PowerPoint presentations are often the source for PDFs, handouts, and lecture notes. If the structure is broken here, it is broken everywhere. To master accessibility in PowerPoint, you must look beyond the automated checker to the logical flow of the slides themselves.
Please note: Depending on what version of Microsoft Office you are using, the accessibility checker may flag different errors and warnings. Microsoft has recently improved their checker. We recommend that you update to the latest available version. If you’re running an older version of an Office 365 app and want an update,
follow these steps or submit an
Office 365 Request to ITS.
The most important rule for PowerPoint: Use Pre-Built Layouts
Before you check for specific errors, you must ensure the foundation of your slide deck is solid. The single most impactful change you can make for accessibility and efficiency is to stop using "Blank" slide layouts.
The Issue:
Many creators choose a "Blank" layout and manually draw Text Boxes to place content exactly where they want it.
Why it Matters:
While manual text boxes look fine visually, they are invisible to many of PowerPoint's internal tools.
- Outline View: Content typed into manual text boxes often does not appear in the PowerPoint Outline view. If a user relies on the Outline view to read the text structure quickly, they will miss important content.
- Handouts & Exports: If you convert your presentation to Handouts (e.g., "Send to Word" or "Save as Outline") to provide notes for students or colleagues, manual text boxes are often stripped out completely.
- Screen Readers: Content in a manually-drawn text box that does not show in the Outline View, will also NOT be read by a screen reader. Additionally, manual text boxes that are picked up by screen readers will read in the order they were drawn, not the logical order of the slide, often requiring time-consuming manual fixes in the Reading Order pane.
How to Fix:
Always use Home > Layout and select a pre-built structure (e.g., "Title and Content," "Two Content," or "Comparison"). This ensures your text is typed into a true Placeholder, which guarantees it appears in the Outline, Handouts, and correct Reading Order by default.
- It's fine to resize and move around the existing placeholders in a layout. Just don't create a new text box from scratch on a slide.
- If the exact layout you need doesn't exist, create one in the Master view.
Efficiency Wins:
- Global Updates: If you decide to change your title font from Arial to Calibri, you can update the Slide Master once, and every Title placeholder in the deck will update instantly. Manual text boxes would have to be fixed one by one.
- Consistency: Hand-drawn text boxes often drift pixel-by-pixel from slide to slide, creating a "jumping" effect when presenting.
Critical Manual Checks
You are smarter than the automated checker, so please verify that you are following best practices for formatting and structuring your presentation. These are critical errors that the automated Accessibility Checker can miss.
Text inside Images (Screenshots)
The Issue:
Taking a screenshot of a spreadsheet, document, or quote and pasting it onto the slide as an image.
Why it Matters:
Screen readers cannot read text inside an image. The data is effectively dead pixels. Even if you add Alt Text, you cannot reasonably add an entire data table's worth of information into the Alt tag.
Why the Checker Misses It:
The checker sees this as a picture. If you add Alt Text saying "Table of data," the checker passes it, ignoring the fact that the content of the table is inaccessible.
How to Fix:
Always type text into a Placeholder Text Box or use a native PowerPoint Table (Insert > Table).
Efficiency Wins:
- Editability: If the data changes next month, you can edit the number directly on the slide. If it was a screenshot, you would have to go back to the source file, update it, take a new screenshot, and re-paste it.
- Scaling: Native text scales clearly when projected on a large screen; screenshots often become pixelated or blurry.
Color-Coded Charts and Legends
The Issue:
A pie chart uses Blue for "Yes" and Green for "No," with a legend that only shows colored squares.
Why it Matters:
Users with color blindness (Deuteranopia/Protanopia) may see two shades of muddy yellow/gray and cannot tell which slice is "Yes" and which is "No."
Why the Checker Misses It:
The checker tests for contrast (light vs. dark) to ensure readability, but it cannot understand the meaning encoded in the hue.
How to Fix:
Directly label your data points (place the word "Yes" and the percentage on the slice itself) or use pattern fills (stripes vs. dots) in addition to color.
Efficiency Wins:
Black & White Printing: If someone prints your slides in grayscale to save ink, direct labels ensure the chart is still readable. Color-only legends become useless in grayscale.
Relying on Color for Meaning
The Issue:
Instructions like "Required fields are marked in red."
Why it Matters:
Users with color blindness or those using monochrome displays cannot perceive the color distinction.
Why the Checker Misses It:
The checker tests for contrast (light vs. dark), but it cannot understand the meaning of your words. If you have dark red text on white, the checker passes it, even though a colorblind user can't distinguish it from black text.
How to Fix:
Always add a text label or shape difference. For example, use "Required fields are marked in red and with an asterisk (*)."
Vague Link Text
The Issue:
Hyperlinks that say "Click here," “Read more,” or display a raw URL.
Why it Matters:
Screen reader users often scan a list of links in a document to find resources. Hearing "Click here" ten times provides no context, and hearing the URL read out character by character is a confusing waste of time. Microsoft Video on Links
Why the Checker Misses It:
As long as the link works, the checker is usually satisfied.
