DESIGNED FOR ACCESSIBILITY
Accessibility in Microsoft 365
Microsoft 365
Thanks to a wealth of accessibility options in Microsoft 365, everyone can read, create, and present. Check out these essential features.
Read With Ease
The Immersive Reader feature in Word and OneNote displays the document optimized for readability—without altering the original.
Click the View tab, then click Immersive Reader. Adjust text spacing, page colour, and more using the buttons in the ribbon (in Word) or the Text Preferences button (in OneNote). To get a close-up view, use the slider.
Hear It Aloud
To have Word read a document to you, position the cursor where you want to start, then click Review > Read Aloud. To adjust the reading speed or choose a different voice, click the gear icon.
Dictate Your Documents
Microsoft 365’s built-in dictation feature lets you speak instead of typing: In Word, click Home, then click the Dictate button; in PowerPoint and Outlook, choose Edit > Start Dictation.
When dictating, you can add punctuation and line breaks by speaking them: “Dear John comma new line I hope you’re well period How about getting together for lunch soon question mark new line Best comma Sandra.”
In Word, click the gear icon to choose your language, turn on automatic punctuation, or filter profanity. For advanced tips, click the question mark button, then scroll down to What Can I Say?
Present for Everyone
PowerPoint’s Live Captions and Subtitles feature allows everyone to participate. Using artificial intelligence, it transcribes as you speak, putting your words—or a translation of them—on the screen in real time. (PowerPoint can translate into more than 60 languages.)
Start With the Right Template
The accessible templates in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint help you ensure your documents are available to all with the help of higher colour contrast, larger fonts, alt text for visual objects, and table structures and data-input messages designed for screen readers. To find these templates, go to File > New From Template, then search “accessible” (including the quotation marks).
Run an Accessibility Check
Before sharing your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents, click Review, then Check Accessibility. Click any of the potential issues that are flagged to see how to fix them.
You can also use the Accessibility Checker in OneNote (click Tools > Check Accessibility) and on Outlook’s email composition screen (choose Edit > Check Accessibility).
Declutter the Ribbon
The ribbon in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint hosts dozens of buttons and menus by default, but less can be more. To remove features you rarely use in each app, go to Preferences > Ribbon & Toolbar > Ribbon > Customize The Ribbon. Uncheck the box next to an action (or an entire tab). Or create a new tab with just your favourite commands by clicking the plus sign button.
Access Features More Easily
Microsoft 365 apps can help you find commands or features that might be challenging to locate in menus and submenus. Depending on the app, click the search field at the top of every window or the Tell Me button in every ribbon, then type words related to a task (for example, “table” or “columns”).