{"id":1332,"date":"2026-09-22T15:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2026-09-23T15:59:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T19:59:33","slug":"accessible-word-document-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/2026\/09\/22\/accessible-word-document-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Accessible Word Document: Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creating an accessible Word document ensures that your content is readable by everyone, including individuals using screen readers or other assistive technologies. &nbsp;In this guide, you\u2019ll find tips on using meaningful hyperlinks, appropriate color contrast, and some general do\u2019s and don\u2019ts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-cover aligncenter\" style=\"min-height:221px;aspect-ratio:unset;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1433\" class=\"wp-block-cover__image-background wp-image-1352\" alt=\"Video Coming Soon.\" src=\"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-scaled.png\" data-object-fit=\"cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-scaled.png 2560w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-1024x573.png 1024w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-1536x860.png 1536w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/Screenshot-2026-09-23-at-12.20.28-PM-2048x1146.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><span aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-cover__background has-background-dim\"><\/span><div class=\"wp-block-cover__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-cover-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Video Coming Soon<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. <strong>Meaningful Hyperlinks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Avoid using &#8220;Click here&#8221; or pasting long, raw URLs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Accessible Way:<\/strong> Highlight the descriptive text, right-click, and select <strong>Link<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"662\" src=\"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/G4-right-click-select-link.png\" alt=\"A Word document with text selected. On the text we see the right-click menu items. A red arrow is pointing to the &quot;Link&quot; option.\" class=\"wp-image-1334\" style=\"width:470px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/G4-right-click-select-link.png 653w, https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2026\/09\/G4-right-click-select-link-296x300.png 296w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Example:<\/strong> Use <strong>[Student Support Services]<\/strong> instead of &#8220;Click here to see the access&#8230;&#8221; This tells the user exactly where the link leads before they click it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"color-contrast\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. <strong>Color and Contrast<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>High Contrast:<\/strong> Use dark text on a light background. Avoid light grey text or yellow text on white.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To check if the contrast is enough, use tools like <a href=\"https:\/\/webaim.org\/resources\/contrastchecker\/\">WebAIM Contrast Checker<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t Rely on Color Alone:<\/strong> If you use color to convey meaning (e.g., &#8220;Items in red are overdue&#8221;), also include a text label (e.g., &#8220;Overdue: Item Name&#8221;).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. <strong>Accessibility &#8220;Don\u2019ts&#8221;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>ALL CAPS (Upper Case)<\/strong>: Screen readers may read capitalized words letter-by-letter (treating them as acronyms). Visually, capital letters lack the distinct shapes and &#8220;ascenders\/descenders&#8221; of lowercase letters, making them harder for everyone to read quickly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Background Highlighting<\/strong>: Highlighters often create poor color contrast, making text disappear for users with low vision. Furthermore, most screen readers do not announce background colors, so the importance of the highlighted text is completely lost on those users.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Underlining (Non-Links<\/strong>): On the web and in digital documents, underlined text is the universal signifier for a hyperlink. Underlining regular text for emphasis confuses users and makes the document physically harder to read by &#8220;cutting through&#8221; the bottom of letters like g, j, p, q, and y.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still have questions? Email us at <a href=\"mailto:FacultySupport@sps.cuny.edu\">FacultySupport@sps.cuny.edu<\/a>. We&#8217;re here to help!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview Creating an accessible Word document ensures that your content is readable by everyone, including individuals using screen readers or other assistive technologies. &nbsp;In this guide, you\u2019ll find tips on using meaningful hyperlinks, appropriate color contrast, and some general do\u2019s and don\u2019ts. 1. Meaningful Hyperlinks Avoid using &#8220;Click here&#8221; or pasting long, raw URLs. Example: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-accessibility"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1396,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions\/1396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/teaching-guides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}