Get real-time notification of accessibility issues while working on Microsoft 365 apps

In this topic

• Get accessibility issues notifications in Word document as you write

• Notification for hard-to-read text contrast

• Notification for missing alt-text

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Get accessibility issues notifications in Word document as you write

Get real time notifications of accessibility issues while working on a word document, so that you can address them accordingly.
The on-canvas notifications function lets you know when there are accessibility issues, such as hard-to-read text color with low contrast ratio or images without descriptions.

1. To check the document's accessibility, press Alt+R to expand the Review tab.

2. Press the A+1 keysto open the Check Accessibility dropdown menu in the Accessibility group.

3. Press A to select the Check Accessibility option to check accessibility issues notifications.

To know more about Accessibility Assistant, refer to Improve accessibility in your documents with the Accessibility Assistant.

Notification for hard-to-read text contrast

When the color of text does not contrast adequately with the background color, you will be alerted by an accessibility icon.

• Select the accessibility icon  on the canvas. It opens a pop-up card with more information and a way to fix it.

• To fix the issue, navigate to the recommended changes and select one.

  Note: You can also select the Auto-fix similar issues check box to fix the similar issues automatically.

• To learn more about the issue and make your document more accessible, select the Show learning tip icon.

• To ignore the issue, select the Ignore button.

• Selectthe More font color optionto try and select other color options.

• To turn off accessibility recommendations, select the More option. Then, select the Turn off accessibility recommendations.

Notification for missing alt-text

When images don’t have an alt-text, you will find the accessibility notification icon on the left margin of the Word document.

• Navigate to the accessibility icon  and select it, and a card will pop up with more information about the issue and a way to fix it.

• Provide an alt text to the image or simply approve an auto-generated alt text if it accurately describes the image content and purpose.

• For purely decorative images that don't convey essential information, mark them as decorative using icon button to ensure that the images are appropriately skipped by screen readers, enhancing accessibility.

• For more information on how to write effective alt text, go to Everything you need to know to write effective alt text