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Use a screen reader to add and format text in PowerPoint
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This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.

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Use PowerPoint with your keyboard and a screen reader to add text and apply formatting to a presentation. Formatting the text in your PowerPoint presentation makes it easier to read. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll learn how to create bulleted or numbered lists to structure your presentations better or to add hyperlinks to other sources of information.

Notes: 

In this topic

Add text to a slide

You can add content to a slide while in the Normal view.

  1. To go to the Normal view, press Alt+W, and then L. You hear "Slide pane," followed by the slide number. With JAWS, you hear: “Slide area.” With NVDA, you hear: “Slide view.”

  2. To select the slide in which you want to add text, press F6 until you are in the slide thumbnail pane. You hear "Thumbnails," followed by the slide number.

  3. To browse through the slides, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number and the title of the slide. If the slides are located within sections, use the Up or Down arrow key to navigate the sections, and then press the Right arrow key to expand the section.

  4. To move the focus to a slide editing area, press F6. With Narrator, you hear "Slide pane,” followed by the slide number. With JAWS, you hear: “Slide area.” With NVDA, you hear: “Slide view.”

  5. Press the Tab key to move to a text placeholder. With Narrator, the placeholders are called text boxes, so you hear, for example: “Title text box.” With JAWS, you hear: “Title placeholder.” With NVDA, you hear: “Center Title placeholder, shape.”

  6. To replace the placeholder with your text, press Enter to go to editing mode and select all the text, then start typing.

  7. To move the insertion point to the next title or body text placeholder, press Ctrl+Enter.

    Note: You can also press the SR key+Right or Left arrow key to navigate the placeholders, and press the SR key+Enter to place the text insertion point at the end of the selected text box.

    Note: If there aren't any more text placeholders, in most cases, pressing Ctrl+Enter inserts a new slide with the same slide layout as the original slide and places the focus on the new slide's first placeholder. However, if the original slide has the "Title Slide" layout, the newly created slide will have "Title and Content" layout.

    Note: If you want to edit text that you’ve already added in a text field, press the Tab key to move to the text field, and then press F2 to select all text and start editing. To stop editing and move the focus back to the text box, press F2 again.

    Note: To learn how to apply character formatting using your keyboard, such as bold, underline, italics, subscript, or superscript, go to "Format text" section in Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations.

Add bullets or numbers to text

You can create bulleted or numbered lists using keyboard shortcuts. You can turn existing lines of text into a list, change the bullet style, or make nested lists.

Add bullets or numbering to text

  1. In a text placeholder, select the text to which you want to add bullets or numbering.

    Tip: To learn more how to select text in PowerPoint using your keyboard, go to "Select text" section in Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations.

  2. Choose what you want to do:

    • To add bullets, press Alt+H, and then U. Use the arrow keys to browse through the bullet styles. You hear the bullet style description while browsing. To insert the style, press Enter.

    • To add numbering, press Alt+H, and then N. Use the arrow keys to browse through the numbering styles. You hear the numbering style description while browsing. To insert the style, press Enter.

  3. To create additional list items, place the insertion point at the end of a list item, and press Enter.

  4. To stop creating the list, place the insertion point at the end of the last list item, and press Enter, and then press Backspace.

Create a bulleted list as you type

  1. At the start of a new line, type * (asterisk) and then press Spacebar or the Tab key.

  2. Type any text that you want. A filled round bullet list item is automatically created after you press Enter.

  3. To create a new list item, press Enter.

  4. To stop creating the list, press Enter, and then Backspace.

Create a numbered list as you type

  1. At the start of a new line, type 1. (the number 1 followed by a period) and then press Spacebar or the Tab key.

  2. Type the text you want. A numbered list item is automatically created after you press Enter.

  3. To create a new list item, press Enter.

  4. To stop creating the list, press Enter, and then Backspace.

Indent items within a list

  1. Select the list items that you want to indent.

  2. Choose what you want to do:

    • To increase the indent, press Alt+H, and then A and I.

