Table structure

Content that looks like a table should be an actual table, not tabbed text or individual text frames, and never an image. In Microsoft Word, tables must be inserted ‘in line with text’ – do not insert as floating objects, and make sure text wrapping is off. 

Ensure that:

• text is in a clear font and of a legible size (see Text accessibility for more information on choosing fonts)

• information is not conveyed by colour alone – you may need to include additional text to accompany any colours used (see Text alternatives for more information on how to do this)

• enough colour contrast is used between text and background

• the table does not contain blank cells or merged cells (see Blank and merged cells).

To be accessible, a table must be properly structured and have defined header and body rows. This enables screen readers to read the column headings (and row headings, if defined) before reading each data cell. Without this structure, a screen reader will simply read each cell in turn, starting at the top left. This might be okay for a small, simple table, but would quickly become confusing for larger, more complex tables.

Structuring a table correctly allows the screen reader to read the information in the correct order. A good way to see how a screen reader will read a table is to tab through the cells of the table; the sequence the cursor moves in is how the cells will be read. Note that, in Microsoft Word, tabbing does not move to the column header cell before each data cell.

All of the most common publishing software (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, LibreOffice, Google Docs) and formats (e.g. DOCX, PDF, HTML, EPUB) can be used to structure tables according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(Opens in a new tab/window) (WCAG).

All tables should have:

• a table title (as a paragraph above the table, not in the first row of the table), tagged as a ‘caption’

• a defined (tagged) header row(s) (no more than 2), which repeats on subsequent pages for long tables that continue over the page; this also applies to tables that have nondata content (e.g. a glossary might have the column headings ‘Term’ and ‘Definition’ in the header row)

• body rows; ensure that rows do not break across pages

• any definitions, notes and sources (as paragraphs below the table, not as table rows)

• paragraph styles applied to all text, and character styles as needed (see Styles and templates for more information on using styles).

To tag header rows in Microsoft Word for PC or Mac (Microsoft Office 365), click on Table Design Layout > Repeat Header Rows to both tag the header row(s) and get them to repeat on each page of the table.

A header row for tables cannot be specified in Google Docs.

Make sure that separate information is in separate cells, not just separate lines or paragraphs within a cell. Screen readers may not read the latter in the correct order: