Word accessibility checker: how to run it and fix every result
How to run Microsoft Word's Accessibility Checker, what Errors, Warnings and Tips mean, how to fix each one, and how to export a properly tagged PDF.
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Microsoft Word's Accessibility Checker scans a document for common barriers, such as images without alt text, tables without header information, low text contrast and documents that don't use heading styles. To run it, select Review > Check Accessibility. Selecting a result takes you to the problem and suggests fixes. It's a strong first pass, but Microsoft itself notes that it can't detect every issue, and it doesn't check the PDF you export from Word.
How to run the checker
- Open the document in Word for Windows, Mac or the web.
- Select Review > Check Accessibility. A pane opens and lists what it found. In Word for Microsoft 365, this pane is called the Accessibility Assistant.
- Select a result to jump to it in the document. Each result explains why it matters and offers recommended actions, often with a one-click fix.
- Fix and re-check until nothing serious remains, then work through the smaller suggestions.
You can also leave the checker running while you write. In current versions, the status bar at the bottom of the window shows the accessibility status, and an Accessibility: Investigate button appears when there are issues to look at; selecting it opens the pane. See Accessibility: Investigate for more.
What the results mean
Microsoft's rules sort each issue by how serious it is:
| Category | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Errors | Content that makes the document difficult or impossible to read and understand for people with disabilities | A picture with no alt text that isn't marked decorative |
| Warnings | Content that, in most but not all cases, makes the document difficult to understand | A table with merged or split cells |
| Tips | Content people can understand, but that could be presented in a way that improves their experience | A document that doesn't use heading styles |
| Intelligent Services | Content made accessible automatically by AI, such as suggested alt text, which you should review for accuracy | Alt text Word generated for a photo |
The Accessibility Assistant in Word for Microsoft 365 groups the same kinds of issues by topic instead: Color and Contrast, Media and Illustrations, Tables, Document Structure, and Document Access.
Fixing each result
| What Word checks | How to fix it |
|---|---|
| Non-text content has alt text (and the alt text isn't a file name) | Right-click the picture, chart or shape and choose View Alt Text (older versions: Edit Alt Text). Describe what it means, or check Mark as decorative. |
| Tables specify column header information | Right-click in the table's first row, choose Table Properties, open the Row tab and check Repeat as header row at the top of each page. |
| Table has a simple structure | Remove merged and split cells and tables inside tables. Repeat labels instead, or split the table into simpler ones. |
| Sufficient contrast between text and background | Change the text or background color. Normal text needs a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. |
| Document uses heading styles | Apply Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on to your section headings (see below). |
| Content control fields have titles | For each fillable control, open its Properties from the Developer tab and enter a Title that says what to enter. |
| Document access isn't restricted | If the document uses Information Rights Management, allow programmatic access to content in its permission settings, so screen readers can read it. |
| Suggested alt text (Intelligent Services) | Read each generated description, then correct it or replace it. It can't know why the image is there. |
Older versions of Word may also report items such as unclear hyperlink text, pictures that aren't in line with text, or repeated blank characters. The fixes for those are in the next section.
How to make a Word document accessible
The checker catches missing pieces. Building the document well in the first place prevents most of them.
- Use heading styles. Apply Heading 1, Heading 2 and so on from Home > Styles, instead of making text bold or bigger. Open View > Navigation Pane to check the outline: if a heading isn't listed there, it isn't a real heading.
- Use real lists. Use the bullet and numbering buttons, not typed hyphens or numbers.
- Write descriptive links. Link text should make sense on its own. Avoid "click here" and long web addresses.
- Add alt text and keep images inline. Describe what each image means, mark decorative images as decorative, and set images to In Line with Text so they stay in reading order.
- Keep tables simple. One header row set to repeat, no merged cells, no blank rows or columns for spacing, and no tables used only for layout.
- Avoid floating text. Text boxes and shapes are easy to miss and often read out of order. Use styles, indents and real columns (Layout > Columns) instead.
- Space with styles, not blank lines. Use Spacing Before and Spacing After in paragraph settings instead of pressing Enter repeatedly.
- Check color and contrast. Use dark text on a light background, and never use color alone to show meaning, such as "items in red are overdue".
- Set the language. Use Review > Language > Set Proofing Language for the document, and set it again for any passage in another language.
- Give the document a title. Enter it in File > Info > Properties > Title. This becomes the PDF title too.
