How to make your PowerPoint presentations accessible

When it comes to getting your message across, it’s important to keep in mind that people in your audience interpret visuals and audio differently. Learn how to make your presentations accessible.

Man standing beside presentation slideshow

Tips for making PowerPoint accessible to everyone

PowerPoint comes with built-in accessibility features that help people with different visual or cognitive abilities both view and present slides. Here are some ways to keep everyone in mind when designing your presentation.

Tell your story with captivating presentations

Powerpoint empowers you to develop well-designed content across all your devices

Learn more

Add alt text in PowerPoint

Add alternative text to all the images and graphics in your presentation. In the Alt Text pane, briefly describe the image, its intent, and what’s important. This allows people who are blind or who have low vision to use screen reader tools that read alt text out loud, better helping them understand the visuals in your slideshow.

Use high-contrast PowerPoint templates for clarity

Strong contrast between your slide’s design and background colors makes it easier for people with low vision or colorblindness to read onscreen text. Contrasting and complementary colors aren’t just great for visual design, but they also ensure that text will appear clearly from different distances and seating positions. Search PowerPoint design templates for ones tailored toward accessibility.

Aim for larger fonts

Consider using 18pt or larger type in your slides. Not only does this draw more attention to the most important messages in your presentation, but it also means your slides won’t be overloaded with information, with the potential to overwhelm your audience. Keeping text to just the most important points reflects the design principle that a slideshow is meant to complement your overall presentation, not to replace it.

Use captions, subtitles, and alternative audio tracks

For audience members who are deaf, captions and subtitles ensure that they won’t miss a word. PowerPoint makes it easy to add video and animations to your slides, which allow you to craft engaging presentations. PowerPoint also supports closed captions and subtitles that are already embedded in video files, while PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 has a transcription feature that automatically generates subtitles as you’re presenting.

“For audience members who are deaf, captions and subtitles ensure that they won’t miss a word. PowerPoint makes it easy to add video and animations to your slides.”

Use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker

Included in all Microsoft 365 apps, this powerful tool quickly reviews your files for potential issues for people with disabilities, and it lists suggestions and tips to improve accessibility. Some of the issues that Accessibility Checker looks for include missing alt text or slide titles that are otherwise picked up by Screen Reader, hard-to-read text contrast, or the order of slide elements that are read back in a specific order.

After Accessibility Checker reviews your file, you’ll see tips on why these issues might get in the way of audience members and their versatile needs, along with ways to quickly and easily fix the issues yourself.

Some of the design techniques that help you create winning presentations are also ideal for people with disabilities—which is a win-win for conveying your ideas. Check out more presentation tips that help you deliver your best.