Make your documents accessible and easier for everyone to read and edit. Use the Accessibility Assistant to find and fix accessibility issues before you send an Outlook email or share your document.
In this topic
Run the Accessibility Assistant
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Press Alt+R to expand the Review tab.
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Press the A+1 keys to open the Check Accessibility dropdown menu in the Accessibility group.
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Press A to select the Check Accessibility option and then the Accessibility Assistant pane will open.
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Alternatively, press Shift+F6 to navigate to the status bar. Use the Right arrow key to go to the Accessibility: Investigate button.
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Press Enter to open the Accessibility Assistant pane.
: The Accessibility: Investigate button is highlighted on the status bar whenever there are accessibility issues in the document.
Fix the accessibility issues
The Accessibility Assistant helps you find and fix issues in the following categories:
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Color and Contrast: This category ensures the text is easy to read against its background.
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Media and Illustrations: This category checks for missing alt text and other media-related issues.
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Tables: This one looks for issues in table structure and readability.
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Document Structure: This category ensures headings and other structural elements are used correctly.
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Document Access: This category verifies if the document can be accessed programmatically, such as using screen readers.
To resolve an accessibility issue:
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Press the Tab key to move through categories with accessibility issues, such as hard-to-read text contrast in the Color and Contrast, or missing alt text in Media and Illustrations.
: Categories without issues will be skipped.
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Press Enter on a category to view the issue and probable solutions. The text or image with the problem will be highlighted.
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The drill-down pane for the issue will open, providing suggestions to fix it.
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Use the basic navigation keys to move through the options in the drill-down pane.
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Press Enter to choose an option that resolves the issue.
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To understand the importance of resolving an issue, select the Learning Tip link at the bottom of each drill-down pane.
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The summary pane at the top shows the remaining issues and the current issue being addressed.
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If there are multiple issues of the same type, use the Previous or Next buttons in the drill-down pane to navigate the previous and the next issue.
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Once all issues are resolved, the focus returns to the summary pane. Review and fix any remaining issues.
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To give feedback to Microsoft about the Accessibility Assistant, select the Tell us what you think button in the Give Feedback to Microsoft section in the Accessibility Assistant pane. Fill out and submit the Feedback to Microsoft form.
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To learn about making documents inclusive, go to the Learn More section and select the Making documents accessible link to open the help article.
See also
Get real-time notifications of accessibility issues while working on Microsoft 365 Apps