    • To decrease the indent, press Alt+H, and then A and O.

Change the color of text

You can change the color of specific parts of text in your presentation.

  1. Select the text that you want to color.

  2. To change the color, press Alt+H, and then F and C. You hear: "Theme colors."

  3. Use the arrow keys to navigate the color and shade options, and then press Enter to select a color.

Change the color of hyperlink text

The color of hyperlink text can be changed across your entire presentation by applying changes to the Slide Master.

  1. To open the Slide Master, press Alt+W, then M.

  2. To change the Slide Master color scheme, press Alt+M, then T, C, and C.

  3. Press the Up arrow key until you hear: “Hyperlink.” Press Enter to select.

  4. Use the arrow keys to navigate the color and shade options, and then press Enter to select a color.

  5. To save the changes, press Alt+S.

  6. To leave the Slide Master view and return to Normal view, press Alt+W, and then L.

Highlight your text

You can highlight important parts of your presentation. Highlighted parts will catch the attention of your audience.

Highlight text

  1. Select the text you want to highlight.

  2. To open the highlight color menu, press Alt+H, T, and then C.

  3. Use the arrow keys to navigate the color options, and then press Enter to select a color.

Highlight text using text effects

  1. Select the text you want to highlight.

  2. To open the text effect menu, press Alt+J, then D, T, and X.

  3. Press the Down arrow key until you hear “Glow,” and press Enter.

  4. To select the color and highlight variant, press the Tab key until you hear the option you want, and then press Enter.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to share and co-author presentations in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Use a screen reader to create a presentation from a template in PowerPoint

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint with your keyboard and VoiceOver, the built-in macOS screen reader, to add and format text in your slides and provide the audience with a well-structured and easy-to-follow presentation with relevant linking to more information.

Notes: 

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • This topic assumes that you are using the built-in macOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, go to VoiceOver Getting Started Guide.

In this topic

Add text to a slide

  1. In the Normal view, to select the slide where you want to add text, press F6 repeatedly until you hear: “Thumbnail pane.” Press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the slide you want.

  2. When on the right slide, press the Tab key until VoiceOver announces: “Edit text, you are currently on a text area, inside of a text box.” If the slide has a title text box, the focus moves on it.

  3. To add text, start typing. If the text area contains placeholder text, you might have to remove it first. When done, press Esc.

  4. To move to the next text box on the slide, press the Tab key. To add text, start typing. When done, press Esc.

Add a bulleted or numbered list

Create bulleted or numbered lists to add structure to your text. You can turn existing pieces of text into a list or create lists as you type.

  1. In a text box, select the piece of text you want to format as a list.

  2. Press Control+Option+Shift+M. The context menu opens.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To insert a bulleted list, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Bullets submenu," and then press the Right arrow key until you hear the bulleted list option you want.

    • To insert a numbered list, press the Down arrow key until you hear "Numbering submenu," and then press the Right arrow key until you hear the numbered list option you want.

  4. When on an option you want to use, press Control+Option+Spacebar. The selected text is transformed into a list and the focus remains on the list.

Create a bulleted list as you type

  1. In a text box, place the cursor where you want to start the list.

  2. Type an asterisk symbol (*) and press Spacebar.

  3. Type the list item text. Press Return to add a new list item. PowerPoint starts a bulleted list automatically.

Create a numbered list as you type

  1. In a text box, place the cursor where you want to start the list.

  2. Type the number one and a period (1.) and press Spacebar.

  3. Type the list item text. Press Return to add a new list item. PowerPoint starts an ordered list automatically.

Highlight text using Text Effects

You can highlight text using text effects, such as shadow, reflection, or glow to draw attention to the important points in your presentation.

  1. Select the text you want to highlight.

  2. Press Command+Shift+1 to open the Format Shape pane.

  3. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Shape options." Then press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear "Text options," and press Control+Option+Spacebar.

