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These are basic accessibility requirements across all word processing software, with specific tips for both MS Word and Google Docs.
In this article:
Formatting and Structure
Use Style formatting versus direct visual formatting.
Bold, italics, text size and color are not conveyed to screen reader users. Never use them by themselves to organize a document or emphasize text.
Always use the Styles panel to structure your document, and then add any additional visual styling you may wish.
Use the Styles panel to organize content with headings, paragraphs, etc. in both Word (top) and Google Docs (bottom).
Tip: Modifying a pre-set style
If you don’t like the way the default style looks for, say, Heading 3, you can change its formatting.
In Word: Right-click on any style in the Styles panel of the ribbon, and choose "modify." Then customize font, color, size, etc. using the direct visual formatting options. All existing and future Heading 3s in the document will match your custom formatting.
In Google Docs: Use the direct visual formatting options to get your text looking the way you like. Highlight that text, then go to the styles drop-down, move down to Heading 3, and choose the sub-option that says “Update Heading 3 to Match.” This will change all existing and future Heading 3s to the new style in that specific document.
Headings
Always use Headings in a logical, hierarchical order to improve accessibility and navigation. Using proper heading structure also makes editing and reorganizing your document easier for you.
Do not skip heading levels. Your document structure should follow this pattern:
- Heading 1: Document title or main content heading/title. There should only be one Heading 1 per document.
- Heading 2: Major section headings
- Heading 3: Sub-section of the Heading 2
- Heading 4: Sub-section of the Heading 3, and so on, ending with Heading 6
- Normal: Paragraph
Text Legibility
Ensure your text is easy to read.
- Make sure text color has high contrast against the background.
- Use a sans-serif font like Arial or Calibri.
- Avoid using all caps.
- Set line spacing to 1.5.
- Use 11pt or larger font for document paragraphs.
- Alignment
- Keep paragraph text left-aligned.
- Headings may be left-aligned or centered.
- Do not use justified text.
Knowledge Base Resource: Color Contrast and How to Check It
Add a Table of Contents to Long Documents
Any document that is eight or more pages should have a clickable Table of Contents. If your document has proper heading structure, the table of contents is automatically created in both Word and Google Docs.
Lists
Using bulleted and numbered lists makes content easier to understand for all users. Make sure they are properly formatted as real lists by using the paragraph styling options.
Alternatively, you can type either a number or a hyphen at the start of a line and both Word and Google Docs will automatically recognize them as lists. If you create lists using the keyboard alone, always check that they are showing as list styles on the menu.
The cursor is placed on properly formatted lists. In Google Docs (top) it is a numbered list style. Word (bottom) shows a bulleted list style.
Other Layout Formatting
Do not use the tab or spacebar to create columns, indents, or any other special layout spacing. Always use the ribbon/menu options to add special formatting to paragraphs.
Descriptive Hyperlink Text
Links should be obvious and predictable. This means all users should easily be able to distinguish links from non-link content, and have a good idea of what will happen when they click on one.
- Make sure the link is formatted in a way that makes it obvious – usually underlined and a different color than the surrounding text.
- Avoid generic link text like “Click Here.”
- Do not use URLs as the link text.
- Keep the link text as short as possible while still conveying the purpose of the link.
Knowledge Base Resource: Accessible Links
Describe Images with Alternative Text
All images that convey important information must have descriptive alternative text to convey the same meaning. There are several ways to add alternative text in your document, as detailed in Table 1.
Table 1 Different ways to add image descriptive text
| Placement of Alternative Text |
Who Benefits? |
Recommended for |
| In the main text of the document |
All users – screen reader users and sighted users |
Complex graphs, charts, and diagrams |
| In a caption |
All users |
Simpler charts or diagrams; photos that need something important highlighted for all users |
| In the alt text attribute |
Only screen reader users |
Photos that relate to the text of the document; any images of text that is not repeated elsewhere |
| A combination of the three above |
All users |
Use as needed, but do not make text redundant by repeating it across all three places. |
Knowledge Base Resource: How to Write Useful Alternative Text
Tables
Tables communicate important data, but a table that is not formatted correctly is very difficult for a screen reader user to understand. Ensure that all tables are properly formatted.
- Always add a table caption.
- Always designate a header row and/or column.
- Do not merge cells.
- Do not nest tables.
Note: Google Docs does not allow you to designate header rows or columns, or add a table caption. If your document contains a table, it is best to use MS Word.
Tip: How to add a table caption and header row in Word
To add a table caption: Right-click on the table; then select “Insert Caption” from the pop-up menu.
To add a header row and/or column: Highlight the table. In the main menu, select ‘Table Design.” On the ribbon, the Table Styles panel has checkmarks to make the first row a header row, and the first column a header column.
Accessibility Checker
Microsoft offers an Accessibility checker to help you fix any errors. Always use it before you publish, export, or distribute any document.
Unfortunately, Google does not yet offer an accessibility checker. Consider using MS Word instead. But if you still use Google Docs, follow all of the advice in this guide to make your document as accessible as possible.
Exporting to PDF
Exporting your Word document to Adobe PDF will preserve all of your formatting, structure, and alternative text. By following all of the advice in this guide, when you export your accessible Word document, the resulting PDF will also be accessible.
Before saving as PDF, please fix these two last requirements that the Accessibility Checker won’t catch.
1. Add a document title
A document title is metadata attached to your file. It is a short text description of the document. A document title should not contain any dates, version numbers, or file extensions like a file name. For example, “Document Accessibility in Word and Google Docs” is a good document title, while “DocAccessibility_11-15-24.doc” is a file name.
PDFs require a document title for accessibility compliance. You can add this piece of metadata in Word, and it will carry over to your exported PDF.
Windows
Go to the File menu and select the Info tab. In the Properties section on the right, click in the Title field and add your document title.
Mac
In the File menu dropdown, select Properties. On the Summary tab, add your document title in the Title field.
2. Export to PDF in the proper way
NEVER use the “Print to PDF” option! It will erase all of your heading structure and alt text.
Instead, use the “Save as Adobe PDF” option in the File menu. Before actually saving your PDF, make sure the settings are correct. Choose the Options button on the Save As screen. Then check the boxes for:
- Convert Document Information
- Enable Accessibility and Reflow with tagged Adobe PDF
- Create Bookmarks > Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks
You only need to set these options once, and they will carry over to all future exported PDFs.
Problems with Google Docs
Unfortunately, there are a number of accessibility shortfalls when exporting a Google Doc as a PDF. All of your document structure will be lost.
Save your Google Doc as a Word document. Follow all advice in this guide and run the Accessibility Checker before exporting it as a PDF from Word. This will ensure your PDF is accessible.
Quick Comparison of Accessibility in MS Word Vs. Google Docs
Word has a number of advantages over Google Docs when it comes to accessibility. Please keep this in mind when choosing to create a document in either platform.
Table 2 Comparison of Accessibility Features in Word and Google Docs
| Feature |
MS Word |
Google Docs |
| Headings |
Heading styles easy to use |
Heading styles easy to use |
| Links |
Descriptive link text easy to add |
Descriptive link text easy to add |
| Alt Text |
Supports adding alternative text |
Supports adding alternative text |
| Table of Contents |
Automatically created from heading structure |
Automatically created from heading structure |
| Tables |
Supports table captions and header rows and columns |
Does NOT support table captions or header rows and columns |
| Accessibility Checker |
Offers ways to fix issues |
NO Accessibility Checker |
| Export to PDF |
Document structure preserved is when exporting to a tagged PDF. |
Document structure is LOST. Resulting PDF is NOT tagged or accessible. |
Additional Resources
Word
Google Docs