PowerPoint Documentation

PowerPoint is a popular slide presentation program which should be accessible to people with disabilities. One of the easiest ways to ensure accessibility is to use a built-in template. Templates will ensure that your files are correctly structured and are properly ordered. The correct use of layouts is the easiest way to ensure that content is accessible.

Accessibility Checker

Accessibility Checker will warn about possible accessibility issues in slide presentations where someone with a disability might have trouble reading and understanding the content. The checker is a good start for checking accessibility, but may not find all accessibility issues. Manual review is often needed to ensure it is fully accessible.

The Accessibility Checker checks a file against a set of possible issues that people who have disabilities might experience in a file. Each issue is classified as an Error, Warning, or Tip.

• Error: An error is for content that makes a file very difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to understand.
• Warning: A warning is for content that in most, but not all, cases makes a file difficult for people with disabilities to understand.
• Tip: A tip is for content that people with disabilities can understand, but that might be better organized or presented in a way that would improve their experience.

To open the Accessibility Checker: Click File > Check for Issues

Reading Order Should Be Logical

People who cannot view the slide will hear slide text with a screen reader. Shapes and content read back in a specific order. If there are objects that are not part of the slide template, it is important to ensure that they will be read by a screen reader in the intend order.

To check the order in which slide content will be read back:

1. On the Home tab, in the Drawing group, click Arrange and then choose Selection Pane.
2. The Selection Pane lists the objects on the slide. Objects will be read back beginning with the bottom list item and ending with the top list item. Correct any out of order items using the reorder arrows on the bottom of the pane.

Visibility for Color Blindness

Color-blindness affects a significant number of people. When creating presentations, it's important to choose colors that increase visual contrast so viewers who cannot rely on color distinction can still understand what they're seeing.

• Avoid using orange, red, and green in your template and text.
• Use texture in graphs, as well as color, to highlight points of interest.
• Circle highlight information, rather than relying on color.
• Keep the overall contrast in the presentation high.

View the presentation in grayscale to see how someone who is colorblind may see the content.

• On the View tab, in the Color/Grayscale group, click Grayscale.

Hyperlink Text that Is Meaningful

Write meaningful link text that gives an indication of the purpose of the link. Avoid phrases that don't make sense out of context, such as "click here," "here," "read more," etc. Include the full hyperlink in the document, so that users can copy and paste it if necessary, and to allow people to type in the link if they receive the PowerPoint presentation printed on paper rather than in electronic format.

To add a hyperlink to your document, do the following:

1. Place your cursor where you want the hyperlink.
2. Right-click on the word or highlighted words where you want to place a link and select Hyperlink...
3. In the Text to display box, type in the name or phrase that will briefly describe the link destination.
4. In the Address box, type the link URL.
5. Click OK.

To change the text of a hyperlink, do the following:

1. Right-click on the link and select Edit Hyperlink...
2. In the Text to display box, make any necessary changes to the text.
3. Click OK.

Additionally, you can include ScreenTip text that appears when your cursor hovers over a hyperlink, and it can be used in a similar way to alt text.

To add ScreenTip text, do the following:

1. Right-click on the link and select Edit Hyperlink...
2. Click ScreenTip…
3. Type in your text in the ScreenTip text box.
4. Click OK.

Alternative Text on Images

Images may have very important information that should be communicated to blind users with the use of alt text.

To add alt text to an image:

1. Right Click on the Image
2. Select Format Picture/Object
3. Select Alt Text
4. Enter the alternative text in the description field

It is critical that the alt text communicates the information that is conveyed in the image.

Embedded Video

Add alt text to embedded videos so that people using screen readers will know that the video is present. The keystroke to start and stop a video is spacebar so include this information in the alt text. Example: "PowerPoint Accessibility Video, press spacebar to stop and start the video".

Closed Captions for Audio or Video

Closed captions are intended to allow people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to read the text of spoken dialogue (and important sounds). The Subtitling Text Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint (STAMP) provides a way to add closed captions to the video and audio files included in a presentation. If the video and audio files already have Timed Text Markup (TTML) files associated with them, they can be imported directly into the presentation. If there is no TTML file, captions can be added directly into the presentation.

STAMP provides the following:

• Import captions from a Timed Text Markup (TTML) file to create captions against an audio or video in the presentation.
• Create and edit closed captions in PowerPoint.
• Export captions to a TTML file.
• Turn captions on and off when in presentation mode.
• Use a video/audio playback while editing Timed Text captions.
• Align captions when they have moved, or if the video was resized.
• Import communicative text formatting information from the TTML file, for example, styling, color, and alignment.

Download and Install STAMP

Step 1: Confirm your version of Microsoft Office

Check version of Office, and which installer should download:

1. Click the File tab.
2. Click Help.
3. Under About Microsoft PowerPoint is information about the version of Office including whether it is 32-bit or 64-bit.

