Avoid providing copy/pasted links directly on your PowerPoint slides. Instead, hyperlink your link to descriptive text. 

Hyperlinking in PowerPoint:

1. Highlight the text in your PowerPoint slide that you want to anchor the link to.
2. Right click the highlighted text.
3. Select “Link” in the pop-up bar.
4. In the next window, paste the link in the “Address” bar.
5. Click “OK”.

For more information on how to write descriptive text, check out our self-training guide on “Links”.

Students who rely on screen readers can only get information from images and charts if you have added alternative text to them. 

Adding alt. text in PowerPoint:

1. Select the image (or chart) in your PowerPoint slide that you want to add alt. text to.
2. Right click the image.
3. Select “Edit Alt Text” in the pop-up bar.
4. In the sidebar that appears, enter a detailed description of the image or chart in the text box (if the image is an informative image) or, if this is a decorative image, mark the image as decorative by clicking the check box next to “Mark as decorative”.
5. Click the X to close the sidebar.

For more information on alt. text and informative versus decorative images, check out our self-training guide on “Images”.

As you learned on our page about “Fonts“, the style of font and the size of font you use can greatly impact the readability of your PowerPoint.

Font Type

• Arial
• Calibri
• Tahoma
• Verdana
• Helvetica

Font Size

• Slide titles/headings should be 40pt or more.
• Slide body text should be 28pt or more.

Changing Font Type Across the Entire PowerPoint

Depending on the PowerPoint template you’re using or your PowerPoints’ default text, you may be faced with the challenge of needing to change the font style across all of your slides to a font style that is more accessible (e.g., changing Times New Roman to Arial). Instead of editing each individual slide, follow these instructions to change the font type across all your slides in PowerPoint:

1. Click on the “Home” tab above the toolbar at the top of the screen.
2. Look for the “Editing” box.
3. Hit the dropdown arrow next to “Replace”.
4. Select “Replace Fonts”.
5. In the pop-up window, select the current font that you are wanting to place from the top dropdown menu.
6. Select the replacement font from the list in the bottom dropdown menu.
7. Press the “Replace” button.
8. Some PowerPoint templates use more than one font style, so repeat the above steps until all of the fonts have been replaced with an accessible font style.

For more information on font type, size, italics, and bolding, check out our self-training guide on “Font”.

Color can be fun, but the wrong color combinations can make your slides incredibly difficult to read.

Tip #1 – Use contrasting colors. If you are using a light background, be sure to use a very dark colored font. If you are using a dark colored background, be sure to use a very light colored font. 

Tip#2 –  Avoid using color to emphasize important information. Using color to callout or highlight important information can be lost on individuals with colorblindness. Instead, use bolded text or quotations if emphasizing the information is crucial to the slide. 

For more information on color, check out our self-training guide on “Color”.

Too much information on one slide can lead to poor readability. It can also be overwhelming to students with certain neurological disorders (e.g., various learning disabilities). 

Best practice – only make 2 – 4 points per slide, depending on their length. If you have a slide with long chunks of text, spread that information out between multiple slides. 

Even if the PowerPoint looks in order to you (e.g., the title is on top of the slide, and the body text is underneath it), that doesn’t mean the information is in the right order for a screen reader. 

Manage *read order in PowerPoint:

1. Click on the “Home” tab above the toolbar at the top of the screen.
2. Look for the “Arrange” icon in the “Drawing” box.
3. Hit the dropdown arrow next to “Arrange”.
4. Select “Selection Pane” from the list.
5. In the sidebar that appears, you can manage the read order for each slide. A screen reader will read the bottom item first, so the slide “Title” box should be the bottom item. Be sure to arrange the items in the order of how you would want the information read by a screen reader. You can rearrange the read order by dragging and dropping each item. 
6. Be sure to check / arrange the read order on each slide in your PowerPoint.

*Managing read order on in PowerPoint on a Mac may be different. 

For learners with a visual impairments or learners using assistive technology, it’s important that each of your PowerPoint slides has a different title/heading. 

For example, instead of slides 1 and 2 both being titled “Introduction”. Slide 1 could be titled “Introduction” and slide 2 could be titled “Introduction continued”.

The important thing is to make sure each slide has a title, and each slide title is different.