Word – Images

5 Word – Images

Images in Word include photos, diagrams, lines, or shapes. To ensure accessibility, you’ll need to:

Set the image to “In line with text” so assistive technology can access it.
Add alternative text (alt text), a description embedded in the image, so users of assistive technology understand its content.

All images must be “In line with text” for assistive technology to read them.
Alt text should be concise (around 120-150 characters) and convey the image’s main purpose or idea.
For complex images, consider providing a longer, companion document for a full description.

Once you’ve added an image to your document, click on it.
Navigate to the Picture Format tab in the Ribbon. (This tab appears only when an image is selected.)
Click the Wrap Text button and select In-Line with text.
- The image is now inline and positioned within the text flow.

Click on the image.
Navigate to the Picture Format tab in the Ribbon.
Click Alt Text.
In the Alt Text pane, provide a brief, concise, and descriptive explanation of your image. Focus on its purpose. (You don’t need to say “Image of” or “Picture of”; screen readers will announce it’s an image.)
If the image is purely decorative and provides no meaningful information (e.g., a simple border), check the Decorative Image box. This tells assistive technology to skip it.
For complex images that require more explanation (like detailed charts or diagrams), briefly describe the image in the alt text, then refer to where a full description can be found within the document (e.g., “US population average 2010-2020, full description in Appendix A”). You can also provide a separate companion document.

AI can quickly generate alt text descriptions, offering a great starting point, though it’s not foolproof.