How to make Word documents accessible
Written content
You must make sure that the text in your Word document is easy for people to read and understand.
Plain English
Write your document in plain English. Plain English uses simple wording and does not contain jargon.
Plain English benefits everyone. This includes:
- People with low literacy skills. 16.4% of adults in England, or 7.1 million people, have 'very poor literacy skills' (Source - National Literacy Trust)
- Specialists and people with mid to high literacy skills. Government Digital Service (GDS) advice on writing content says 'research shows that higher literacy people prefer plain English because it allows them to understand the information as quickly as possible'
How to write in plain English
There are lots of resources to help you write your document:
- GDS guide on how to write well for your audience
- The Writer's free readability checker (opens in a new window) (opens new window) - a readability checker that will assess the reading age someone needs to be to understand your writing
- Hemingway Editor (opens in a new window) (opens new window) - a readability checker that helps you make your writing clearer
- Nielsen Norman Group article on why plain language is for everyone, even experts
Technical terms and abbreviations
You can include technical terms and abbreviations in your Word document. But you should explain what they mean the first time you use them.
For example, the first time you use an abbreviation like 'NCC' in your document, write 'Norfolk County Council (NCC)'.
Instructions
Your document might contain instructions that users need to follow.
You must make sure that any instructions in your document do not rely on the user being able to see the page. This includes referring to things only by colour, size, position or shape.
Instructions that rely on people being able to see your document to understand them make it hard or impossible for people with visual impairments to follow them.
For example:
- Don't write: 'Use the red text in the square box to help you complete the form'
- Do write: 'Follow our advice on how to complete the form'