PowerPoint has several built-in features designed to help you create accessible PowerPoint presentations.
When creating new PowerPoint presentations, you can use the Accessibility Checker to review and flag potential accessibility issues while you work.
To manually launch the Accessibility Checker, select Review > Check Accessibility. The Accessibility pane opens, and you can now review and fix accessibility issues.
You can check your accessibility status as you work using the accessibility icon located at the bottom left of the screen:
Additional presentation accessibility considerations:
You may want to use one of the many built-in slide designs optimized for inclusive reading order, colors, and more!
PowerPoint for the web has built-in slide designs that contain placeholders for text, videos, pictures, and more. They also contain all the formatting, such as theme colors, fonts, and effects. To make sure that your slides are accessible, the built-in layouts are designed so that the reading order is the same for people who see and people who use technology such as screen readers.
Use one of the accessible PowerPoint templates to make sure that your slide design, colors, contrast, and fonts are accessible for all audiences. They are also designed so that screen readers can more easily read the slide content.
- In your browser, go to Accessible PowerPoint template sampler.
- On the Accessible PowerPoint template sampler page, select Download. The template sampler is downloaded to your device.
- Open the sampler in the full desktop version of PowerPoint, select a suitable slide design, and save it.
- Open PowerPoint for the web in your browser, open the selected design, and create your presentation.
On the Design tab, expand the Themes menu, and then select the design you want:
For images, type a description.
Use accessible font format and color
An accessible font doesn’t exclude or slow down the reading speed of anyone reading a slide, including people with low vision or reading disability or people who are blind. The right font improves the legibility and readability of the text in the presentation.
- To change the font format or color, select the piece of text you want to modify.
- Select the Home tab.
- In the Font group, select your formatting options, for example, a different font type or color.
Use accessible font color with sufficient contrast
The text in your presentation should be readable in a high contrast mode. For example, use bright colors or high-contrast color schemes on opposite ends of the color spectrum. White and black schemes make it easier for people who are colorblind to distinguish text and shapes.
Use the Accessibility Checker to analyze the presentation and find insufficient color contrast.