  4. Press the Tab key once, and then press Control+Option+Right arrow key until you hear: "Text effects, tab." Press Control+Option+Spacebar to select the tab.

  5. Press the Tab key until you hear the text effect you want to use, and then press Control+Option+Spacebar.

  6. You can now specify the details of the effect. Press the Tab key to browse the details in the menu. You can type the values or press the Down arrow key to browse the values in a list. To select, press Control+Option+Spacebar. The text effect is applied to the piece of text you selected.

  7. To close the Format Shape pane and return to your presentation, press Shift+Tab until you hear "Close format shape, button," and press Control+Option+Spacebar.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to insert audio or video in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint with VoiceOver, the built-in iOS screen reader, to add and format text on your slides and provide the audience with a well-structured and easy-to-follow presentation with relevant linking to more information.

Notes: 

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • This topic assumes that you are using the built-in iOS screen reader, VoiceOver. To learn more about using VoiceOver, visit Apple accessibility.

In this topic

Add text to a slide

  1. To select the slide where you want to add text to, swipe right or left until you hear number of the slide you want, and then double-tap the screen. You hear "Selected," followed by the number and title of the slide.

  2. Swipe left until you hear the text box type, followed by “Text box, text field." If the text box already contains text, VoiceOver reads the text. To select the text box, double-tap the screen.

  3. To add text, double-tap the screen and then use the on-screen keyboard to type the text. To go to the keyboard, swipe right until you hear: "Q." To close the keyboard, swipe left until you hear "Hide keyboard," and then double-tap the screen.

  4. To browse to the next text box, swipe left until VoiceOver announces the text box element.

Add a bulleted or numbered list

  1. Go to the text box where you want to add the list, and double-tap the screen.

  2. To go to the ribbon, tap near the top of the screen with four fingers, swipe right until you hear "Show ribbon," and then double-tap the screen. You hear the name of the currently selected tab.

  3. Double-tap the screen. Swipe left until you hear "Home tab," and then double-tap the screen.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • To create a bulleted list, swipe right until you hear: "Bullets, button." Double-tap the screen. The Bullets menu opens.

    • To create a numbered list, swipe right until you hear: "Numbering, button." Double-tap the screen. The Numbering menu opens.

  5. To browse the options in the Bullets or Numbering menu, swipe right. VoiceOver announces the options as you move. When on an option you want to use, double-tap the screen to select. The bullets or numbers are inserted.

  6. To close the ribbon, swipe right until you hear: "Hide ribbon, button." Double-tap the screen. The ribbon closes and the focus moves to the list. The on-screen keyboard becomes available, and you can type the list item text.

Create a bulleted list as you type

  1. Go to the text box where you want to add the list, and double-tap the screen to select it.

  2. To bring up the on-screen keyboard, double-tap the screen. On the on-screen keyboard, navigate to the asterisk symbol (*), which VoiceOver announces as "Star." Double-tap the screen to select it. Then swipe right until you hear "Space," and double-tap the screen.

  3. Use the on-screen keyboard to type the list item text. When done, swipe right until you hear "Return," and double-tap the screen.

    PowerPoint starts a bulleted list automatically.

Create a numbered list as you type

  1. Go to the text box where you want to add the list, and double-tap the screen to select it.

  2. To bring up the on-screen keyboard, double-tap the screen. Use the on-screen keyboard to type the number one and a period (1.). Then swipe right until you hear "Space," and double-tap the screen.

  3. Use the on-screen keyboard to type the list item text. When done, swipe right until you hear "Return," and double-tap the screen to select it.

    PowerPoint starts a numbered list automatically.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to read or add speaker notes and comments in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint for Android with TalkBack, the built-in Android screen reader, to add text and hyperlinks to a presentation. You can also create bulleted or numbered lists to structure your presentations better.

Notes: 

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • This topic assumes that you are using the built-in Android screen reader, TalkBack. To learn more about using TalkBack, go to Android accessibility.

