Create Accessible Word Documents

There’s a big AODA Accessibility deadline hitting Canadian companies (and American companies that have Canadian customers) on January 1, 2016. All large companies must be able to provide an accessible alternative to public documentation on request. This means that if you are sharing a printed document, an untagged .pdf, or other non-accessible form of information, you need to also have a back up that is accessible.

For many people, the first step towards accessible documentation is creating a semantic, accessible Word document. Once this has been established, you can easily paste it into WordPress and other web applications to create a semantic page. This also helps you generate an accessible PDF document. Keep this Word document handy for those requests from a customer.

The Microsoft Accessibility Team has created a great set of short videos that show how to make your word Documents accessible. Take a few moments to watch this and share with your co-workers. It doesn’t take any longer to do it right. Keeping your documents semantic also makes them easier to style with the Word Themes.