Add Alt Text or Mark Object as Decorative

What to Keep in Mind

When Is Alt Text Required?

All content-relevant visual objects—including images, graphics, shapes, icons, 3D models, SmartArt, charts, cameos, groups, and embedded objects—must have a short, meaningful alternative text (alt text). This ensures that people who cannot perceive visual information can access the content using assistive technologies.

When exporting with axesSlide, visual objects are tagged as <Figure> tag in the Logical Document Structure, unless you have assigned a different role to the object via role mapping. Any text within these objects (e.g., in SmartArt or charts) is not readable by assistive technologies. Therefore, the alt text must include all relevant text and visual information contained in the object.

How Do I Write Alt Text?

For guidance on writing effective alt text, refer to the axesWord article How do I create suitable alternative texts for figures?.

Describe Complex Content in Detail

Highly complex visual elements should be described in detail using additional text, either on a separate slide or via an external link.

Do Not Insert Text as an Image

Avoid inserting plain text as an image. If a graphic contains text, that text must be fully included in the alt text.

Mark Decorative Objects

Visual elements that are not content-relevant and should be ignored by assistive technologies—such as backgrounds or decorative graphics—must be marked as decorative. Instructions for doing this are provided in the section Mark as Decorative below.

Add Alt Text

This section describes how to insert alt text using PowerPoint tools. You can also add alt text using the axesSlide - Role mappings and reading order task pane. For instructions on how to do this, see the section Add alt texts in the article Button "Role mapping".

To add alternative text using PowerPoint tools:

1. Right-click on the object.
2. Select View Alt Text in the context menu.
3. In the Alt Text pane, enter the alt text for the selected object.

Note: If you want to edit the alt text of a group or an entire diagram, click on the edge of the group or diagram and not on individual elements of it.

Tip: You can also easily edit the alt texts in the Reading Order pane. You can find out how to do this in Set Reading Order.

Mark as Decorative

To mark objects as decorative:

1. Right-click on the object.
2. Select View Alt Text in the context menu.
3. In the Alt Text pane, tick the checkbox next to Mark as decorative.

Tip: You can also mark objects as decorative in the Reading Order pane. You can find out how to do this in Set Reading Order.