Step 2: Download STAMP

Download the add-in by doing the following:

1. Go to Subtitling Text Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint (STAMP).
2. Choose the correct version for your computer and save the .zip file to your computer.
3. Extract the files to a folder on your computer.

Step 3: Install STAMP

Install STAMP file by doing the following:

1. Go to the folder where you extracted the installation files and run STAMP Setup (32-bit or 64-bit).msi.
2. Follow the steps in the installation wizard.

Step 4: Verify that the add-in installed correctly:

1. Open PowerPoint.
2. Click the File tab, and then click Options.
3. Click Add-ins, and verify that Sub-titling Text Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint is listed under Active Application Add-ins.
4. PowerPoint Options, Add-Ins screen with STAMP add-in highlighted

After STAMP has been installed, there will be new options on the Playback tab in the Audio Tools or Video Tools group when an audio or video item is selected in the presentation. The ribbon commands are enabled or disabled based on the media item selected and the captions already attached to it.

Transitions and Animation

Accessible presentations should limit transitions whenever possible. This can result in a time-consuming and tedious experience for screen reader users.

Consider the example of a slide containing bullet points which fly in from the right: as each bullet transitions onto the screen, a screen reader will return to the top of the page and recommence reading the page's contents from the beginning. To advance to the next bullet, the user will need to press the Play button. This can create a frustrating experience for the screen reader user. While it may be acceptable to occasionally use transitions, they should not be used on every slide. Limiting the use of transitions and animation to one per slide will help to improve the usability of the presentation for screen reader users.

In addition, carefully consider the use of decorative animations. Constant motion on the screen may cause a screen reader to refresh frequently, thus making the presentation more difficult to use. People with attention deficit disorder will likely be distracted from the main content if animations are used. Keeping animations to a minimum or eliminating them altogether will increase the accessibility of your content.

Flashing or Blinking Objects

Do not use flashing or blinking objects in any presentation. It is distracting to the viewer and can cause photosensitive epileptic seizures in susceptible individuals, particularly if the flash has a high intensity and is in the frequency range between 2 Hz and 55 Hz (meaning that it flashes or blinks between 2 times per second and 55 times per second). This includes flashing text, turning graphics on and off repeatedly, changing between different images on the screen, and other animations or visual transitions.

The Outline View

The Outline View shows all of the regular text in the slides and presents it as a hierarchical text outline.

To turn on the Outline View:

• Select View > Outline View in the main PowerPoint ribbon.

All Content in the Outline View is Accessible

Anything that shows up in the Outline View is accessible to screen readers. If the slideshow is nothing but text, then the Outline View is a perfect test of how accessible the slides are.

Not All Accessible Content Will Display in the Outline View

Even though all content in the Outline View is accessible, the reverse is not necessarily true. If the slides include images or anything else besides plain text, the Outline View is not a completely accurate test of accessibility. The Outline View ignores all images, text boxes, and other embedded or floating objects, even with alt text or other features to make them accessible.

Speaker Notes

Speaker Notes is available at the bottom of the PowerPoint interface and is used to remind the presenter of things to say or do that aren't in the slides. If the panel is not visible, click on the "Notes" button at the very bottom of the interface while in "Normal" view, or go to View > Notes in the main PowerPoint ribbon at the top to show the Notes.

Speaker Notes are Accessible

Screen reader users can access the speaker notes pane in PowerPoint. This can be good for blind users while preparing or giving their own PowerPoint presentations or when reading someone else's slides. This means that if there are extra things to say about the slides that are important for readers to know, but which aren't in the slides themselves, authors can say those things in the Speaker Notes, knowing that blind users will be able to access them.

Descriptions for Inaccessible Objects in the Slides

The Speaker Notes may be the best place to write extended descriptions of complex graphics, charts, or diagrams, especially if those visual elements are added in less accessible ways (e.g. as floating objects, which may be difficult for screen readers to access or find directly). The Speaker Notes panel is just text, so it lends itself well to writing text descriptions.

If using the Speaker Notes panel for accessibility reasons, be sure to include enough detail to give blind audiences all of the information they need to understand the message. In some cases, it may be sufficient to say only a few words. In other cases, it may be necessary to write extended explanations.

Inform Users that Extra Information is Available in the Speaker Notes

The main drawback of using the Speaker Notes for accessibility purposes is that blind users may not think to navigate to the Speaker Notes panel to try to find extra information there. It can help to tell users up front that there is written content in the Speaker Notes panel.

Created 07/23/18 by Edward Pritchard (edward.pritchard@domail.maricopa.edu) - Information sourced from Deque Systems, Inc and Deque University