How do I make my Google Docs accessible?

Learn more about headings. 

Headings provide structure to your document and improve navigation. 

Add a heading tag: 

1. Select the text you want to change into a heading.
2. Select Format > Paragraph Styles. 
3. Select the heading level you want to change your text to. 
4. Select Apply 'heading level #'. 

Tips: 

• Start your document with a Heading 1 tag (not 'Title'). This helps folks more easily navigate through your Google Doc. 
• Use heading levels to easily build a table of contents. This table of contents can be customized and easily updated as you make edits to your Google Doc. 
• Change the style of your heading levels throughout your document by selecting '"Update 'Heading' to match". This makes it easier to keep your document looking uniform without having to edit each heading tag individually. 

Learn more about images and alt text. 

Alt text is important because it ensures that images are accessible to people who use screen readers.

Add alt text to images:

1. Select your image. 
2. Select Alt text.
3. Add your alt text in the Description field. 

Tip: 

• You can't mark images as 'decorative' in Google Docs. If an image is decorative, you will need add a brief description in your alt text. If you are exporting your Google Doc as a PDF, you can mark the image as an 'artifact' using Grackle Docs. 

Learn more about building accessible lists. 

Adding lists with the 'List' tags provided in Google Docs will add structure to your page and allow assistive technologies to correctly navigate your content. 

Tips:

• If you want to add an extra line or space within a single item in a list without creating a new list item, just press Shift + Enter.

• To create a list within a list (a 'nested list'), select Format > Bullets & numbering > List options. 

Add space between your paragraphs and text using formatting tools. 

1. Select the text you want to add space to.
2. Select Format.
3. Select Line and paragraph spacing.
4. Customize your text as needed.

You can apply these spacing changes to just the selected text, or you can update a Style so the changes apply everywhere that style is used.

Tips: 

• Avoid writing your text in all caps, and avoid small print. Both of these make it more difficult for people to read your content.
• Use easy-to-read fonts. We recommend Arial, Calibri, and Verdana. 
• Left align your text. This makes it easier for folks to read your document.

It's easy to add a linked table of contents to your document once you've set up your headings. While these are helpful for documents of any length, we strongly recommend including one if your document is 10 pages or longer.

Add a table of contents 

1. Select Insert. 
2. Select Table of contents. 
3. Select a style of Table of contents. 

Edit what headings are shown in your table of contents

1. Select your table of contents. 
2. Select the icon with three dots. 
3. Select More options. 
4. Edit your Formatting and displayed Heading Levels. 

Learn more about color and color contrast. 

Images and text are required to meet WCAG 2.1 AA.

Recommended Resources:

• Color Contrast Checker - WebAIM 
• Color Accessibility - Berkeley Brand 

Learn more about descriptive links.

Let your user know where they are going when they select a link by giving it meaningful link text. 

Change your link text:

1. Select your link. 
2. Select Edit Link. 
3. Update your link text to something that accurately describes the page you are linking to. 
4. Select Apply. 

Tip: 

Don’t use 'Click Here’ or ‘Read More’ for your link text. These are not descriptive and don't tell users where they are going. 

Learn more about table accessibility.

You must use Grackle Docs to add a heading to your table. Unfortunately, at this time, Google Docs does not support adding a table header to a table directly. 

Add a heading row to your table: 

1. Launch Grackle Docs. Learn more about getting started with Grackle Docs with our Step-by-step guide. 
2. Under Tables, 'Tables must be tagged or marked as layout tables' will be flagged. Select [+TAG]. 
3. Your 'Tag Table' window will appear. Update your table with headers as needed. You will have the option to mark your first row, first column, or both as table header rows.
4. Select Update. 

Tip: 

• It is best practice to only use tables for table data. If you are looking to build structure onto your page, headers are both an easier and more accessible option. 
• Avoid merged cells and empty cells in your table. Both make it more difficult for folks to navigate your information. 

Share your Google Doc: 

1. Select File. 
2. Select Share.
3. Select Share with others. 

Tip:

You can update the permissions to ‘Anyone with the link’ is a ‘Viewer’ if you want to make sure everyone can see your document without making any edits.

Publish your Google Doc as a web page:

1. Select File.
2. Select Share.
3. Select Publish to the web. 

This will make your document publicly available as a web page that will update whenever you update your original document. To share it, provide the web page URL.

Learn more about how to check that your Word document is accessible.

Download as a Word Document: 

1. Select File. 
2. Select Download.
3. Select Microsoft Word (.docx).