Get started with LevelDocs – Level Access Help Center

Welcome to LevelDocs, a built-in accessibility solution for content creators. LevelDocs supports accessibility at every stage of the document lifecycle — from authoring and validation to generating accessible PDFs. Best of all, content creators don’t need in-depth knowledge of accessibility standards or word-processing techniques to use it effectively.

Note: To install a LevelDocs add-in, download the corresponding install file from the platform. After installation, you must activate the LevelDocs license. For details, go to Installing and activating LevelDocs.

Features of LevelDocs

LevelDocs provides Microsoft Office look and feel, and has the following features:

Multi-format support (multiple add-ins for Microsoft Office):
- Word add-in: Helps you create accessible Microsoft Word documents.
- PowerPoint add-in: Enables creation of accessible PowerPoint presentations.
- Excel add-in: Supports creation of accessible Excel workbooks.
Accessible output: Ability to generate and export accessible output to a folder of your choice, with or without markup and revision data. For details, refer to Generate and stamp accessible output.
Accessible stamps: Ability to select predefined accessibility stamps and add them to your generated output.
Support for global accessibility standards: Includes WCAG 2.1 AA standard compliance, aligned with 2.2 where applicable.
Built-in wizards: They guide you through and automate accessibility checks in your document—no prior accessibility expertise required.
Main toolbar: Allows you to manually fix accessibility issues.
Automation with control: Batch processing, rule-based tagging, and smart validation, with the possibility of manual reviews. Use the batch-processing engine to auto-remediate common accessibility issues (headings, tables, hyperlinks), and thus ensure faster authoring workflows.
Nested table tagging: Advanced tagging capability for nested tables and complex documents.
Reporting: A validation report allows you to identify and correct remaining accessibility errors.
Configurable organizational policy: Configure a default accessibility policy for your organization.
Hotkeys: Use LevelDocs keyboard shortcuts to perform common actions quickly.

Components of LevelDocs

Level Docs has two major navigational and functional areas that streamline your accessibility work, built-in wizards and the main toolbar.

Built-in Wizards

When you launch a wizard, a panel appears on the right side of the screen, featuring navigational tabs and action buttons.

Use the tabs to switch between different wizards or sections within the current wizard.
For example, launching the Images and Links Wizard opens two tabs: Images and Links.

To navigate the wizards, use the following directional buttons:

First: Move to the first item in the document.
Next: Move to the next item to check.
Previous: Return to the previous item.

LevelDocs toolbar

Each add-in has a LevelDocs toolbar. Toolbar buttons are add-in specific. The toolbar provides manual controls for completing accessibility tasks.

Example toolbar

The following toolbar is a part of the LevelDocs for Microsoft Word:

Select a toolbar button to manually perform the corresponding task. For example, to apply a heading style, select the desired text and click the corresponding heading button (H1 for Heading 1).

Main toolbar button	Meaning
New Document	Enables you to start a new document. To redisplay the LevelDocs toolbar, select LevelDocs from the ribbon.
Launch Wizards	Enables you to select and launch a wizard of your choice.
Show Headings	Shows the hierarchy of the document or presentation. Lists all the content to which heading styles were applied, in the left navigational pane.
Remove Heading Tags	Removes a heading style from a selected heading and transforms it into normal text.
H1-H6 buttons	Applies the chosen heading style to selected text. For example, to apply a heading 1 style to text, select the text, and then select the H1 button.
Format Painter	Applies formatting, such as color, font style and size, or border style, to multiple pieces of text or graphics. Use it to copy all of the formatting from one object and apply it to another one. Select Format Painter, and then move the paint brush that appears over the text that has the formatting you want to reuse. Move the brush over the text to which you want to apply the formatting.
Image Alts	Enables you to add alternative text to a selected image, or to designate it as Decorative Text. When you type alternative text, or select Decorative Text checkbox, select Save Changes.
Link Alts	Enables you to add alternative text to a selected links. Type the alternative text, URL, and tooltip text. Select Save Changes.
Tables	Enables you to work with a selected table. Select Table Tags or Edit Tables. Set the table settings, as required.
Font	Sets the fonts for the content.
Paragraph	Defines the paragraph settings, positioning, sorting, and formatting.
Settings	Allows you to access and configure the following settings for the document: Settings: General Policy PDF Headings Validation Rules Built-In Controls New Document Properties: Default Reading Order (for example, Left to Right) Default Language Margins of the document Font Type and Size Line spacing (we recommend 1.5 line spacing) Alt Header/Footer Properties: Enter the alternative text for headers and footers, and then select Save Changes.
Validation Report	Enables you to generate a report about the current accessibility state of the document.
Generate PDF	Enables you to generate an accessible PDF file or the native application file (e.g., Microsoft Word file). You can generate a PDF with or without markup (comments) and revisions.
Batch Processing	Enables you to perform the following actions in bulk (they apply across the document): Batch Table Tagging Heading Actions Auto Table, Heading, Image Tagging
About LevelDocs	Allows you to perform the following actions: Learn the LevelDocs version of the add-in. Submit a Support Request Display the list of hotkeys (keyboard shortcuts) Display the License box, to activate the license.

