How to create accessible Word documents

Most inaccessible PDFs started life as Word documents. Fix the habit at the source and every PDF you export afterward will be most of the way there.

1. Use heading styles, not formatting

Select a heading and choose Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3 from the Styles gallery. Change how they look by modifying the style (right-click → Modify), not by formatting the text directly. Use one Heading 1 for the document title and don’t skip levels.

Check your structure in View → Navigation Pane: it should read like a table of contents.

2. Use real lists

Use the Bullets and Numbering buttons. Typed dashes, asterisks or manual numbers aren’t recognized as lists by assistive technology.

3. Add alt text to images

Right-click an image → View Alt Text. Describe the purpose of the image in context, or tick Mark as decorative. Set images to In Line with Text so they stay in the reading order.

4. Make tables simple and labeled

• Use Insert → Table, never tabs and spaces to fake columns.
• In Table Design, tick Header Row; in Table Properties → Row, tick Repeat as header row at the top of each page.
• Avoid merged and split cells and nested tables. Split a complex table into simpler ones if you can.
• Don’t use tables for page layout.

5. Write meaningful links

Select descriptive text (“2026 fee schedule (PDF)”) and insert the link. Avoid “click here” and raw URLs.

6. Check color and contrast

Text needs 4.5:1 contrast against its background. Don’t use color alone to show meaning (for example, red text for “required” without saying so).

7. Avoid floating text boxes and manual spacing

Text boxes, WordArt and shapes often fall out of the reading order. Use styles with “Space before/after” instead of pressing Enter repeatedly, and page breaks instead of rows of blank lines.

8. Set the document title and language

• File → Info → Properties → Title: enter a real title.
• Review → Language → Set Proofing Language for the document (and for any passage in another language).

9. Run the Accessibility Checker

Review → Check Accessibility. Fix every error and warning, and leave the checker open while you work — it updates live. It won’t catch everything (it can’t judge alt text quality or heading logic), but it catches a lot.

10. Export properly

File → Save As → PDF → Options → Document structure tags for accessibility. Then check the PDF as described in how to make an accessible PDF.