Information Communication Technology (ICT) Electronic Documents

Document accessibility applies to all documents created for citizens or state employees, whether they are posted to a web site, a file sharing application (such as SharePoint) or distributed through email. When you follow accessibility standards, your document can be accessed by everyone.

The following are features of a an accessible document:

Structural formatting, like headings, tables and lists that allow users to navigate the document.
Descriptive text that explains pictures, charts and graphs to users.
Layout, design and color that makes the content accessible to use and understand.

Quick Access Checklists

Should my content be a document or a webpage?

The first question to ask as you create content: Should my content be a document or a webpage?

Word Documents

Microsoft Word is the most common word processor on the market. Word files can also be the starting point for other files, such as PDF and HTML. Having the correct tools to create accessible Word documents is imperative to improving your institution’s accessible content.

Let’s Talk ICT Accessible Word Handout

Missouri Assistive Technology – Let’s Talk ICT Accessible Classroom Materials – Google Docs, MS Word, Math

Let’s Talk ICT Accessible Google Docs and MS Word Handout

As a general rule, include three design principles to create an accessible document:

Structure – the document structure such as tags, headers and more will define how to navigate the document. For example In a Word document, structure is set this up with the Styles section of the menu bar.
Give Alternatives – describe images, audio and video with alt text or captioning. In a Word document, the alt text description of an image is completed by selecting the image with the right click of the mouse, select Size and then type in the image description in the Alt Text tab.
Identify – language, anchors, and major structure aspects such as chapters. In a Word document you need to identify the preferred language in the properties section of the document.

PowerPoint Presentations

Microsoft PowerPoint 365 Accessibility one-page quick guide
NCDAE one-page accessibility quick guides/cheatsheets for PowerPoint (Windows 2010/2013/2016 and Mac 2011/2016)
Make your presentations accessible
Making an accessible Power Point file
Missouri Assistive Technology – Let’s Talk ICT – MS PowerPoint session

Let’s Talk ICT Accessible PowerPoint Handout

Excel Documents

Email Messages/Email Newsletters

InDesign Documents

Adobe Indesign Step By Step Checklist (NYU). Use this checklist in conjunction with conducting an accessibility check in Adobe Acrobat professional on the converted PDF.
Accessibility tips for Adobe InDesign CC
Indesign Accessibility Video Training (Oklahoma Abletech)

PDF Documents

Scanned PDF Documents

AVOID using scanned documents as much as possible
If you cannot avoid it, see the PDF Accessibility Workflow to see the process for converting an accessible scanned document
Consideration and requirements for working with scanned documents

Untagged PDF Documents

Process to use to tag a PDF document when you don’t have the source document

Have a resource for ICT Accessibility to share with us?

Share it with us