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Using LevelDocs for PowerPoint

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This guide describes how to use LevelDocs add-in for PowerPoint.

On this page:

Start LevelDocs for PowerPoint

To start LevelDocs accessibility add-in for PowerPoint:

  1. Open a PowerPoint presentation.
  2. From the PowerPoint ribbon, select LaunchDocs. The add-in toolbar is displayed.
  3. From the toolbar, select Launch Wizards. It is the second button from the left. Available wizards are listed.
  4. Select the wizard of your choice. 

Note: By default, the first option, Accessibility Wizard (Alt+F1), is selected. Start there, by defining general settings, or choose another wizard. After you run one or more wizards, you can generate a validation report, or generate accessible output. For details, go to Get started with LevelDocs. 

1. Accessibility Wizard: Define the presentation settings

To define global settings for your presentation: 

  1. From the Launch Wizards dropdown, select  Accessibility Wizard (Alt+F1).
  2. Define the settings.
  3. Select Apply.

The following table describes settings that affect the whole presentation.

Setting Description
Presentation Title

The name shown in the tab when the presentation is opened with a screen reader. It doesn’t affect the layout. By default, Word uses the title from the Document Title field. If the presentation is new or untitled, the file name is used as the title.

A meaningful name has the following accessibility benefits: 

  • Assists the screen reader users to understand the presentation subject matter before the content is announced.
  • Assists users that have several tabs or applications open, to navigate to a specific presentation and return to it easily.
Presentation Language

Required setting. Defines the language of the presentation. Note that different speech engines are defined for screen reader users. A presentation set to the English is announced in the English speech engine, a presentation set to Spanish is announced in the Spanish speech engine, etc. 

Note that the the language setting affect the Auto Order reading process. The text direction (LTR or RTL) is based on the selected language.
Author The person who created  the presentation.
Font Policy List Fonts in this list are based on your organization’s accessibility policy. Generally, the default fonts remain in place. Choose a font based on your organization’s accessibility policy. We recommend Sans Serif font families, which are easier to read on-screens. 
Remove Italic Formatting Revert all italics in the presentation to normal text. Italics might be difficult to read by people with visual disabilities, especially when used frequently or in longer blocks of text.
Remove Underlines Remove all underlines in the presentation, and revert the underlined lines to normal text. People with color blindness might perceive text with underlines as links. 
Minimum Line Space Set the minimum spacing between lines, for the benefit of users with visual or cognitive impairments. We recommend 1.5 line spacing.
Minimum Font Size

Define minimum font size of the body text throughout the presentation. As per accessibility standards: 

  • For printed content, use larger font sizes.
  • For digital media, most visually impaired individuals use magnifying software or the zoom option in the application. 
Minimum Character Space Set minimum spacing, to ensure readability and visibility of each character. Tight character spacing (tight tracking) may cause characters to overlap, that is, some characters may be hidden by adjacent characters.

2. Reading Order Wizard: Define the order of elements in the slide

To define a reading order for a slide:

  1. From the Launch Wizards dropdown, select  Reading Order Wizard (Alt+F2).
  2. Select a slide.
  3. In the Reading order list select the element, for example, text or title, that you want to move up or down. Then, select the up or down arrow to move it to desired location. You can also drag and drop selected element.
  4. To order the list by the current location of the text in the slide, select Auto Order by Location.
  5. Select Apply. 

Note: The Auto Order by Location feature serves as an automatic mechanism that sets the reading order based on the position of each element—with just a single click. This ensures that the reading order follows a logical flow: from top to bottom and from left to right (or right to left if you select a right-to-left language such as Hebrew).This functionality is essential because, in many cases, the existing reading order of slide elements does not correspond to their visual placement. Instead, it often reflects the order in which elements were created, added, or layered (z-order), which can cause accessibility and usability issues.

