Making Word documents more accessible involves:

• Adding structure
• Adding alternative text to images
• Making form fields accessible

Adding Structure

Using the Formatting toolbar in Word, you can apply a heading style to text. Use of heading styles has the following benefits:

• Adds structure to your document
• Allows you to create a Table of Contents in the Word document
• Adds accessibility enhancements to a PDF that you can generate from Word

To apply a Word heading style to text:

1. Display the Formatting toolbar by clicking View > Toolbars > Formatting.
2. Click in the text where you want to apply a heading style.
3. Click the arrow to the right of the Style pull-down menu, and select the appropriate heading style (Heading 1, Heading 2, and so forth) from the list.
   
   
   
   Note: For portalized websites, the page title will automatically be tagged as a first-level heading, so use headings starting with Heading 2.

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Adding Alternative Text to Images

To provide text equivalents (alt-text) for images:

1. Right-click the image and select Format Picture.
2. Cliick the Web tab, and enter text that describes the image in the text box labeled Alternative text.
   
   

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Making Form Fields Accessible

You create forms in Word using the Forms toolbar. To view this toolbar, from the View menu, click Toolbars, then Forms.

From left to right the buttons in the Forms toolbar are: Text Form Field, Check Box Form Field, Drop-Down Form Field, Form Field Options, Draw Table, Insert Table, Insert Frame, Form Field Shading, Reset Form Fields, and Protect Form.

To make a form accessible:

1. Position your cursor in a text, check box, or drop-down form field.
2. Click the Form Field Options button in the Forms toolbar.
   Note: If you are unable to click the Form Field Options button (it is grayed out), you may need to unprotect the form by clicking the Protect Form button at the far right of the Forms toolbar.
3. Enter a bookmark that describes the field. Note: Spaces are not allowed in bookmark fields.

   

   From the Text Form Field Options dialog box, you can also enter default text that will appear in the edit box, and you can limit the number of characters that the user can type in the edit field.

4. Click Add Help Text. Enter Help text to assist that user in completing the field or making a choice.
   
   
   
   The Help text will appear in the status bar and will be spoken by a screen reader.
5. Click the Protect Form button to allow the user completing the form to tab through the fields, and to prevent the user from changing any other information in the form.

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