Spacing) instead of pressing Enter repeatedly. Screen readers announce each empty paragraph as "blank".
• Use Layout > Columns for columns, not tabs, spaces or tables.
• Avoid text boxes and floating shapes for important content. Screen readers may read them out of order or skip them.
• Put repeating content like page numbers in the real header and footer (Insert > Header or Footer).
• Don't put important information only in an image of text or a watermark.

Step 9: Run the Microsoft Word Accessibility Checker

Go to Review > Check Accessibility. The Accessibility pane lists errors and warnings, and selecting one takes you to the problem and suggests a fix. In Word for Microsoft 365 on Windows, the newer Accessibility Assistant also runs in the background and shows a reminder in the status bar when it finds issues. Microsoft's guide to making Word documents accessible documents each check.

Treat a clean result as a good start, not a pass. The checker can tell you an image has no alt text, but not whether the alt text you wrote is any good. It can't tell that a bold line should have been a heading, that a heading's wording is vague, or that your tables read in a sensible order. Read through the Navigation Pane outline and, ideally, listen to the document with a screen reader.

Step 10: Export to PDF with the tags preserved

If you're publishing a PDF, how you create it decides whether your work survives. Don't use Print > Microsoft Print to PDF; it produces a PDF without the structure tags screen readers rely on. Instead:

1. Go to File > Save As (or Save a Copy) and choose PDF as the file type.
2. Select Options.
3. Make sure Document structure tags for accessibility is ticked. If you see an option to create bookmarks using headings, select it too; it gives readers a navigable outline.
4. Select OK, then Save.

On a Mac, choose Best for electronic distribution and accessibility when saving as PDF. Microsoft's article on creating accessible PDFs has the details for each version.

A well-structured Word file usually exports to a reasonably tagged PDF, but not always a perfect one. Complex tables, form fields and some layouts need fixing in a PDF editor afterwards. Our articles on common PDF accessibility errors and how to fix them and PDF accessibility for developers cover what to check after export.

Accessible Word document checklist

• Every heading uses a built-in heading style, in order, and appears in the Navigation Pane.
• The document title uses the Title style, and File > Info > Title is filled in.
• The document language is set, and passages in other languages are marked.
• Every meaningful image has alt text; decorative images are marked decorative.
• Images are in line with text; no important content sits in floating text boxes.
• Lists use the Bullets and Numbering buttons.
• Tables have a header row, no merged or split cells, and repeat headers across pages.
• Link text describes the destination.
• Text meets 4.5:1 contrast, and colour isn't the only way information is shown.
• No empty paragraphs used for spacing.
• The Accessibility Checker shows no errors, and you've reviewed its warnings.
• PDFs are exported with Save As and document structure tags turned on.

Frequently asked questions