Tables pose significant challenges both for screen readers and for people who read with magnification. They must therefore either be formatted very carefully or converted into a list. MS Word offers a few options to help with this.

Formatting tables for screen readers

If a table is absolutely necessary to convey your content, please be aware of the following:

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• Create the table with Insert > Table. Never use tabs.
• Once you have created the table, never change the number of columns or merge or split any cells.
• Ensure that the first row contains meaningful column titles and that the first column (left) contains meaningful row titles.
• Then mark the uppermost cell of the first column (furthest to the left) with the bookmark “Title”.
  • Highlight the contents of the first cell.
  • In the “Insert” menu, under “Links”, click “Bookmark”.
  • Type a title into the “Bookmark name” field and click “Add”.

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Tables for reading with magnification

Tabs (i. e. horizontal spaces within lines of text) can also be a major obstacle for people who read with screen magnifiers. Please avoid them and create tables instead. For optimal readability, the cells of your table should be divided with thick lines.

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• Click in the table.
• In the menu that appears, click Table > Design > Set line weight.

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Tables as lists

Smaller tables …

Name	Address	Phone
Clara Filler	1, University Street	061 123 45 67
Peter Sample	4, Dean’s Square	078 123 45 67

… can be formatted as a list (no bullet points or breaks):

Name: Clara Filler
Address: 1, University Street
Phone: 061 123 34 56

Name: Peter Sample
Address: 4, Dean’s Square
Phone: 073 123 45 67.

Bullet lists

You should use automatic list formatting to create longer and/or more complex lists.

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• First write the list as normal text (one paragraph per list element)
• Highlight the entire list
• Under “Start”, select your desired list format with bullets or numbering.

If your list contains sub-levels, you can format them with the “Multilevel list” button in the “Start” menu.

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