How to Fix:
Highlight descriptive text and hyperlink that. Rather than using "Click here to read the report," with “click here” serving as the link text, instead hyperlink the words Read the report.
Text that's too small or uses hard-to-read fonts (Readability)
The Issue:
The presentation uses a font size smaller than 20 points.
Why it Matters:
Visual Strain: When presenting live, consider people in the back. Small text is difficult to read, and cramming a slide full of lots of text makes it harder for everyone to fully understand.
Why the Checker Misses It:
The Accessibility Checker primarily looks for technical structure and contrast. It cannot judge the readability of text styling choices.
How to Fix:
- Size: Ensure body text is at least 20 pts for the slide body, and at least 36 pts for the slide title.
- Style: Stick to accessible sans-serif fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Verdana, or clean serif fonts like Times New Roman.
- Avoid: Limit the use of all-caps, italics, or underlined text for long passages, as these styles can make words harder to recognize.
Missing Document Title (Metadata)
The Issue:
The file name is v2_final_draft.pptx, but the internal document title metadata is blank or says "Presentation1."
Why it Matters:
The document title metadata should be a short description of the document. When a PowerPoint deck is exported to PDF, the "Document Title" is the first thing a screen reader announces. If it's missing, the user hears the unhelpful file name or nothing at all.
How to Fix:
Go to File > Info. On the right side under "Properties," type a short, descriptive title in the Title field.
The Accessibility Checker Decoded
A breakdown of the specific flags returned by the "Check Accessibility" tool in PowerPoint.
Errors
Missing Slide Title
Why it matters: Titles are the "map" of the presentation for non-visual users. They allow users to jump directly to the slide they need.
How to fix: Every slide needs a unique title. If you don't want a title visible on the slide (for design reasons), newer versions of PowerPoint allow you to add a "hidden title" that will still function for screen reader users.
Duplicate Slide Title
Why it matters: If three slides are named "Spring Report," the user cannot tell which one they are currently viewing or navigating to.
How to fix: For topics that span multiple slides, make the titles unique by adding a count at the end: Spring Report (1 of 3), Spring Report (2 of 3), Spring Report (3 of 3)
Missing Alternative Text
Why it matters: Visuals like photos, icons, and charts are invisible to blind users without a text description.
How to fix: Right-click the visual, select "View Alt Text," and input a concise description of the image's intent.
Missing Table Header
Why it matters: Headers help screen reader users navigate data and understand which labels apply to which cells.
How to Fix: Select the table, go to the Table Design tab, and ensure the Header Row check box is selected.
All sections have meaningful names
Why it Matters: Generic names like "Section 3" make it hard to navigate large decks via the Thumbnail or Grid views.
How to Fix: Right-click the section header in the slide pane and select Rename Section. Give it a unique, descriptive name.
Document access is not restricted
Why it matters: Security settings that restrict editing can sometimes block screen readers from accessing the text programmatically.
How to fix: Check File > Info > Protect Document > Restrict Editing and ensure permissions allow access for assistive technologies.Warnings
Warnings
Check Reading Order
Why it matters: Screen readers read objects in the order they were added, which may not match the visual order, leading to a disjointed narrative.
How to fix: Use the Reading Order Pane to verify that the sequence matches the visual flow (Top-to-Bottom, Left-to-Right).
Missing Closed Captions
Why it matters: Deaf or hard-of-hearing users cannot access audio information in embedded videos.
How to fix: Embed a video file that already has burned-in captions or add a separate caption file (VTT) via the Playback tab.
Sufficient contrast between text and background
Why it matters: People with low vision or color blindness struggle to read text that doesn't stand out clearly against its background.
How to fix: Change the font color or background shading to a higher contrast combination (e.g., black text on white) or use the "High Contrast Only" mode in Word to find issues.
Table has a simple structure
Why it matters: Tables with merged cells, split cells, or nested tables are difficult for screen readers to navigate, often causing the user to lose track of their position in the grid.
How to fix: Simplify the table layout. Avoid merging cells; repeat data in each cell if necessary. Ensure tables are not nested inside other tables.
Every Presentation is Different
You are the expert on your own presentation. In specific circumstances, a given warning from the Accessibility Checker may not apply. Here are a few examples:
Reading order is not meant to be Top to Bottom, Left to Right
The PowerPoint Accessibility Checker flags any slide where the reading order is not Top to Bottom, Left to Right. But a given slide may be logical if read in a clockwise order, or right to left. In these cases, you can ignore the reading order flag.
A video on a slide has open captions (burned in captions)
The PowerPoint Accessibility Checker will flag this video for missing closed captions. But you do not need closed captions if a video already has open captions. You can ignore this flag.
A table that isn't really a table
You used a "table" for something like an equation array or matrix, whihc don't have table header rows or columns, but the Checker flags them for missing table headers. There are rare exceptions where table headers don't apply to your specific content. You can ignore this flag in those instances.
Additional Resources
Microsoft Support: Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities
Microsoft Support: Rules for the Accessibility Checker