tables Archives - The Accessibility Guy

It’s easy to make tables accessible in Microsoft Word! This means that every table should have a table header set, a style applied, and appropriate settings set.

Are you working with tables that use Two languages? This post goes into great detail:

Accessible bilingual table in PDF

Video Overview of how to make tables accessible in Microsoft Word

Tips on working with Tables

Avoid using merged cells when possible. There is no way to apply scope to table headers in Microsoft Word like you can in PDF. So if your doc is staying in Word – avoid merged cells
Do not use tables to format content. There are more accessible methods for formatting content like using headings or applying columns to text.
Tables should be used to display important data
Add a caption to the table

Table Accessibility Checklist:

Ensure the table has a header row and in some cases a column header
Set “repeat row across pages” for tables that span more than one page
Apply a table style
Table does not have any merged cells

How to set the row / column header

These settings might change depending on the type of data you are working with. Some tables will have first column or total row while others will not.

Select the table
Select table Design
Set the appropriate Header Row / First Column selections

Select the table

Select table Design

Set the appropriate Header Row / First Column selections

How to set a Table Style

A table style simply changes the visual layout of the table. It will sometimes make the heading cells bold and a little easier to identify.

Select the table
Select table design
Choose a table style

How to set a Table Style

Select the table

Select table design

Choose a table style

How to set other table properties

The additional table properties will update based on how much data is in the table. Tables that span multiple pages may require testing of different settings to ensure proper accessibility.