Accessibility of Simple Tables in Microsoft Products,
Adobe PDF, and HTML
➔ Best Practices
• Develop an accessible simple table in the authoring/source format before converting to PDF.
• Provide captions and descriptions of a table, if necessary, to provide additional information
about the purpose and what is contained in a table. Captions provide all users an opportunity
to determine whether the contents of a table are relevant to the user’s needs.
• Render data in separate cells within the rows and columns.
• When possible, convert complex tables to simple tables as in the example below:
Complex Table:
Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)
Complex Table Converted into Simple Table:
➔ How To’s
Instructions are based on inserting a simple table into a Microsoft Word or PowerPoint document and
then converting the completed Word or PowerPoint document into a PDF using Adobe Acrobat Pro
DC.
Inserting a Simple Table in Word / PowerPoint
How to insert a simple table in Word / PowerPoint:
1. Navigate to the Insert tab from the ribbon.
2. Select the Table menu item and activate Insert Table.
3. Enter the desired Number of rows and Number of columns.
4. Highlight the top row, which is identified as the columns header row.
5. Activate (or right click) the context menu and select Table Properties.
6. Select the Row tab and check “Repeat as Header Row at the top of each page.”
7. Activate the OK control when finished.
8. Highlight the entire table.
9. Activate (or right click) the context menu and select Table Properties.
10. Select the Row tab and uncheck “Allow row to break across pages.”
11. Activate the OK control when finished.
12. Enter data into the table.
Why is using the Insert > Table function important?
Using the Insert > Table function makes the table structurally accessible for AT users. If using the
TAB key or spacing to create the table, AT will not read the table appropriately and it will not be
considered accessible. Additionally, designated header rows make it easier for AT (such as a Screen
Reader) to navigate through the table, associating the data to a particular header element.
Refer to the OS Microsoft Word Accessibility Reference and the OS Microsoft PowerPoint
Accessibility Reference for further information about inspecting simple tables for conformance.