Welcome to LevelDocs — your go-to add-in for creating accessible content with ease. This tool empowers content creators to produce accessible documents without needing deep expertise in accessibility standards or word-processing techniques.
Note: This page documents LevelDocs versions released in 2026. Always download the latest version of an add-in.
On this page:
Version 3.6.0
- Fixed issues pertaining to screen reader support, focus order, and form labeling across the Word desktop wizards.
- Fixed issue pertaining to PDF table screen reader announcement, license dialog behavior, and decorative item handling.
Version 3.5.0
All add-ins
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Standalone LevelDocs: New way to download standalone installation files
We’ve improved the onboarding experience for customers using the standalone LevelDocs product! Users that can't access Level Access Platform can now retrieve Cloudsmith entitlement token, to access and download the installation files.
Note: Contact your Onboarding Customer Success Manager. You'll receive an email with instructions on how to retrieve a token and download installation files. For details, refer to Installing and activating LevelDocs.
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Color contrast validation for Excel: We added histogram-based color contrast validation for visible text cells. The validation engine now analyzes text and background colors in each visible, text-containing cell (excluding visually hidden cells such as those formatted with
;;;) and calculates the WCAG contrast ratio. If any text–background pair fails to meet the minimum contrast requirement, the check fails; otherwise, it passes. -
Ability to generate accessible PDFs from Excel: You can now generate accessible PDFs from Excel using the LevelDocs toolbar or the Accessibility Wizard. Configure the basic PDF settings such as the print area, output folder, document title, and language. Optionally, configure a stamp for the first page of the PDF. LevelDocs generates both a standard PDF and a PDF/UA-compliant version, saved with the
_PDFUAsuffix in the file name. - Improved Accessibility of PDFs Exported from Excel: Exported PDFs now include optimized structure and metadata to better support accessibility standards. Our PDF Optimization Engine for Microsoft Excel enhances Excel’s Save as PDF output by cleaning and normalizing the document’s tag structure while preserving the semantic meaning. This improvement simplifies complex or redundant tag hierarchies, corrects improper layout table usage, and enforces proper table semantics. As a result, exported PDFs provide better compatibility with screen readers and improved results in accessibility validation tools.
Version 3.4.0
We’ve added the following features and improvements:
All add-ins:
Accept End User License Agreement (EULA) when installing LevelDocs: You must accept the EULA before proceeding with the installation. You’ll be prompted to accept it if you haven’t done so before, during a complete reinstallation (for example, if you delete and reinstall the LevelDocs add-in), or when a new version of the EULA is introduced. You won’t be prompted to accept the EULA again during add-in upgrades. However, note that each add-in may be updated separately.
Word add-in:
- Batch processing of hyperlink tooltips (Assign tooltips from display text): You can now quickly add tooltips to hyperlinks using their display text. We’ve added a new setting to enable this functionality, and made it available from the LevelDocs toolbar, or the Links wizard.
Display the LevelDocs toolbar.
From the Batch Processing menu select Assign Tooltip from Display Text. Alternatively, display the Links Wizard a, right-click and select the same option.
Choose whether to apply tooltips to all hyperlinks or only those missing a tooltip.
Note: Existing tooltips are preserved unless you choose to update all links. A completion summary shows how many links were scanned, updated, or skipped.
Excel add-in:
- New Tables Wizard tab: Excel documents frequently contain complex tables that require accessibility validation, such as header rows, header columns, layout tables, and table descriptions. To discover and remediate table accessibility issues more easily, use our dedicated Tables Wizard. To access the Wizard, from the Launch Wizards dropdown, select Tables.
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Table validation data displayed: LevelDocs validates all defined Excel tables against naming conventions. In the Tables pane, you can view the following information:
Total number of Excel tables and how many fail validation.
Tables that fail validation, including table name, range (e.g., A1:E6), detected header type, validation status, and failure reason.
PowerPoint add-in:
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Decorative images now hidden as expected: Fixed an issue where images marked as decorative were not hidden as expected but announced. This happened when the Decorative Text checkbox under the Images & Links Wizard was selected. The add-in now behaves as expected. The image is no longer discoverable during PowerPoint deck presentations.
Note: The solution works for Office 2019 and above (including Office 365).