Buttons on the main toolbar of the Microsoft Word add-in

LevelDocs workflow

Here is the high-level overview of LevelDocs accessibility workflow:

Install and activate LevelDocs.
Open a file. Depending on your add-in, this can be a document, presentation or workbook.
Select the LevelDocs tab on the application toolbar (ribbon). LevelDocs main toolbar is displayed.
From the Launch Wizards dropdown, select a wizard of your choice.

Use the wizard to define and check accessibility settings for your document. Keep in mind that some wizards and their individual settings may not be available for every add-in. Check your add-in to confirm which wizards and settings are supported.

Wizard	Tasks
Accessibility Wizard (Document Settings)	Define document title, language, and editor. Adjust font, spacing, contrast, and visual formatting. Quickly jump to other wizards by selecting the relevant tab.
Reading Order	PowerPoint Wizard only. Define the elements in the slide and create a reading order for assistive technology to follow.
Heading Wizard	Identify and tag headings (H1–H6) in a logical, hierarchical order. Use manual tagging or automatic heading tagging via business rules.
Images and Links Wizard	Add Alt text to images. Provide descriptions for all hyperlinks.
Table Wizard	Once tables are fully labeled, cell data context can be read, table data can be summarized, and units of measure can be quantified. You can: Identify table types. Define table settings, such as number of header rows/columns for your tables. Provide additional table metadata, such as a table description and reading direction.
Color Contrast	Check and fix color contrast issues.

Generate a report.
Generate and stamp accessible output and export it to a folder of your choice. For example, generate a PDF file.

Where to find accessibility progress?

Launch a wizard. Your current accessibility progress appears in the wizard panel, on the right side of the screen.

The following progress scores are available, for each wizard:

Accessibility Score	Meaning
Total Items	Defines how many items exist for the area you are checking. For example, if you launch the Tables Wizard, and there are 12 total items found, this means that the document contains 12 tables.
Issues Found	Defines how many items have accessibility issues. For example, if you launch the Tables Wizard, and there are 4 issues found, found, this means that four tables are not fully accessible and need remediation.
Accessible	Defines accessibility score for the area you are checking are accessible. This value is always the result of the following equation: Accessible = Total Items - Issues Found. If you have 12 tables in total, and four have issues, your accessibility score is 8.

Generate a validation report

An accessibility validation report contains results based on the current accessibility status of your file (document or presentation).

Prerequisites:

You can preconfigure global accessibility settings for your organization. Go to Settings > Policy.
You must run Accessibility Wizard, before you can generate a validation report.

To generate a report:

Launch LevelDocs, and then select Validation Report, or open any wizard and click the Report button at the bottom of the panel.
From the Choose the Requested Report dropdown, select one of the following:
1. Organization Policy Accessibility Report: Checks content against the global accessibility settings for your organization.
2. Customized Accessibility Report: Checks content against custom settings that you define on the fly.
Select Run Report.

Note the following guidelines:

The report is generated as an html file in the same folder as the presentation, with the name PresentationName_report.html.
If you worked with an online file, and not a file on the local machine, you are prompted to save the report.
Only the last report is saved. There is no history of reports.

Generate accessible output

Test your document for accessibility, and fix the issues. Then, generate accessible output.

You can do so from all add-ins (available output formats might differ):

MS Word add-in: Accessible Word or Accessible PDF
PowerPoint add-in: Accessible PPT or Accessible PDF
Excel add-in: Accessible PDF

Note: LevelDocs does not not remediate PDFS. For PDF testing and remediation, use the PDF accessibility checker built into the Level Access platform.

Example procedure

To generate accessible output, use the same procedure in all add-ins. The following procedure uses PowerPoint as an example.

To generate accessible output from a PowerPoint add-in:

Launch LevelDocs.
Select Generate PDF, on the main toolbar. The Generate File panel opens on the right with two tabs: Settings and Format.
In the Settings tab, define these settings:
1. Select Folder: Select the three-dot button to choose where to save the file.
2. Presentation Title: Enter the title of the presentation.
3. Presentation Language: Choose the language of the presentation.
4. Under Choose your Stamp:
  1. In the Design tab, select one of the three available options.
  2. Then, select the Position and Location tab, and choose where in the file you want the stamp to appear. You can choose one of the four corners of the page.
In the Format tab, define these values:
1. Accessible PDF: Select Clean to exclude revisions and comments. Select With Revisions & Comments to include them.
2. Accessible PPT: Choose this option to generate a PowerPoint file instead of a PDF file.
Select Generate File to save the output to your selected folder.

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