This topic gives you step-by-step instructions and best practices for making your Excel spreadsheets accessible and unlock your content to everyone, including people with disabilities.
You learn, for example, how to work with the Accessibility Checker to tackle accessibility issues while you're creating your spreadsheet. You'll also learn how to add alt texts to images so that people using screen readers are able to listen to what the image is all about. You can also read about how to create accessible tables and how to use templates, fonts, and colors to maximize the inclusiveness of your spreadsheets before sharing them with others.
In this topic
- Best practices for making Excel spreadsheets accessible
- Check accessibility while you work in Excel
- Create accessible tables
- Use an accessible template
- Add text to cell A1
- Add alt text to visuals
- Add accessible hyperlink text and ScreenTips
- Use accessible font format and color
- Create accessible charts
- Rename worksheets
- Delete blank worksheets
- Name cells and ranges
- Test the accessibility of your worksheets
Best practices for making Excel spreadsheets accessible
The following table includes key best practices for creating Excel spreadsheets that are accessible to people with disabilities.
| What to fix | How to find it | Why fix it | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avoid common accessibility issues such as missing alternative text (alt text) and low contrast colors. | Use the Accessibility Checker. | Make it easy for everyone to read your spreadsheet. | Check accessibility while you work in Excel |
| Use a simple table structure for data only, and specify column header information. | To ensure that tables don't contain split cells, merged cells, or nested tables, use the Accessibility Checker. Visually scan your tables to check that they don't have any completely blank rows or columns. |
Screen readers keep track of their location in a table by counting table cells. Screen readers also use header information to identify rows and columns. |