Accessible PowerPoint (implementation guide)

Graphics and videos contain a short, concise alternative text. Graphics and videos with no substantive meaning are marked as decorative.

What is meant by this?

To improve the approval of a PowerPoint presentation, all graphics and videos contained in it should be provided with alternative texts that describe what can be seen. An alternative text is a short and concise description of the content of the graphic and video that is read by screen readers and speech output devices to understand the content.

In the case of purely decorative images or videos with no relevance to the content, these should be labelled accordingly. In PowerPoint, a graphic or video can be marked as "decorative" to indicate that it does not contain any content relevant to the presentation and can therefore be skipped by screen readers and voice output.

Why is it important?

A suitable alternative text for a graphic or video is important as it enables all recipients to understand the content. If there is no or insufficient alternative text, the graphic or video will be invisible to screen reader and speech output users. This means that these recipients miss out on important information that could be contained within the element.

An appropriate alternative text describes the graphic element briefly and concisely and conveys how the element relates to the content of the presentation. If the element contains important information that is not or cannot be presented differently in the text, it is important to include this information in the alternative text so that it can be recognised by screen readers and speech output. A detailed description of the graphic or video is generally not necessary for an alternative text. Elements that contain a lot of important information should appear in the text itself or provide a detailed text alternative. As a general rule, an alternative text should contain a maximum of 120 characters.

An example of an appropriate alternative text for a graphic would be: "A group photo of employees who took part in a company outing and are standing together in front of a mountain panorama." This alternative text provides recipients of a screen reader or voice output with a detailed explanation of what can be seen in the graphic.

How can I implement/check it?

To add an alternative text for a video or graphic in PowerPoint, follow these steps depending on the software:

For Mac:

1. Select an object.
2. In the ribbon, select the "Shape format" tab for the object and then "Alt text".
3. In the Alternative text area, enter one or two sentences in the text field to describe the object and its context.
4. Alternatively, once you have selected the object, you can right-click and go to "Display alt text..." button. A pop-up window will then appear.

For Windows:

1. Click on the video or graphic to select it.
2. Click on the "Format" tab and on "Alt text" in the menu bar.
3. An area called "Alt text" opens on the right-hand side of the screen. In this area, enter a description of the video or graphic that conveys the content and meaning for recipients.
4. Check the alternative text to ensure that it contains the relevant information and is appropriate.

To mark videos or graphics as decorative in PowerPoint, follow these steps depending on the software:

For Mac:

1. Select an object.
2. In the ribbon, select the "Format" tab for the object and then "Alternative text".
3. Activate the "Mark as decorative" checkbox. The text input field is greyed out.

For Windows:

1. Click on the video or graphic to select it.
2. Click on "Alt text" on the "Format" tab in the menu bar or right-click.
3. An area called "Alt text" opens on the right-hand side of the screen.
4. Click on the box next to "Mark as decorative" so that there is a tick in it and the video or graphic is marked as decorative.