Accessibility and Assistive Technology

Changing Reading Order in PowerPoint (Web App)

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Reading order is essential for people with no movement or limited movements in their hands or who use wands, switches, or sticks to access their computer-and screen reader users. When you create slides, putting the objects in a logical reading order is crucial for screen-reader users to understand the slide. This will ensure users can scan or tab through all the slide elements in the order you intended.

  • Go to your "Home Ribbon" tab in the "Drawing Group." 
  • Select "Arrange."
  • Then press the “Selection Pane."
    • It will stay open as you navigate from slide to slide as you make your corrections.  Manually checking the reading order of your slides can be your last step before publishing your slides.
The PowerPoint home ribbon.

Select "Arrange" from the drop-down menu.

The drop-down menu of the three dots with the "Arrange" button boxed in.

Hit the"Selection Pane" from the drop-down menu.

The drop-down menu from the "Arrange" button with the "Selection Pane" button.

The selection pane lists the objects on the slide lists the things in the REVERSE ORDER, so when a screen reader reads this slide, it will read the items listed in the Selection Pane from bottom to TOP- so right now, if a screen reader were to read and access this slide, it would read. The user would hear the text starting with the content placeholder, the picture, the content place text, and the title.

The selection pane with the reading order of the slide. With selection icon boxed in black.
The reading order option with the reading order of the slide. With reading order icon boxed in black.

This differs from how a visual user would hear or see the slide's layout. However,  you can give all the users the same experience right from the "Selection Pane; you can drag and drop items to the new location (remember it reads from the bottom up). You want to click and drag the title to the bottom of the "Selection Pane"( it reads from the bottom up). Another way to do this is by using the ARROWS  “Send Backward" on the actions pane menu bar: 

The "Selection" window with the reading order, with "Content Placeholder 2" highlighted.

View and Listen to a Video Tutorial

Select the link below to view additional resources:

How to Change Reading Order in PowerPoint (Microsoft 365 Web App) (00:00:49)

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