In this topic

Add text to a slide

  1. While editing your presentation, swipe right until you find the text box where you want to add text. TalkBack announces text boxes as "Title text box" or "Content placeholder. This is text on a slide." Double-tap the screen to select the text box for editing. A context menu opens.

  2. Swipe right until you hear "Edit text button," and then double-tap the screen.

  3. Use the on-screen keyboard to type your text.

  4. When you're done, swipe down-then-left to close the on-screen keyboard. The focus stays on the text box.

Add a bulleted or numbered list

You can add a bulleted or numbered list to any text box in your presentation.

  1. While editing your presentation, swipe right until you find the text box where you want to add a list. TalkBack announces text boxes as "Title text box" or "Content placeholder. This is text on a slide." Double-tap the screen to select the text box for editing. A context menu opens.

  2. Swipe right until you hear "Edit text button," and then double-tap the screen.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To start a bulleted list, swipe right until you hear "Off, bullets, switch," and then double-tap the screen.

    • To start a numbered list, swipe right until you hear "Off, numbering, switch," and then double-tap the screen.

    Note: The text box might already contain a list in the PowerPoint template you use. In that case, you hear "On" instead of "Off."

  4. Use the on-screen keyboard to type the list item text.

  5. To add another list item, slide your finger around the lower-right corner of the screen until you hear "Enter," and double-tap the screen. A new list item is added, and you can now use the keyboard to type the list item text.

  6. When your list is ready, swipe down-then-left to close the keyboard. The focus stays on the text box.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Use PowerPoint for the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to add text and hyperlinks to your presentation. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.

Notes: 

  • If you use Narrator with the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you have to turn off scan mode in order to edit documents, spreadsheets, or presentations with Microsoft 365 for the web. For more information, refer to Turn off virtual or browse mode in screen readers in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

  • New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.

  • To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.

  • When you use PowerPoint for the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because PowerPoint for the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not PowerPoint for the web.

In this topic

Add text to a slide

  1. In Editing View in PowerPoint for the web, press Ctrl+F6 repeatedly until you hear the number of the current slide. The focus is in the thumbnail pane.

  2. To browse through the slides, press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the number of the slide you want to edit.

  3. Press Ctrl+F6 until you hear: "Slide panel."

  4. To move the focus to the first placeholder, press the Tab key. You hear the placeholder.

  5. To replace the placeholder with your text, press Enter and start typing. When done, press F2. You hear: "Slide panel."

  6. To move to the next placeholder, press the Tab key. You hear the placeholder. To start adding text, press Enter and type. When finished, press F2.

Add bullets or numbers to text

  1. In the text placeholder, select the text to which you want to add bullets or numbering.

  2. Press Alt+Windows logo key+H. You hear: "Home tab, item."

  3. Choose what you want to do:

  • To add bullets, press the Tab key until you hear: "Bulleted Library." To insert the style, press Enter.

  • To add numbering, press the Tab key until you hear: "Numbering Library." To insert the style, press Enter.

Change the color of text

  1. Select the text that you want to color.

  2. Press Alt+Windows logo key+H. You hear: "Home tab, item."

  3. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Font colors, split button." Then press Spacebar until you hear: "Theme colors."

  4. Use the arrow keys to navigate the color and shade options, and then press Enter to select a color.

Highlight your text

  1. Select the text that you want to highlight.

  2. Press Alt+Windows logo key+H. You hear: "Home tab, item."

  3. Press the Tab key until you hear: "Highlight, split button." Then press Spacebar until you hear: "Highlight colors."

  4. Use the arrow keys to navigate the color and shade options, and then press Enter to select a color.

See also

Use a screen reader to work with slides in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to insert and edit pictures and tables in PowerPoint

Use keyboard shortcuts to create PowerPoint presentations

Use keyboard shortcuts to deliver PowerPoint presentations

Basic tasks to create a presentation in PowerPoint with a screen reader

Use a screen reader to create a presentation from a template in PowerPoint

Use a screen reader to explore and navigate PowerPoint

Technical support for customers with disabilities

Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.

If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.

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