SAIF: Making Excel Documents Accessible

Added on Tuesday 21 Jul 2009

We have recently been asked for guidance on how to make Excel documents accessible.  Below is some general guidance on the principles behind doing this.  For more detailed information visit the Excel section of microsoft's website.

General Guidelines
 Follow these guidelines to make spreadsheets accessible:

• Do not use blank cells for formatting purposes.  Instead use Excel's native formatting techniques, such as specifying row height.
• Use row and column headers and make them clear and self-explanatory.  If possible, use row 1 and column A for headers.
• Use comments to describe the workbook, (for example, purpose of each worksheet, number of worksheets, layout of each worksheet).
• Define regions to allow a person using assistive technology to move between areas defined in the worksheet.

Comments provide users of assistive technology with additional information about the purpose of the worksheet or cell.  Assistive technology users can navigate between regions in a worksheet.