Best Practices for Reading Order:

The Reading Order Pane displays slide objects from top-down while the Selection Pane displays slide objects in reverse order. Microsoft Accessibility Checker will identify Warnings for your Reading Order if it seems to be illogical. 

Reading Order Pane: 

1. Select Review tab. 

2. Select Check Accessibility dropdown menu. 

3. Select Reading Order Pane. 

4. Reorder your slide content as needed. 

Selection Pane:   

1. On the Home tab, select Arrange button. 

2. Select Selection Pane. 

3. Note: This Selection Pane contains the same objects listed in the Reading Order Pane above, but in the reverse order. 

How to Open the Reading Order Pane in PowerPoint

1. Click the Accessibility Checker dropdown menu, and then select Reading Order Pane.

2. The Reading Order Pane will appear on the right side of your screen. From here, you can review and adjust how screen readers will read the slide content.

Next steps in the Reading Order Pane:

• Uncheck any items that you do not want to be part of the reading order, such as decorative shapes, background graphics, or purely visual elements.

  • (PowerPoint will mark them as decorative, so they are skipped by screen readers.)

• Ensure the correct reading order:

  1. Slide title (should be first)

  2. Main text or content (second)

  3. Images or charts with meaningful alt text (third)

  4. Any other supporting content

See below for additional information on:

• Alt text

• Lists

• Color Contrast

• Links

• Slide Layout

• ►Reading Order

Additional Tips 

For more information, check out the WCAG 2.2 for detailed guidance on ensuring your web and document content is fully accessible.