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Accessibility Checkers
Why Use Accessibility Checkers?
All digital files and documents shared with students, staff and, or the general public must meet accessibility guidelines. These documents can be shared in many ways; posted on the web, included in a Learning Management System (LMS), or sent by email, but they must all be accessible.
Accessibility checkers will help to identify and provide guidance on correcting any issues to meet this requirement. The best practice is to start thinking about accessibility when creating the document. Being proactive saves time and makes it available and accessible for all users.
How Do I Run an Accessibility Check?
Most software applications have accessibility checkers included in the product. This article will share the basics for the Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat software applications.
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office provides an Accessibility Checker for Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. You can use it to check both new and previously created files. Depending on whether you are using a Mac or Windows OS and different versions of the software the Accessibility Checker may be found in different locations.
- Microsoft – Make your content Accessible to everyone – learn about the accessibility features in Office 365
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Improve Accessibility with the Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office – select Windows, macOS, or Web for specific instructions.
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Microsoft Office applications for Windows, macOS, and Web
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Word – Review Tab > Check Accessibility
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Video – Create Accessible Word Documents
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PowerPoint – Review tab > Check Accessibility
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Excel – Review tab > Check Accessibility
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Outlook – Edit > Check Accessibility
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Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat DC Pro – is a paid-for software application, different from the free Acrobat Reader. Acrobat Pro allows editing of PDF files and includes The Make Accessible Action Wizard to check for and fix accessibility issues.
Note: Not all PDF files can be fixed, such as low-quality scans that the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scan cannot decipher. Do not use PDFs with text that Adobe cannot read. The process of making a PDF that already has many issues accessible can be very time-consuming.
- A time-saving workaround is to create your content in Word and make sure it’s accessible before exporting to PDF. Then provide both a PDF and an accessible Word document version so that users can choose the one that best meets their needs.
- Prepare your Microsoft document to make sure they are accessible before converting to PDF – Create Accessible PDFs
Resources
Section508.gov – Use Document Accessibility Checkers