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Summary
Authors can ensure that their Word documents are accessible to people with disabilities even when distributing them in PDF format using the following approach:
- First, they should follow the practices in Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities.
- Next, they should follow the steps in Create accessible PDFs to preserve the accessibility of the document in PDF format.
This article provides details about the information Word includes in the PDF to make it accessible.
- PDF/UA tags are included to provide semantic information about the content in the document.
- Decorative content does not need to be read, so it is marked as <Artifact> in the Content Tree in the PDF and no PDF/UA tags are included.
- Bookmarks for headings or Word bookmarks (depending on the option selected) are available to make it easier to navigate the content.
PDF/UA Tags
Type of content | Tags |
---|---|
Document | <Document> |
Title | <Title> |
H1, H2, etc. | <H1>, <H2>, etc. |
Paragraph, Subtitle, Content Controls, and Legacy Controls | <P> |
Paragraph Quote and Intense Quote | <BlockQuote> |
Inline Quote (Version ≥ 16.0.17004.20000) | <Quote> |
Caption | <Caption> |
Table of Contents | <TOC> |
Header and Footer | no tags |
Comment (Version ≥ 16.0.16831.20002) | <P> |
Footnotes and Endnotes | <P> |
Signature Line, ActiveX Controls, and OLE Objects | <P> |
Text in different language (Version ≥ 16.0.16922.20000) | <Span> |
Bullets and Numbering | <L> |
Picture Bullets | <L> |
Nested Bullets and Numbering | <L> |
Table | <Table> |
Table Header Cell | <TH> |
Layout Table (Version ≥ 16.0.18526.20168, beta channel) | If a table does not have borders or shaded cells, it is treated as a layout table. In this case, a <P> tag is created for each cell. |
Decorative Graphical Object | no tags |
Graphical Object with Alt Text | <Figure> |
Graphical Object other than Shape without Alt Text | <Figure> |
Shape without Alt Text with text | <Sect> |
Shape with Alt Text with text | <Figure> |
WordArt without Alt Text or Decorative | <Sect> |
Picture with Attribution | <Figure> |
Group without Alt Text | tags for child objects |
Hyperlink on Text | <Link> |
Hyperlink on Object | tag for objectNote: the <Link> is a sibling of the tag for the object. |
Equation (Version ≥ 16.0.18526.20168) | <Formula> |
Artifacts
The following types of content are marked as <Artifact> in the PDF Content Tree and have no PDF/UA tags:
- Header and footer
- Decorative graphical objects
- Gray space on the right side of the page for comments
- Pictures in picture bullets
- Underlines
- Borders around text and quote paragraphs
- Lines above footnotes/endnotes
- Text in SmartArt objects
Availability
The information in this article is applicable to the following versions of Word.
- Word for Windows Version 2408 and later.
- Word for Mac Version 16.89 and later.
- Word for iOS Version 2.89 and later.
- Word for Android Build 16.0.18025.XXXXX or later.
- Word for the web Build 16.0.18025.XXXXX or later.
It is available to customers with Office 2024 or Office LTSC 2024 and to customers with a Microsoft 365 subscription on Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel. For customers with a Microsoft 365 subscription on Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel it will be available on January 14, 2025.