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Excel PDF Accessibility

Summary

Authors can ensure that their Execl workbooks 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 Accessibility best practices with Excel spreadsheets.
  2. Next, they should follow the steps in Create accessible PDFs to preserve the accessibility of the workbook in PDF format.

This article provides details about the information Excel 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.

PDF/UA Tags

Type of content Tags
Workbook 
<Document>
  Type=Workbook
Range of Cells 
<Table>
  <TR>
    <TD>
      text content
Table 
<Table>
  <THead>
    <TR>
      <TH>
        text content
      <TH>
        text content
  <TBody>
    <TR>
      <TH>
        text content
      <TD>
        text content
Table Header Cell 
<TH>
  ID=unique id
Cell with Header Style 
<H1>
Header and Footer 
no tags
Comment 
no content
Decorative Graphical Object 
no tags
Graphical Object other Group with Alt Text 
<Figure>
  Alt=alt text (object type)
Graphical Object other than Shape without Alt Text 
<Figure>
  Alt=blank
Shape without Alt Text, text, fill, outline, or hyperlink 
no tags
Shape without Alt Text with whitespace text or no text 
<Figure>
  Alt=blank
Shape without Alt Text with Equation 
<Formula>
  Alt=equation spelled out in words
Shape without Alt Text with non-whitespace text without Equation 
<Sect>
  text content
Shape with Alt Text with non-whitespace text without Equation 
<Figure>
  Alt=alt text + text (shape type)
WordArt without Alt Text or Decorative 
<Sect>
  text content
Group without Alt Text 
tags for child objects
Group with Alt Text 
<Figure>
  Alt=alt text (object type)
  tags for child objects
Decorative Picture in Cell 
<TD>
  no tags
Picture without Alt Text in Cell 
<TD>
  no tags
Picture with Alt Text in Cell 
<TD>
  <Figure>
    Alt=alt text
Hyperlink on Cell 
<TD>
  <P>
    <Link>
      Link - OBJR
      <Span>
        text content
Hyperlink on Object 
tag for object
  <Link>
  Link - OBJR

Artifacts

The following types of content are marked as <Artifact> in the PDF Content Tree and have no PDF/UA tags:

  • Slicer scrollbar
  • Grid lines
  • Cell borders
  • Cell shading
  • Decorative graphical objects
  • Text in SmartArt objects

Availability

The information in this article is applicable to the following versions of Excel.

  • Excel for Windows Version 2408 and later.
  • Excel for Mac Version 16.89 and later.
  • Excel for iOS Version 2.89 and later.
  • Excel for Android 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.

Currently, Excel for the web does not support saving as an accessible PDF.

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