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Part of Creating accessible documents

Document accessibility - Navigating documents and headings

People with print disabilities use assistive technology to navigate through your document using its headings structure.

Overview

Screen readers and other assistive technologies navigate through your document, following its heading structure.

Headings

Using proper heading styles in your document can make it easier to navigate your document.

Word has built-in heading styles. Create headings by applying these styles.

Heading considerations

Using headings can save time when formatting documents. Headings help build a structure that will translate well into PDF and other formats.

Use headings in cascading order:

  • Heading 1
  • Heading 2
  • Heading 3, and so on

Do not jump levels. For example, going from Heading 1 to Heading 3 with no Heading 2 in between will make your document harder to read.

Heading 1 is the top level. Heading 2 is a subsection, and Heading 3 is the sub-sub-section.

How a screen reader reads headings

How to add headings

  • Option 1

    1. Select the 'Home' tab in the ribbon at the top of the page and look for the ‘Styles’ pane. A few styles should be displayed in the pane. These are commonly used styles.
    2. Highlight the text you want to turn into a heading.
    3. Select the appropriate heading level (starting with Heading 1)
    4. The text should update and become a heading. That heading should now be visible in the Navigation pane.
       

  • Option 2

    1. Select the ‘Home’ tab in the ribbon at the top of the page and look for the ‘Styles’ pane.
    2. Click the small square in the bottom right-hand corner of the pane or use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+Shift+S. The Styles pane will appear along the right-hand side of the document. 
    3. If the desired styles (for example, headings) do not appear, select ‘Options’ at the bottom of the Styles window. Use the drop-down menu to find the styles you want to display. ‘All styles’ is usually a safe bet.
    4. Highlight the text.
    5. Select the appropriate heading level (starting with Heading 1).
    6. The text should update and become a heading. That heading should now be visible in the Navigation pane.

How to modify a heading style

  1. Place the mouse cursor over the heading you want to modify.
  2. Right click to open the drop-down menu for the headings in the Styles pane.
  3. Select ‘Modify’
  4. Modify the style to customize content. You can change the font, size, colour, spacing, and more.
  5. Once you change the style, all the other text with the assigned style will automatically update to match.

How to match a heading to an existing style

  1. Highlight the block of text.
  2. Right click the heading you want to change in the Styles pane.
  3. Select ‘Update [style name] to Match Selection.’ If you are using other headings, this will update them all. It is an easy way to customize the headings in an existing document.
     

Navigation Pane

Headings will appear in the Navigation Pane, like a table of contents.

To begin, open the Navigation Pane. The Navigation Pane lets you quickly search or navigate through your document. It will display your headings in order. Click on a heading in the outline to move to that heading. Click on a page thumbnail to move to that page.

How to access the Navigation Pane

There are several ways to access the Navigation Pane.
 

  • Option 1

    1. Go to the ‘Review’ tab on the ribbon bar 
    2. Select ‘Check Accessibility’ under the Accessibility area of the ribbon.
    3. When the drop-down menu appears, click on the third option, ‘Navigation Pane.’

  • Option 2

    1. Select the ‘View’ tab in the top ribbon.
    2. Check the ‘Navigation Pane’ checkbox in the ‘Show’ area.
    3. The Navigation Pane will display the structure of your document in a list on the left-hand side of the screen.

How to access the Navigation Pane