Accessibility guidelines for PowerPoint

Don’t put everything you’re saying onto your slides: just use the slides for the most important pieces of information.

If there are a lot of bullet points, spread them over more than one slide. If you plan to share your presentation, you can include your speech into the notes of the relevant slides.

To ensure your text is easy to read, a good rule to follow is to limit the number of lines on each slide to seven, and to leave sufficient space between each line. Text should be less than the full width of the slide.

Once you’ve created your slides, check the reading order. This is vital to ensure the content is read out in the correct order by screen readers.

There are two ways of checking the reading order: the Reading Order pane and the Selection pane.

Using the Reading Order pane

1. Open the Reading Order pane by selecting the Review tab in the toolbar. In the Check Accessibility dropdown menu, choose Reading Order Pane.
2. Make sure the elements on each slide are in the order they should be read, with the slide title at the very top through to the footer at the bottom. Clicking on an item in the pane will reveal what element it represents on the slide.

Using the Selection pane

1. Click on any object on a slide and go to the Shape Format or Graphic Format tab, then click on Selection Pane.
2. The Selection pane will appear on the right-hand side. Make sure the elements on each slide are in the order they should be read, with the slide title at the very bottom through to the footer at the top.
3. Clicking on an item in the pane will reveal what element it represents on the slide.

A dark font against a light background is best for accessibility.

A pure white background can cause problems for people with visual impairments or neurodiverse conditions. A very pale grey often works well.

1. In PowerPoint, click the Design tab
2. Click the Format Background option on the right side of the Design tab
3. In the Format Background pane that opens, choose Solid fill
4. Use the drop-down Color box to choose the colour you want to use

Words that are italic or underlined are difficult to read.

Use  aregular font for your main text, and bold for titles and to highlight key words if necessary.

Aligning all text to the left (in languages that are read from left to right) makes it easier for people to see where each line begins. This includes text in tables, headings and diagrams.

Avoid justified text, where both the left and right edges of each line are aligned with both margins. This creates uneven gaps between words, making it harder to read.

Avoid centred text: this makes it difficult to see where each line begins.

How to align text to the left

1. Highlight the text inside the text box.
2. Click on the Home tab.
3. Choose the Alight Left icon.

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. Highlight the text
2. Select Insert on the toolbar
3. Select Link and then Insert Link
4. Type an existing URL (web address) in the address field
5. Select OK

Complicated writing can be confusing and hard to understand. It can be particularly difficult for people with dyslexia, autism or other cognitive conditions, or for people whose first language isn’t English.

When writing, think about the words you use when having a conversation. Remember that our brains take in information more easily when it’s broken into small chunks.

It’s good practice to read your writing aloud, line by line, removing unnecessary words and rewriting sentences if they seem too long. If you come across large blocks of text, break them up into shorter paragraphs.

• Instead of: We are a leading NGO with a presence in more than 30 countries, building synergies to facilitate the avoidance of blindness and increasing capacity to promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.
• Try: We are an organisation working in more than 30 countries. We prevent avoidable blindness and fight for disability rights.

Jargon and acronyms may only make sense to people who live in a particular region or work in a specific industry.

Make your language as clear as possible by avoiding acronyms where you can. The exception is if the acronyms are more commonly recognised than when spelled out in full: for example URL, DVD or USB.

• Instead of: We are an NGO that works with the WHO to treat and prevent NTDs.
• Try: We are an international organisation that works with the World Health Organization to treat and prevent neglected tropical diseases.

If you need to use acronyms, it’s best practice to write the full wording first, followed by the acronym in brackets. After this, use the acronym.

• For example: We work with the World Health Organization (WHO) to fight disease.

If you’re mentioning a lot of organisations, phrases and words that need to be abbreviated, include them in a glossary so readers can refer to the glossary for more information.

Bullet points can help your audience to read and digest information quickly.

Use the bullets tool in the Home tab of the toolbar. If you enter them manually as dashes, screen readers may read them out in an illogical way.

Instead of writing:
The most common signs that a person is suffering from trachoma include discharge from the eyes, irritated eyes and redness.

Try this:
Common signs of trachoma:

• Discharge from the eyes
• Irritated eyes
• Redness

Avoid low-resolution or blurry images.

Crisp, clear, high-resolution images will be easily seen by your audience. They will also make your presentation look more professional.

Include alt text on images, including photographs, charts, icons, logos and diagrams.

This will allow people using screen readers to recognise them when you share your presentation.

How to add alt text

• Right click on the image
• Select Edit Alt Text
• Type the alt text in the text box provided.
• The description should be brief and in context. There’s no need to write “Image of…” or “Picture of…” – the screenreader will do this automatically.

Read our full alt text guidelines

When placing text over a picture, position the text carefully.

Ensure the background offers sufficient contrast to make the text legible.

Charts and graphs must be clearly labelled and should not solely rely on contrasting colours.

Use additional patterns or data labels to make it easier for readers to differentiate each piece of data.

People with low vision or colour blindness usually find it easier to differentiate segments of a chart or graph if contrasting tones and shades are used.

If graphs contain axis labels or other text explaining the data, make sure the text is large enough to read.

When giving a presentation, it’s also good practice to describe figures and graphs out loud, and explain their significance.

Animation can be confusing for some people, especially people with low vision.

Keep them simple and use them sparingly, if at all.

Captions are invaluable for viewers with hearing impairments and those who prefer to watch content with the volume muted.

For more details about captions, see our video accessibility guidelines.

• It’s helpful if all text presented on slides is read aloud by the presenter.
• Stay quiet while animations, gifs or videos are playing. Moving content is distracting and makes it difficult for people to focus.
• Make sure you know how much time you have for your presentation. Practice to ensure everything in your slides can be covered without rushing.
• Figures and graphs should be explained and described.
• The presenter should explicitly mention the region of interest in the slide: eg “the graph on the left”.
• Save the slides as a pdf and share it with participants at least 24 hours before the meeting.

To ensure your documents and presentations are accessible, use Microsoft’s built-in accessibility checker tool.

1. Go to ‘Review’ under the Home 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.