Accessible PowerPoint Checklist

Published on: 22/07/2024 · Last updated on: 03/06/2026

Give each slide a unique title

Make sure the title box (Click to add title) is unique and added to a slides.

Why? Having a unique, descriptive title on each slide is important. Screen readers use titles to navigate through content. Titles provide context about the purpose of the slide. This allows students to understand the information that is being presented.

How? See guidance on how to Title a slide.

Tip: If several slides have similar content, make each title unique. For example, use “Introduction (1)” and “Introduction (2)” or “(continued)”.

Tip: When appropriate, you can place the slide title off the slide. By doing so the slide still has a unique title for accessibility, but you save space on the slide for other content.

Use readable text

• Use at least 18pt font size (preferably 20pt+)
• Use sans-serif fonts (e.g. Arial, Calibri)
• Avoid dense blocks of text

Also check that any essential text found in images or figures is large enough to be read.

Why?

Text should be large to support viewing on a projector and print accessibility.

Sans Serif fonts such as Arial and Calibri are more accessible than serif fonts such as Times New Roman. Serif fonts have ‘feet’ on the end of each letter which can make them less accessible to readers.

An added benefit of using large text size is that it limits overly dense information slides, which can be hard to process in a lecture environment.

Structure content on the slide

• Structure content clear headings, bullet points and short text.
• Use gaps between information increases readability and reduces cognitive load.
  
  To avoid slides being too overwhelming, use minimal amounts of text on the slides. If you are using lots of text on a slide, consider providing the text to students in a separate file. The key idea is to keep slides uncluttered and to optimise slide layouts using formats such as subheadings and bullet points.

Check and set the Reading Order

Make sure all additional text boxes and images have a logical reading order set. Follow the step-by-step instructions on setting and reviewing the Reading Order.

Tip: Use the prebuilt Slide Layouts or Smart Art graphics for a more logical reading order to avoid having to set the Reading Order manually.

Why? Students may use a screen reader which reads aloud the academic content on their device. Placing the contents of each slide in a logical reading order is crucial for screen reader users to understand each slide. 

Check the colour contrast

• Keep colour contrast high between the text and background.
• Manually check any items if you’re using any partly transparent text/lines on a background with WebAIM: Contrast Checker.

Tip: on the font colour selection toggle High Contrast only to display text that will work well with your background.

Why? Slides that have a strong contrast between text and background help everyone view slides in different light conditions (e.g. bright rooms and with glare) and are more accessible for learners with low vision or colour blindness.

See Accessible Colour and Contrast for full details.

Avoid using colour as the only way of conveying information

• Do not rely on colour alone to convey meaning. In the UK there are approximately
• Use additional cues such as text, labels, shapes, or icons.

See Accessible Colour and Contrast for full details.

Why? Colour can be a powerful of highlighting information, but info shown with colour only will not be accessible for people with colour blindness.

Write alternative text

Add alt text to images, grouped images, SmartArt, shapes, charts, and embedded videos.

Follow the Writing alt-text guidance for more details

Why? In alt text, briefly describe the image, its intent, and what is important about the image for someone who can’t perceive it.

Provide alternative formats for audio visual content

• Provide captions for all video content.
• Provide transcripts for audio content
• Consider audio description where visual detail is important

For further guidance on this Add closed captions or subtitles to media in PowerPoint – Microsoft Support

Set headers in tables

Use simple tables where possible:

• Include header rows
• Avoid merged cells
• Avoid fixed-width tables
• Consider alternative formats (e.g. text with headings)

See Creating accessible tables

Why? Tables can be difficult to navigate for students who use assistive technologies. If tables cells are incorrectly formatted, it is difficult for screen readers to process the information. Screen readers use headers to navigate information, so it is important that any table you create has headers.

Complete a final accessibility check

Use the built-in Accessibility Checker and make any additional checks before sharing your slides.

The Microsoft Accessibility Checker will not miss some issues and also sometimes report false positives. It is always important to follow best accessibility practices and checks to minimise issues.

Share PowerPoint file to students in advance

Where possible, share the original PowerPoint file as it retains accessibility features (rather than PDF).

Make the slides available to students by uploading them to Moodle.

Why?

• There are many useful accessibility tools built into PowerPoint that everyone can benefit from (such as Immersive Reader and Read Aloud functionality).
• It can be tricky to create accesible PDF documents even from an accessible PowerPoint source.
• If students need to create a PDF print format, they can use Sensus Access in Moodle, to automatically convert PowerPoints to PDF in Moodle.
• Sharing slides early allows students to prepare for and engage with your presentation. Assistive technology users will have time to process the information in a way that suits them. Students with language difficulties or who are multi-lingual can use the extra time to process the slides and learn key vocabulary. Providing the slideshow in advance allows students to print the slides as well.