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Creating accessible PowerPoint slides

To make presentations accessible to people who use assistive technologies

Blind or visually impaired people use magnification software, a screen reader or a Braille output device to access the content of the presentation slides provided. For this to work, the slides should be technically and design-wise accessible.

The same instructions for creating accessible PowerPoint slides apply as for creating accessible Word documents.

However, there are the following special aspects that you should be aware of:

This is important for orientation and the targeted selection of content using the screen reader.

If the presentation is also to be made available as a PDF, Smart Art objects and grouped free forms must first be saved as a graphic and then provided with an alternative text.

This determines the order in which the slide elements are read out by the screen reader.

  • NOT via the “Print” function
  • But via “Save as” > PDF

Set the following under “Options”:

  • Activate: “Document structure tags for accessibility”
  • Deactivate: “Save text as bitmap”

You can use Adobe Acrobat Pro or the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) for a final check of the extent to which the saved PDF document is actually accessible. – See Checking and ensuring the accessibility of PDF documents

Helpful information & instructions for implementation

Information area: Accessible documents

The University of Potsdam offers a detailed information area with videos, checklists, information on PDF documents in general, on creating them with Word, with PowerPoint and on creating PDF forms.

Information area "Accessible documents" (opens in new tab)