In order to both protect the quality of your Microsoft Word documents and yet make it accessible to as many users as possible, it is necessary to take certain measures to ensure that your document is legible to all. One good thing about Microsoft Word is that the software program comes with an accessibility checker that helps the document creator optimise the quality of their Microsoft Word documents. If you have colleagues or investors who have limited dexterity, vision or disabilities, here are 5 ways you can make your documents easily accessible:
- Customised keyboard shortcuts
Create shortcut keys that are easily accessible to users with limited dexterity, especially when it comes to features that require a bit more tweaking- Macros, commands, styles and other functions that may be necessary in your document alongside the commonly used ones. Locate your file tab and choose the options button so that you can choose the customise ribbon tab. Once you have selected it, you will be led to a pane that can be used to customise ribbons and keyboard shortcuts. Choose customise and choose your current document template/name so that the keyboard shortcut changes are saved in it.
Locate the categories section to access the commands you want to assign to keyboard and locate the exact commands, you will then be able to make the changes to your current keys. Make relevant combination changes and choose assign.
- Size/Zoom + Read
For basic legibility functions, you can make use of zooming to view documents at a comfortable size. This is easily achieved with either ALT + W and Q or TAB + the up or down arrow to select percentages of zoom OR pressing and holding the CTRL key while using the rotate wheel on your mouse. However, if you need to go a step above, choose the READ mode in Microsoft Word instead. The read mode is a view mode that helps improve the display resolution of your text. Locate your view tab and search for this mode in the views group section.
- Sound
Make changes to the sound for better audio engagement by choosing the file tab and selecting options. You will need to proceed to the advanced section. Look for the general tab and select or clear the option that says provide feedback with sound. Do take note that if you use this feature, the changes are automatically affecting your Microsoft Office programs.
- Colour
To change the colours of your text, you can choose ALT + H along with the F and C key so that you will open up the colour change mode. You can then use your arrow keys to direct to a font colour that is easy on the eyes for you and choose it by pressing ENTER. You can also manually select the text and use the home tab instead. Make sure to pick a colour that both reflects well on screen and also on print if you end up using it.
- Quick Access Toolbar
Customise your quick access toolbar by searching for the file tab. Choose the options setting and select the quick access toolbar. Choose the documents you want the changes to be applied, choose the commands you want and manually select areas that have items that you want to add before choosing the item.
