Accessibility guidelines for spreadsheets

Tables are used to organise information visually and show relationships between items.

If you set up your tables correctly, it ensures screen readers are able to read them aloud and in the right order.

There are some Excel templates available with accessibility in mind. The templates have clear fonts, colour, contrast and the right amount of white space to make the content easy to read.

The design will also enable screen readers to follow the content in the correct order. Screen readers use the information in the header to recognise and navigate rows and columns.

How to select an accessible template in Excel

1. Click New
2. Type “accessible templates” in the ‘Search for online templates’ box
3. Press the magnifying glass search icon
4. Select from one of the templates

You can make table rows more visible by alternating between a light and dark colour.

A light-coloured table without sufficient contrast between rows can be difficult to read.

How to select a clearly contrasting table style

1. Select a cell anywhere in the table.
2. Go to the Table Design tab and select an appropriate style from the options in the Table Styles tab.

Screen readers keep track of their location in a table by counting table cells.

If a table is nested within another table, or if a cell is merged or split, a screen reader loses count and can’t provide helpful information about the table after that point.

Blank cells in a table could also mislead someone using a screen reader into thinking that there is nothing more in the table.

Tables can help you identify a set of data by name, and you can format the table using styles that make the data stand out.

When you carefully name and format your table, you can be sure that everyone can understand your data.

It is also important to specify column header information and use a simple table structure to make sure screen reader users can navigate the tables easily.

You can use the tab key to check whether a table is set up correctly: it should highlight each cell, row by row.

Change the default name of the table, sheet or document to a descriptive name that depicts the content.

This will make it easier to find and understand what the data is about.

How to change the name of a table

1. Select a cell anywhere in the table.
2. Go to the Table Design tab and you’ll see Table Name on the left-hand side with a text box underneath it.
3. Replace the default name with a descriptive one.

• Instead of: Table 1
• Try: Company performance 2023

Hyperlinks should convey clear and accurate information, describing where people will go if they click the link.

People who use screen readers may scan through a document looking for links, so avoid using link text such as ‘click here’, ‘learn more’ or ‘link’. These are meaningless when read out independently, because users won’t know what they link to.

• Instead of: Read more
• Try: Read our general accessibility guidelines

Use a different colour to highlight the hyperlink text and underline it, so people who are colour blind can recognise that the text contains a link.

How to add a hyperlink

1. Select the cell where you want to create a link.
2. Select Insert on the ribbon.
3. Select Link > Insert Link.
4. Type an existing URL in the address field.
5. Select OK.

When adding text to a shape or chart, remember to use at least 12-point font size for maximum legibility.

This will ensure your text is as easy to read as possible.

People with certain types of colour blindness may not be able to see different data points.

If in doubt, add data labels or use contrasting patterns.

How to add patterns

1. Select the data point, then right-click and select Format Data Series.
2. Under Fill & Line, change the fill to Pattern fill. Choose your pattern and adjust the Foreground and Background colours to set your preference. Make sure to apply a different pattern to each data point.

Labels should be outside their data points – they are much easier to read on a clean background.

Don’t always rely on the legend or key to identify the data points. Some people find it hard to match the legend with data in charts that more than five categories. Instead, add the category names to the data labels.

Alt text is a short description of the image that is read aloud by screen-reading software.

It is essential for users with visual impairments to help them understand the document.

If you copy and paste a graphic into a different Microsoft document, the alt text will be copied with the graphic.

Sometimes it isn’t necessary for a graphic to be read. For example, you might not want the logos in the footer to be read on every page. In this case, don’t add the alt text to the box. Instead, tick the box ‘Mark as decorative’. This will instruct the screen reader to skip this graphic without the altering the reader’s experience.

How to add alt text

1. Select the graphic.
2. Go to the Format tab and select Alt Text.
3. An Alt Text panel will appear on the right-hand side.
4. Type a detailed description into the alt text box. Make sure to finish with a full stop at the end. You don’t need to write “An image of…” or “Picture showing…” – the screen reading software will automatically introduce each image by saying the word “graphic”.

Read our full alt text guidelines

To ensure your worksheets are accessible, you can use Excel’s accessibility checker tool.

1. Go to the ‘Review’ tab and click on ‘Check accessibility’.
2. This will open a dialog panel that will highlight any accessibility issues in your presentation and give tips on how to correct them.
3. Go to the ‘Review’ tab and click on the arrow below ‘Check accessibility’, then select ‘Options: Accessibility’. A new window will open. If you tick the box ‘Keep accessibility checker running while I work’, it will notify you of any issues by displaying a notification on the bottom ribbon of your screen.
4. Accessibility Checker should only be used as a supportive tool as there are some things it can’t help with. For instance, it won’t raise issues about the reading order because it cannot tell whether it is correct or not.