Create Accessible Excel Spreadsheets

Overview

This lesson addresses how to create accessible Excel spreadsheets.

Remember, the core concepts are always addressed in the text. For this lesson I strongly recommend you view the supplementary videos - they cover more ground and details than I'm able to in this lesson.

Core Concepts

Excel Overview

With Office products, most users compromise accessibility by ignoring built-in tools and manually formatting their document. With Excel, most users are using Excel in order to take advantage of the built-in tools and features, so you're typically at an accessibility advantage when using Excel (if using it properly). 

When using Excel keep in mind that a user of assistive technology is going to be navigating by cell, therefore it's important to ensure your sheet begins using the A1 cell so that they can immediately begin accessing the content. This is a great spot to provide an overview or information about the worksheet. 

Charts and Images

As with the other Office products, you'll want to add alt-text to any charts or tables that you build in Excel. You'll also want to add alt-text to pivot tables and any SmartArt graphics. In terms of providing alt-text for tables and graphics, provide a general description of the info contained (e.g., list of meal rates based on county per diem). 

However, inserting charts and images may impact the read order or be skipped over entirely (as they float above the sheet), so you may want to consider creating the charts then adding them to a report in Word where you'll have more control over accessing the content.

Tables

To ensure accessibility, format tables with headers and avoid merged, split, or blank cells. The complex a table (merging cells, nesting multiple headings under one, adding blank lines, etc.) the worse it will be for accessibility. Try to keep tables simple, as discussed in this section on Simple Tables vs. Complex Tables Links to an external site. by Penn State.

Follow the steps below to turn your data cells into an accessible table with headers. 

  1. Select the cells you want to include in the table
  2. On the Insert tab in the ribbon, select Table
  3. Select the My table has headers check box and select OK
  4. Type new, descriptive names for each column in the table

screen cast showing the steps to create table in Excel.

Other Tips & Features

Many of the same lessons that you've learned about Word and PPT apply to Excel: be careful with color, use descriptive hyperlinks, etc. 

In addition, provide unique names to each sheet in your Excel workbook. Delete unused sheets. 

You can also use headings, as you would in Word, to build in structure if your spreadsheet has different sections. Use the Style pane in the home ribbon to define the cell styles and input headings.

  1. Select the cell with the section title.
  2. From the Styles pane, click on Cell Styles.
  3. Select the appropriate heading level.

screen cast of applying table properties through the table design pane

Lastly, use the Accessibility Checker (available in Office for PC and Mac version 2016) to double check for any other issues.

Supplementary Videos

Creating an Accessible Excel Spreadsheet, Part 1 (13:40)

This is the first of a two-part set of Excel modules. This module focuses on common sense practices that should be used when creating spreadsheets (applies to MS Excel 2013 & 2016).

Creating an Accessible Excel Spreadsheet, Part 2 (9:36)

This is the second of two modules covering Excel accessibility. This module concentrates on advanced steps to assist with screen readers and also how to define the title region (applies to MS Excel 2013 & 2016).

 

Accessible Excel Forms, Part 1 (8:06)

This is the first of a two-part set of Excel forms modules. This module covers the basics for creating accessible Excel forms, as well as a brief review of Excel accessibility best practices (applies to MS Excel 2013 & 2016).

Accessible Excel Forms, Part 2 (7:32)

This is the second of a two-part set of Excel forms modules. This module gives more advanced instructions on controlling the type of data being entered and also locking and protecting your form (applies to MS Excel 2013 & 2016).

Additional Resources