Plan for accessibility in Office 2010
Applies to: Office 2010
Topic Last Modified: 2011-08-05
The Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Office 2010 lets users create more accessible documents for people who have disabilities. The Accessibility Checker (like a spelling checker, but for accessibility issues) is a core feature of Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft Word 2010.
In this article:
Increase the visibility of violations
Control what the checker reports
Increase the visibility of violations
The settings that are provided in Control what the checker reports later in this article are used to control the Accessibility Checker. Of these settings, most are about stopping the Accessibility Checker from performing a particular check.
The policy setting Increase the visibility of Accessibility Checker violations controls how strongly an accessibility error will be emphasized in the user interface. If enabled, you can specify what happens when a document, workbook, or spreadsheet has accessibility errors, as shown here:
Accessibility violations do not change the Prepare for Distribution area in the Microsoft Office Backstage view (default).
Accessibility errors cause the Prepare for Distribution area to be strongly emphasized in the Backstage view.
Accessibility errors or warnings cause the Prepare for Distribution area to be less strongly emphasized in the Backstage view.
If disabled or not configured, the Accessibility Checker user interface is presented in its normal state.
Important
Group Policy settings can be used to control the Accessibility Checker. For Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and Word 2010, the Group Policy settings are located in the gpedit node <AppName>\File tab\Check Accessibility.
Control what the checker reports
The following tables provide the complete Group Policy settings that can be used to control the Accessibility Checker for Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, and Word 2010.
Group Policy settings for Excel 2010
| Setting for Excel 2010 | Associated registry key | Description |
|---|---|---|
Stop checking for alt text accessibility information |
AltText |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether objects such as images and shapes contain alternative text. If disabled or not configured, objects are checked for alternative text and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for table header accessibility information |
TableHeaders |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether tables have a header row specified. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for header rows and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure workbooks allow programmatic access |
ProgrammaticAccess |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether workbooks have blocked programmatic access through Digital Rights Management (DRM). If disabled or not configured, workbooks are checked for programmatic access and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for merged cells |
MergedCells |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether tables have merged cells. If disabled or not configured, worksheets are checked for merged cells and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure hyperlink text is meaningful |
MeaningfulHyperlinks |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether hyperlinks have meaningful text. If disabled or not configured, hyperlink text is checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure non-default sheet names |
SheetNames |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether worksheets with content have non-default names. If disabled or not configured, worksheet names are checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for blank table rows used as formatting |
BlankTableRows |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether blank table rows are used as formatting. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for blank rows and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Group Policy settings for PowerPoint 2010
| Setting for PowerPoint 2010 | Associated registry key | Description |
|---|---|---|
Stop checking for alt text accessibility information |
AltText |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether objects such as images and shapes contain alt text. If disabled or not configured, objects are checked for alternative text and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure hyperlink text is meaningful |
HyperlinkText |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether hyperlinks have meaningful text. If disabled or not configured, hyperlink text is checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for media files which might need captions |
ClosedCaptions |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not flag media files that might need caption information. If disabled or not configured, presentations are scanned for media files and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for table header accessibility information |
HeaderRow |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether tables have a header row specified. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for header rows and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for blank table rows and columns |
BlankRowCol |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether blank rows and blank columns have been inserted into tables. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for blank rows and blank columns and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for merged and split cells |
SimpleStructure |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether tables have merged or split cells. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for merged and split cells and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking that slide titles exist |
HasTitle |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether every slide has a title placeholder. If disabled or not configured, slides are checked for titles and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure each slide has a unique title |
UniqueTitle |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether every slide has a unique title. If disabled or not configured, slide titles are checked for uniqueness and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure a meaningful order of objects on slides |
NonPlaceholderShapes |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether a slide has non-placeholder objects which might be read back out of order. If disabled or not configured, slides are checked for objects which might be read back out of order and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure presentations allow programmatic access |
IRM |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether presentations have blocked programmatic access through DRM. If disabled or not configured, presentations are checked for programmatic access and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Group Policy settings for Word 2010
| Setting for Word 2010 | Associated registry key | Description |
|---|---|---|
Stop checking for alt text accessibility information |
AltText |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether objects such as images and shapes contain alt text. If disabled or not configured, objects are checked for alternative text and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure hyperlink text is meaningful |
MeaningfulHyperlinks |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether hyperlinks have meaningful text. If disabled or not configured, hyperlink text is checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for table header accessibility information |
TableHeaders |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether tables have a header row specified. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for header rows and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for blank table rows and columns |
BlankTableCells |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether blank rows and blank columns have been inserted into tables. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for blank rows and blank columns and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for merged and split cells |
2DTableStructure |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not verify whether tables have merged or split cells. If disabled or not configured, tables are checked for merged and split cells and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure documents allow programmatic access |
ProgrammaticAccess |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether documents have blocked programmatic access through DRM. If disabled or not configured, documents are checked for programmatic access and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure long documents use styles for structure |
StylesAsStructure |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether long documents have used styles to define content structure. If disabled or not configured, documents are checked for style usage and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure styles have been used frequently |
HeadingSpacing |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether documents that use styles have used them frequently enough to accurately represent the document's content structure. If disabled or not configured, the frequency of style usage is checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure headings are succinct |
SuccinctHeadings |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether headings in a document are succinct. If disabled or not configured, document headings are checked for length and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking whether objects are floating |
FloatingObjects |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether a document has objects that are floating instead of inline. If disabled or not configured, objects are checked for floating text wrapping properties and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking whether blank characters are used for formatting |
BlankCharacters |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether multiple consecutive white-space characters are used for formatting. If disabled or not configured, documents are checked for consecutive white-space usage and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for image watermarks |
ImageWatermarks |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether a document has image watermarks. If disabled or not configured, documents are checked for watermarks and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking to ensure heading styles do not skip style level |
HeadingOrder |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not check whether headings in a document are used in order. If disabled or not configured, the ordering of headings in a document is checked and issues found appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
Stop checking for tables used for layout |
LayoutTablesReadingOrder |
If enabled, the Accessibility Checker does not flag layout tables (that is, tables that have no style applied). If disabled or not configured, tables that have no styles are flagged and violations appear in the Accessibility Checker. |
See Also
Other Resources
Accessibility Investments and Document Accessibility (blog)
Accessibility and the Ribbon