To automatically order all slides: 

  1. Display the Reading Order wizard, and the select Auto Order all slides. Note that the automatic order follows a top-to-bottom, left-to-right sequence.
  2. Select Yes.

3.Heading Wizard: Define headings for your slides

Headings provide a visual hierarchy and structure within your slides.

Heading guidelines for PowerPoint add-in

They enable screen reader users to easily navigate between different, structural sections of the presentation.

  • PowerPoint only supports two heading levels, main presentation heading and individual slide headings. LevelDocs allows you to apply up to six heading levels (H1-H6).
  • Headings must be defined in a logical, hierarchical structure. 
    • Main presentation title: H1
      • Individual slide headings: H2 
      • Subheadings: H3-H6. 
    • Avoid defining heading levels out of logical order. For example, do not set a rule that H2 is followed by H5. In this example, H2 must be followed by H3.  
  • If content is incorrectly flagged as a heading, select Not a Heading in the Heading Wizard.

Color-coded heading indicators

LevelDocs uses color-coded indicators to show the state of each heading in your document. Different colors help you quickly distinguish between valid headings, suggested headings, and items that still require action. This allows you to review and update structure more efficiently. 
 
Headings might have one of the following colors: 
Heading color  Meaning
Blue Valid heading.
Orange The orange indicator, with the question mark, identifies a potential heading. Such headings are suggestions only, based on LevelDocs analysis of the document structure. They are not applied automatically or tagged in the PDF output unless you choose to update them. You can also ignore them.
Red Invalid heading. Review and correct the heading. 

 

Launch the Headings Wizard

To launch Headings Wizard in a PowerPoint presentation: 

  • From the Launch Wizards dropdown, select Heading Wizard (Alt+F3). The panel opens on the right, starting at the selected slide or the first slide if none is selected.

    LevelDocs highlights text that may be headings. Review each slide’s heading levels and update them as needed using the wizard or the main toolbar.

How to tag headings in your presentation?

You can tag headings in one of the two ways: 

  • Use the Heading Wizard
  • Define headings manually

To define heading levels using the Heading Wizard: 

  1. Launch the Heading Wizard (Alt+F3) to open the panel on the right. You are now in Slide Mode.
  2. Use the navigation buttons (First, Next, Previous, Last) to select a slide. The wizard lists content entries for that slide.
  3. To assign a heading level, select an entry, click the three-dots button, and choose a level (H1–H6) or Not a Heading.
  4. Continue through the slides. When finished, you can generate a validation report or create a PDF file.

To define headings manually:  

  1. Select a slide, and then highlight the text you want to define as a heading.
  2. Select the heading level button in the main toolbar. 

4. Images and Links Wizard: Make images and links accessible

Use the Images and Links wizard to perform the following tasks: 

  • Add alternative (Alt) text to images or graphics. Alt text describes images and graphics so that people with visual impairments can understand them. When a screen reader encounters an image, it reads the alt text aloud. Without Alt text, the user only knows an image is present, not what it shows.
  • Locate links and give them meaningful, descriptive names. They explain where the links lead, and what information one can expect when clicking the link. Screen reader users can then easily navigate between links.

Add Alt text and name the links

To start and use Images and Links Wizard: 

  1. From the Launch Wizards dropdown, select  Images and Links Wizard (Alt+F4). The wizard opens on the right side of the screen, and displays the the Images tab. 

    The first image or graphic that the wizard detected is already selected. If the image is not selected, or not apparent to you, at the Images tab, select Total Items, and then First. The fist image in the presentation appears. 

  2. In the Alt Text for the Selected Image box, enter the alternative text that describes the image. Alternatively, if this image is decorative only, select the Decorative Text check box.   
  3. Click Next to proceed to the next image. 
  4. Repeat the process for all images in a row. When you have finished, the number of image Issues Found should be 0. 

  5. Select the Links tab, in the right-hand panel.  

    The first link that the wizard detected is already selected. If the link is not selected, or not apparent to you,  select Total Items, and then First. The fist link in the presentation appears.

