Video: Improve image accessibility in PowerPoint

Use these techniques to make the charts, graphs, and images in your PowerPoint slides accessible to users with a vision or reading disability.

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Tips for improving image accessibility

• In addition to color, use text, patterns, or shapes to communicate ideas.
• Add descriptive alt text to pictures, charts, and other visual objects.
• Group layered images, like a picture with callout lines, into a single object.
• To get an idea how your slides might look to someone who’s colorblind, use the color filters feature in the operating system.

Add alt text to a chart, picture, or other visuals

1. Right-click for Windows, or control-click for MacOS, a chart, picture, or other visual object, and select View Alt Text.

2. In the Alt Text pane, type a description for the object.

3. Add information about the slide and its visual content to the presentation notes underneath the slide.

   Note

   To display the Notes field, select View > Notes.

Group layered images

To make sure that the screen readers can make sense of layered images, group them into one single image.

1. To select the images you want to group, press and hold Shift and then select each image.
2. On the Picture Format tab, select Group and choose Group again.
3. Add alt text to the grouped image.

Use color filters

Windows: Enable the grayscale color filter in the Windows settings:

1. Press the Windows key, type Color filters, and press Enter.
2. Switch on the Turn on color filters option.
3. In the color filter list, select Grayscale.
4. Visually scan each slide in your presentation for instances of color-coding.

Mac: Enable the grayscale color filter in the Mac settings:

1. Select the Apple logo and choose System Settings or System Preferences.
2. Select Accessibility in the left pane, choose Display. 
3. Scroll down to Color Filters. and turn on the Color filters switch. 
4. In the Filter type list, select Grayscale.
5.  Visually scan the slides in your presentation.

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