Improved Accessibility ribbon in PowerPoint for Windows and Mac

Originally Posted: May 18, 2023

Hello, Microsoft 365 Insiders! My name is Peter Wu, and I’m a senior software engineer on the PowerPoint team. To commemorate Global Accessibility Awareness DayI wanted to emphasize the importance of making presentations accessible to people with disabilities. To help with this, we’re excited to announce improvements to the Accessibility Ribbon.

Improved accessibility ribbon in PowerPoint for Windows and Mac

we are Accessibility Ribbon A year ago, PowerPoint for Windows, Mac, and the web brought together tools to access content in one place.

we I heard many people’s opinions Based on your feedback, we’re releasing a refresh that provides more useful tools and makes presentations more accessible.

Specifically, the Accessibility Ribbon:

• It appears in the following cases: Alt text window and Reading Order Window Open (in addition to the Accessibility Checker window being open).
• It’s easy to spot issues that make content inaccessible to colorblind people. Inspection without color button.
• You can display images included in your presentation to add visual interest rather than information. Marked for decoration You don’t have to press buttons or include alt text on one object at a time.
• New features speed up adding header rows or columns to tables in one easy step. Insert header row and Insert header column command.

How it works

1. Select a picture, shape, or other type of object, right-click, and select. View alternative text or alternative text.
2. that Alt text window It opens to the right and to the right. accessibility A ribbon will appear at the top. Alt text pane on the right and the Accessibility ribbon above
3. Make your content more accessible using a variety of tools and options in the Accessibility ribbon.

Scenarios to try

Slide with colored line chart and line series names below.

1. Click Next. Inspection without color When I press the button, all content turns gray.

   When inspected without color, the line chart appears in grayscale.

2. Read the content and see if you can understand it without the color. For example, in a chart where the series name is associated with a color in the legend, without the color it is impossible to know which series is which.

3. Once you identify the problem, redesign your content so that people can understand different colors even if they don’t recognize them. For example, place the series name next to each series rather than the legend.

   Line series labels moved next to lines in grayscale chart

4. After completing content redesign Inspection without color Press the button again to turn it off and you can see the chart in color.

   Color charts now display line series labels next to the lines.

5. To ensure that people using screen readers can understand your content Marked for decoration It is for visual interest only and is a tool for tagging non-informative objects. Select one or more objects and then Marked for decoration button. If the selected object is already marked as decorative, it will appear selected. Click the button again to turn off the decoration properties.

   The Accessibility Checker pane on the right displays an error about missing object description.

6. After you mark an object as decorative, it no longer appears in the error list for missing alt text. Accessibility Checker window glass.

   The Accessibility Checker pane on the right doesn’t show any errors about missing descriptions.

7. Add a header row to make your table easier to read for people using screen readers. To read data from a table column-by-column, add a header column. Select a table without a header row Insert header row button. You can also click the down arrow next to it. Insert header row Click the button Insert header column command.

   The Accessibility Checker window on the right displays an error about missing table headers.

8. After inserting a header row, enter meaningful names for each column. that Accessibility Checker The right pane no longer lists errors about missing table headers.

   The Accessibility Checker pane on the right no longer displays errors about missing table headers.

tips and tricks

• Before you share your presentation with others, save it to a public location, or present it, check for accessibility issues and fix them using the Accessibility ribbon.
• When presenting in Teams, use: PowerPoint Live Attendees can use a screen reader to access your slides while you present.

effectiveness

This feature is rolling out to Office Insiders running:

• Windows: Current Channel (Preview) version 2304 (Build 16327.10000) or later.
• Mac: Current Channel (Preview) version 16.72 (Build 23040900) or later

This feature is also available to desktop users of PowerPoint for the web.

Don’t have it yet? Probably not you, but us.

Features are rolled out over time to ensure they work smoothly. We’re highlighting features you may not have as they are slowly being rolled out to a larger number of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements for further improvement based on your feedback. Although this is rare, we also reserve the option to completely remove features from the product, even if you have had the opportunity to try it out as an Insider.

feedback

We’d love to hear from you! If you have feedback or suggestions about the Accessibility Ribbon help > feedback In PowerPoint.