  6. Enter the relevant accessibility items in the following boxes:
    1. Enter Link Text to Display: Disabled field. This is the text of the link as seen by the user. 
    2. Enter URL: This is the web or presentation location to which the link leads, when clicked. For example, enter https://client.levelaccess.com/hc/en-us/.
    3. Enter Link Tooltip: This is the text that appears when the user hovers over the link.
  7. Select Next to proceed to the next link. 
  8. Repeat the process for all the links in the presentation. When you have finished, the number of link Issues Found should be 0. 

Batch-mark elements as decorative

PowerPoint presentations often contain many decorative elements on each slide. You can batch-mark elements as decorative, either at the slide or presentation level, based on existing text or independently of it.  

To batch-mark presentation elements as decorative: 

  1. Display the Images and Links Wizard. 
  2. Select the Slide Auto Artifact or Presentation Auto Artifact button.

5. Tables Wizard: Configure tables for accessibility  

You must configure table settings, for your table types. 

Configure and check accessibility of your tables

To set table options and check table accessibility: 

  1. Launch the Table Wizard. The wizard opens a panel on the right side of the screen.

    The first table that the wizard detected is already selected. If the table is not selected, or not apparent to you, select Total Items, and then First. The fist table in the presentation appears. 

  2. Define your table table type. Then, enter the table settings that describe it.  
  3. Select Next to proceed to the next table. 

  4. Repeat the process for all the tables in the presentation.

    When you have finished, the number of  table Issues Found should be 0.   

Table settings

Setting Description
Header Rows 

Select the checkbox. Define how many rows the table should have. Typically, tables have one header row. 

Note: To enable screen readers to understand the information in a single cell, we must refer to header rows and columns. 
Header Rows 

Select the checkbox.  Define how many columns the table should have.  

Note: To enable screen readers to understand the information in a single cell, we must refer to header rows and columns. 
Layout Table Layout Table (unrelated data). LevelDocs converts this table data into paragraphs, for the final PDF document.  
Table Description Enter table caption. The caption should convey information about the purpose and content of the table. 
Table Direction  Enter Left to Right, or Right to Left. Defines how the text in the table is read. 
Configuration settings for your tables

Table types

Learn more about table types you can configure using LevelDocs: 

Table Type Description
Table with header rows and columns  For this table type, select both Header Rows and Header columns, and define the appropriate number of rows and columns for each. 
Table with header columns  For this table type, select Header columns. Typically, the value for this setting is set to 1.  
Design table (unrelated data)

Layout Table (unrelated data). For this type of table, each individual cell can be understand as stand-alone, without being related  to other cells. Usually, tables of this type preserve data formatting. 

LevelDocs converts this table data into paragraphs, for the final PDF document.  
Description of various table types

6. Contrast Wizard: Configure color settings 

LevelDocs automatically detects color contrast issues, so that you can understand where accessibility problems exist and fix them manually using the color contrast sampler (Eye Dropper tools). 

Keep the default values or set new text and background colors for selected text.   

To set the color settings:

  1. Launch the Contrast Wizard. The wizard opens a panel on the right side of the screen.
  2. Select the slide for which you want to set the ratio.
  3. Define the Text Color and Background Color.
    1. Choose a color for each by selecting the radio button and using the color picker.
    2. Select OK. The Contrast Ratio is displayed. It shows whether the combination passes accessibility standards. Results indicate Pass or Fail, and compliance with WCAG AA and AAA levels.
    3. Select Recommended Colors to ensure that the ration is acceptable.   
  4. Select Apply to Selection.

  5. Repeat the process for all the slides in the presentation. 

    You can also use the eyedropper icon to manually sample a color from the slide. This applies to both text and background colors, and allows you to manually test for color contrast issues.

Proceed to generate a validation report, or generate accessible output. For details, go to Get started with LevelDocs. 

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