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Word PDF Accessibility

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:

  1. First, they should follow the practices in Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities.
  2. 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.

  1. PDF/UA tags are included to provide semantic information about the content in the document.
  2. 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.
  3. 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>
  <TOCI>
    Table of Contents
  <TOCI>
    <Link>
      Link – OBJR
      <Span>
        Complete line text
    <Span>
      empty
  <TOCI>
    ...
  <TOCI>
    ...
Header and Footer 
no tags
Comment (Version ≥ 16.0.16831.20002) 
<P>
  paragraph content
  <CommentAnchor>
    <Span>
      anchor text
    <Annot>
      comment content
Footnotes and Endnotes 
<P>
  paragraph content
<Link>
  Link – OBJR
  <Span>
    footnote number
  <Note>
    footnote text
Signature Line, ActiveX Controls, and OLE Objects 
<P>
  <Sect>
Text in different language (Version ≥ 16.0.16922.20000) 
<Span>
  Lang=language code
Bullets and Numbering 
<L>
  <LI>
    <Lbl>
      bullet or number
    <LBody>
      text content
Picture Bullets 
<L>
  <LI>
    <LBody>
      text content
Nested Bullets and Numbering 
<L>
  <LI>
    <Lbl>
      bullet or number
    <LBody>
      text content
      <L>
        <LI>
          <Lbl>
            bullet or number
          <LBody>
            text content
            ...
Table 
<Table>
  <THead>
    <TR>
      <TH>
        text content
      <TH>
        text content
  <TBody>
    <TR>
      <TH>
        text content
      <TD>
        text content
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>
  Alt=alt text (object type)
Graphical Object other than Shape without Alt Text 
<Figure>
  Alt=blank
Shape without Alt Text with text 
<Sect>
  text content
Shape with Alt Text with text 
<Figure>
  Alt=alt text + text (shape type)
WordArt without Alt Text or Decorative 
<Sect>
  text content
Picture with Attribution 
<Figure>
  Alt=alt text
<Sect>
  text content
Group without Alt Text 
tags for child objects
Hyperlink on Text 
<Link>
  Link - OBJR
  text content
Hyperlink on Object 
tag for object
<Link>
  Link - OBJR
  alt text
Note: the <Link> is a sibling of the tag for the object.
Equation (Version ≥ 16.0.18526.20168) 
<Formula>
  Alt=alt text
  Attribute MSFT_MathML=MathML string

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.