How to make Word documents accessible

Headings and lists

Use headings and lists to organise your content so people can scan, understand and navigate your document quickly.

Why headings and lists matter

Headings and lists organise content so people can quickly find, understand and navigate information.

They also help people using assistive technology:

screen readers use headings to navigate content
lists are announced with the number of items and read in order

In Word, headings also create a Navigation Pane and can be used to generate a table of contents.

Using headings in Word

Use headings to organise your content into clear sections.

Add headings using styles

You must use Word’s built-in heading styles. Do not create headings by only changing the font size, colour or making text bold.

To apply a heading style:

Select the heading text.
Go to Home.
Open the Styles gallery.
Choose the correct heading level (for example, Heading 1, Heading 2).

Structure your headings clearly

use clear, descriptive wording
make the document title Heading 1
start section headings at Heading 2
use Heading 3 to organise content within sections
use headings in a logical order
do not skip heading levels (for example, Heading 1 to Heading 3)

Keep the structure simple. If you need more than three levels (four at most), your content may be too complex.

Make headings easy to see

use consistent visual formatting for each level
make headings stand out from body text
use good colour contrast

As a guide, each heading level should increase in size and be clearly distinct.

Do not:

use italics or block capitals
underline headings (use for links only)
make different heading levels look the same (for example, Heading 1 and Heading 2 the same size)

For example, if body text is size 12:

Heading 3: size 14, bold
Heading 2: size 16, bold
Heading 1: size 18 to 20 (document title), bold

Update heading styles (if needed)

if your headings already have good formatting, update the heading style to match the formatting (Microsoft Support)
if they do not have good formatting, modify the heading style to apply consistent formatting (Microsoft Support)

Writing headings

Write headings in plain English so people can understand the document just by scanning.

Keep headings short, clear and descriptive.

Learn more about how to write headings in content.

Check your headings

Before publishing, check that headings are correct.

Check heading styles

Select the heading text.
Check the correct style is selected in the Styles gallery.

Use the Navigation Pane

The Navigation Pane shows all headings in order.

To open it, go to View, then select Navigation Pane.

Check for:

a clear and logical structure
headings that describe each section
text marked as a heading by mistake
empty headings

Headings should work like section titles, so people can understand the structure without reading everything.

Learn more about the Navigation Pane in Microsoft Word.

Use lists in Word

Lists organise information within sections and make content easier to read.

Use:

bullet lists for related points
numbered lists for steps or ordered tasks

Read about how to write different types of lists.

Make lists accessible

Use Word’s built-in list tools so lists are read correctly by assistive technologies.

This ensures:

consistent structure
correct reading order
compatibility with other tools and software

Do not manually create lists using dashes, numbers, or spaces.

If you change how bullets look, keep the style consistent throughout the document.

Microsoft Support has guidance on how to create lists:

Add spacing between list items

Do not press Enter to add empty lines between list items. This can cause screen readers to treat each item as a new list.

Instead, use Word’s Paragraph settings:

Highlight your list.
Go to Home, then Paragraph,
Go to Line and paragraph spacing, then Line Spacing Options.
In the Indents and Spacing tab, adjust the Before and After fields.
Make sure “Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style” is unticked.