- Keep key information out of headers and footers. Word usually exports them as page decoration that screen readers skip.
Export a tagged PDF from Word
How you create the PDF decides whether the accessibility work survives.
On Windows: select File > Save As (or File > Export > Create PDF/XPS) and choose PDF. Select Options and make sure these are checked:
- Document structure tags for accessibility, which creates the tags
- Create bookmarks using: Headings
- Document properties, which carries over the title
On a Mac: choose File > Save As, pick PDF as the file format, and select Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (uses Microsoft online service). Microsoft notes that this option sends the document to its online service for conversion, which matters if your document is sensitive.
In Word for the web: choose File > Save As > Download as PDF. Microsoft says tags are added automatically.
With Adobe Acrobat installed: the Acrobat tab's Create PDF button (PDFMaker) also creates tagged PDFs when its accessibility setting is turned on in its preferences.
Never use Print to PDF. "Microsoft Print to PDF" and other print drivers create a PDF with no tags, so all the structure you built in Word is lost.
In current versions (Word for Windows version 2408 and later, and Word for Mac 16.89 and later), the export tags headings, lists, tables, links, footnotes and pictures with their alt text, and marks headers, footers and decorative pictures as artifacts so screen readers skip them. A picture with no alt text is still exported as a figure, just with empty alt text, which PDF checkers flag. Microsoft also documents that some newer builds treat a table with no borders or shading as a layout table and tag each cell as a plain paragraph, so give data tables visible borders or shading.
After exporting, check the PDF itself. Word's checker only looks at the Word file, and exports can still go wrong: tables with merged cells, floating images, text boxes and footnotes are common trouble spots. Our guide on how to make a PDF accessible covers what to check.
What Word's checker can't check
The checker confirms that things exist, such as alt text, a header row or heading styles. It can't confirm they're right. It won't tell you whether alt text is accurate, whether headings describe their sections, whether color alone carries meaning, whether instructions rely on shape or position, or whether a passage in Spanish is marked as Spanish. Our guide to what the Microsoft Accessibility Checker doesn't check covers each gap and how to check it yourself.
Fix it automatically
Upload a Word file to Includoc to check it against WCAG 2.1 AA in plain English. When you fix it, our AI drafts alt text for each image and suggests which text should be headings, and you approve both on the review screen. Header rows, blank paragraphs used for spacing, the title and the language are fixed automatically. You get back a fixed .docx and a tagged PDF, both checked. Merged cells and complex tables are flagged for you to simplify, because only you know how the data should be organized.
Upload your PDF to fix this automatically
Free check in seconds. Files are deleted within 24 hours.
Standards
| Standard or tool | Reference |
|---|---|
| WCAG 2.1 |
| Standard or tool | Reference |
|---|---|
| WCAG 2.1 |
| Standard or tool | Reference |
|---|---|
| WCAG 2.1 |
| Standard or tool | Reference |
|---|---|
| WCAG 2.1 |
Sources
- Microsoft: Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker (opens another website)
- Microsoft: Rules for the Accessibility Checker (opens another website)
- Microsoft: Improve accessibility in your documents with the Accessibility Assistant (opens another website)
- Microsoft: Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities (opens another website)
- Microsoft: Create accessible PDFs (opens another website)
- Microsoft Learn: Word PDF accessibility (opens another website) (how Word maps content to PDF tags)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (opens another website)
- W3C: Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (opens another website)
Related
- What the Microsoft Accessibility Checker doesn't check
Microsoft's Accessibility Checker finds missing alt text, titles and table headers, but not whether content makes sense. What it skips and how to check it.
- How to make a PDF accessible: a step-by-step guide
Make a PDF accessible from start to finish: fix the source file, export with tags, then check and fix tags, reading order, alt text, tables and forms.
- PowerPoint accessibility checker: what it checks and what it doesn't
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- How to write alt text: a practical guide with examples
Write alt text that says what an image means, not just what it shows: decorative images, logos, signatures, charts and text in images, with examples.
- Accessibility: Investigate
What “Accessibility: Investigate” means in Office’s status bar, why some files can’t be checked, and what the checker doesn’t check. How to fix each issue.
- Alt text pane missing in Word, Excel or PowerPoint
Can’t find the Alt Text pane in Word, Excel or PowerPoint? Where it is in each version, how to mark images decorative, and why it sometimes won’t open.