Word 2016: Accessibility Guide & Best Practices

Overview

This concise guide walks through the accessibility features and best practices available in Microsoft Word 2016, with clear, practical steps you can apply right away. Emphasizing inclusive document design, the material focuses on tools that help identify and resolve barriers for readers who rely on assistive technologies, improve readability for broader audiences, and streamline accessible authoring workflows.

What you will learn

• How to use Word's built-in Accessibility Checker to detect and prioritize issues.
• Best practices for semantic structure: headings, lists, and the Navigation Pane to improve screen-reader navigation.
• How to add effective alternative text to images and make tables and hyperlinks accessible.
• Design choices that support readability, including font sizing and color contrast guidelines.
• Practical workflows for reviewing and fixing existing documents and creating reusable accessible templates.

Key features explained

Using the Accessibility Checker

Learn how to run and interpret Word's Accessibility Checker so you can quickly find common issues—missing alternative text, improper heading structure, and ambiguous links—and apply suggested fixes that improve compatibility with screen readers and other assistive tools.

Alternative text and visual content

The overview explains how to write concise, meaningful alternative text for images and graphics, when to use descriptive captions instead of long alt text, and how these choices make visual information available to people who cannot see or interpret images.

Semantic structure and navigation

Clear guidance on using built-in heading styles, lists, and the Navigation Pane helps documents behave predictably for keyboard users and screen readers. The guide shows how consistent styles and logical order improve discoverability and reduce cognitive load for all readers.

Tables, hyperlinks, and reading order

Practical tips cover creating simple, well-labeled tables and writing descriptive hyperlink text so links are meaningful out of context. The content also addresses verifying reading order and ensuring complex elements remain accessible.

Readable design: fonts and color contrast

Recommendations for font choice, minimum sizes, and contrast ratios help ensure text is easily legible for users with low vision or color perception differences. These layout choices also benefit mobile and low-light reading scenarios.

Hands-on practice

The guide pairs explanations with projects you can complete to build skills: creating an accessible document from scratch, revising an existing file to meet accessibility checks, building a template with accessible styles, and conducting peer reviews to reinforce learned techniques.

Who benefits from this guide

This resource suits beginners and intermediate Word users who author course materials, reports, communications, or public-facing documents. Educators, administrative staff, and professionals seeking practical steps to meet accessibility expectations will find the examples and exercises immediately applicable.

How to use this overview effectively

Start by scanning the sections most relevant to your current work—images, headings, or tables—and apply the recommended fixes in a live document while you read. Use the exercises to turn guidance into routine practices, and save an accessible template to speed future authoring. If you need additional help, the PDF points readers toward institutional support channels and further resources.

Why this matters

Accessible documents reach more people and reduce barriers to learning and participation. By following the guide's straightforward checks and design choices, you improve usability for readers with disabilities while making documents clearer and more professional for everyone.