Authoring Accessible Content
The way you structure and present content in a document has a direct impact on accessibility. This page covers the most common content elements — tables, lists, images, equations, video, links, and footnotes — and explains how to handle each one accessibly in Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat.
Note: If your document includes footnotes, scanned content, video, or PDFs from external sources, see the Special Accessibility Cases page for guidance on those topics.
Foundational Concepts
If you are new to document accessibility or starting a new document, begin here. Every accessible document starts with the same building blocks: the right settings, a clear heading structure, a logical reading order, and thoughtful use of color and contrast. The pages in this section cover each of those fundamentals.
Document Settings
Set up your document correctly before you start writing — title, language, and other settings that carry through to the PDF.
Headings
Use Word's built-in heading styles to create a structure screen readers can navigate.
Reading Order
Understand how layout choices in Word affect the sequence in which screen readers encounter your content.
Color, Contrast, and Text Formatting
Make sure your use of color, contrast ratios, and text formatting choices work for users with visual and cognitive disabilities.
Exporting to PDF
How to correctly create an accessible PDF from your Word document, including what to check before and after export.
Choose Your Content Type
Building accessibility into your source document is the most efficient approach to accessible PDFs. The pages in this section cover the accessibility requirements for each type of content you might include in a Word document. Getting these right before export means less remediation work in Acrobat — and a better experience for the people who read your documents.
Creating Accessible Tables
Structure data tables correctly in Word so they export with the header and scope information screen readers need.
Images and Alternate Text
Write effective alt text for meaningful images and correctly mark decorative images so screen readers skip them.
Creating Lists
Use Word's built-in list formatting so lists export with the correct tag structure rather than as plain paragraphs.
Creating Links
Create hyperlinks with descriptive text that communicates the destination clearly to screen reader users.
Mathematical Equations and Formulas
How to handle operators, fractions, and equations so they are read correctly by screen readers.
Special Accessibility Cases
Guidance for less common scenarios including footnotes, scanned content, and documents from external sources.
Building an accessible PDF form?
If you came here from the forms section, pick up where you left off.