Version 3.3.0
All add-ins
New PDF Validation Engine Enhances Accessibility Compliance: We’ve developed a new standards‑based engine that validates PDF documents for accessibility compliance. The engine ensures that all PDFs comply with the PDF/UA1 (ISO 14289-1) standard. As well, we’ve improved the resulting report, specifically the number of rules being checked and the user interface descriptions of those checks.
Word add-in:
PDF Optimization: Automatic Alt Text for Links
PDFs no longer fail PDF/UA checks due to missing alternative text on hyperlinks. The system now automatically adds Alt text to links when none is provided. If a link has no alternative text, display text (the visible link text) is used. If there is no display text, the link URL is used. If a link is created from an image, the image’s Alt text is used. If the image has no Alt text, the image URL is used instead.
Note: Navigate to General settings. Verify that the following setting is enabled (default) Add Alt Text to Links in PDFUA.- Fixed issues: Fixed an issue affecting the Enter Link text to display field. It no longer accepts spaces as valid input and now retains the entered value when the tab is reloaded.
Version 3.2.0
All add-ins
- We optimized LevelDocs workflow by resolving a number of user interface and accessibility validation issues.
- Known limitation: You must uninstall any existing versions of the add‑in. Then, download and install the most recent version. Otherwise, the add‑in will display two LevelDocs tabs. This is a one‑time action. Once you complete it, you can download and install future versions without having to uninstall previous versions. Applies to all add-ins.
Version 3.1.0
All add-ins
- We've improved installation experience for all add-ins, and simplified the installation procedure. The changes pertain to both global installations and per user installations. For details, refer to Installing and activating LevelDocs.
Word add-in:
We implemented the following features:
- New General setting: Load LevelDocs on Microsoft Word startup. The setting is enabled by default. As a result, the LevelDocs toolbar no longer loads alongside other Word add-ins, reducing the risk of conflicts. Workflow details: Open Microsoft Word. The LevelDocs app loads automatically. Select the LevelDocs tab. The toolbar is displayed.
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New message: If a user selects a new accessibility standards, while working in the Word application, and then runs a validation report, the report will not reflect the change immediately. For this to happen, the user must close the Word document, reopen it, and run the report again. Only then, the selected accessibility standard is visible in the generated validation report. We added the following message to highlight this behaviour:
Changes saved. Changes are effective after relaunching the application.
Excel add-in
We implemented the following features:
- New Policy tab: Use the tab to define your organization settings for default automation, and wizard-driven processes. Open a workbook, and start LevelDocs add-in. Navigate to Settings → Policy. Define your organization’s settings. The settings take effect when you run the Accessibility Wizard, and select Apply. This validates and enforce the settings against the content of the workbook.
- Validation reports for Excel: We've added accessibility validation reports to our Excel add-in. You can run accessibility checks across worksheets, view issue summaries, review findings in-context, and then export results to an HTML report. This change delivers a consistent experience across Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
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Enhanced validation process: The process helps to ensure that your Excel workbooks meet accessibility and structural standards. Validation results now appear in the General Information section of the accessibility report. The system now checks for:
- Title and Language properties in your workbook.
- Correct file format (.xlsx only). If your file is in the older .xls format, it will fail validation. Please convert it to .xlsx.
- Blank worksheets (these will be flagged).
- Updated Images Wizard: We’ve made it easier to manage accessibility for images in Excel! Images and charts are now fully accessible to assistive technologies. You can:
- Find all graphic elements: Shapes, images, icons, 3D models, SmartArt, screenshots, and charts are automatically detected as Images across all sheets.
- Navigate easily: Use First, Previous, Next, and Last buttons to move through detected elements.
- Check and update Alt text: See if an image has Alt text, add one if needed, or mark it as Decorative
- Generate an accessibility report: To see how many images need attention, run a Customized Accessibility Report and select Graphical elements and hyperlinks check.
- Fix issues quickly: Click the Fix link to jump straight to the Images Wizard and update alt text or set decorative.
PowerPoint add-in:
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Fixed the following issues affecting Images and Links Wizard:
The link count in the Images and Links Wizard did not match the actual number of links on the slide, with the count incorrectly reflecting the character count.
We disabled the Enter Link Text to Display field. To navigate to the field, open a presentation, select LevelDocs tab, open the Images and Links Wizards, display a slide with links, and select the Links tab. The field is not editable.
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Fixed an issue where two monitors were used, each with a different resolution, and the eyedropper tool did not correctly recognize color on the external monitor (due to inaccurate mapping of coordinates).
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