How To Make Microsoft Excel Documents More Accessible

Published December 21, 2022

When creating a Microsoft Excel (MS Excel) document for your organization, it’s vital to ensure everyone, including people with disabilities, can access it. Fortunately, MS Excel has several built-in tools and capabilities that make it easier to make your spreadsheets more readable and accessible. 

Here are nine tips to help you make your MS Excel documents more accessible. 

  1. Provide an Overview of the Document in the First Cell

One of the easiest things you can do to make your Excel documents more accessible for people with visual impairments is to provide an overview of the document in the first cell – A1. This is because assistive technology tools tend to read spreadsheets from A1. A brief summary at the very beginning can make it easier for people with disabilities to understand your document and what kind of information it will present. 

  1. Add Alternative Text to Visual Elements

Add alt text to your spreadsheet if it contains images, graphics, charts, or other embedded visual elements so that screen reader tools can describe them to those who cannot see them. The alt text should be brief and briefly describe the contents of the image and its purpose. 

  1. Name All Your Worksheets

Worksheets in MS Excel are named Sheet 1, Sheet 2, Sheet 3, and so on by default. It can be confusing for people with visual impairments, as the screen reader will only read ‘Sheet 1’ without describing the purpose of the sheet. To make it easier for them to understand, you should rename all your worksheets

Ensure the names you assign to the worksheets are descriptive enough for the average person to understand its purpose and function. On a related note, you should also make sure there are no blank sheets in your document for the same reason mentioned above. 

  1. Make Your Tables Accessible

Tables are commonly used in Excel worksheets, but they can be hard for visually challenged people to access. You can make tables more accessible by completing the following changes. 

    • Provide a descriptive name for each table. 

    • Choose a table style with a sufficient contrast ratio between the foreground and background colors. 

    • Use table headers. 

    • Do not leave any row, column, or cell blank. If you need to leave something blank, add a descriptor like ‘intentionally blank’ so it is easier to navigate. 

    • Avoid splitting or merging cells. 

  1. Avoid Nesting Items Together

Nesting items (a table within a table or a dataset within a dataset) is a practice you should avoid if you want to make your document accessible to people with disabilities. Place each on a separate worksheet if there are multiple datasets and tables. If a particular dataset or table is large and complex, divide it into several small datasets and tables and put them on a separate worksheet. 

  1. Ensure Adequate Contrast Ratio

A lack of adequate contrast between the font and background color can affect your document’s readability. Retain the Automatic settings for font and background colors in your Excel documents. If you want to make any changes, ensure there is sufficient contrast between the font color, the textbox fill color, the table cell background, and the page color. 

  1. Create Descriptive Hyperlink

    URLs and shortened URLs can be hard to understand for screen readers. Similarly, generic texts like ‘click here’ should also be avoided, as they do not provide any information about the linked webpage. The best way to make the hyperlinks in your document more informative is to add hyperlink text or ScreenTip, which concisely describes the linked webpage.

  2. Use Excel Templates



    MS Excel has a wide range of pre-built templates that you can use for various purposes. These templates are designed to be easily readable and accessible to people with disabilities. You can look at the templates available and pick one that matches your needs. It can be an easier alternative to creating an accessible Excel document from scratch. 
  3. Use the Accessibility Checker

MS Office has a built-in Accessibility Checker, which can check your Excel documents for accessibility issues and provide tips and recommendations to fix the issues. In addition, you can also use the Narrator, a built-in screen reading tool in Windows, to navigate your documents. You can fix any issues you encounter to make your document more accessible.  

 

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