Overarching Best Practices for Accessible Spreadsheets
Use as simple a structure as possible
Avoid merging cells and splitting cells to ensure a logical reading order. If the sheet is complex, consider whether you could divide it into multiple tabs within the spreadsheet.
Include a header row
Use the first row or first column as your header to clearly label your data.
Avoid blank cells — Fill Cell A1
The uppermost left cell (cell A1), which is read first by screen readers, is especially important not to leave blank. Use this cell as part of your header row or column.
For other empty cells, it’s often more helpful to include content, such as “N/A,” in a cell than to leave it blank.
Use Appropriate Contrast When Using Colors
In spreadsheets, it is common and helpful to use alternating colors on rows to make data easier to read. When choosing background colors, ensure there is enough contrast, especially between text color and its background.
Learn more about using color accessibly
Don’t Use Color Alone To Convey Meaning
Some people can’t distinguish between certain colors or may be using assistive technology to perceive your content. For these cases, it is important not to use color alone to convey meaning. A common example is using red to denote something is an error or otherwise incorrect. Instead of using only color to show this, use words to label the error.
When creating visualizations in a spreadsheet, remember to use secondary indicators (like text labels, patterns, line weight and more) in addition to color to convey information.
Make Text Size Legible
In most cases, 11 point font is the minimum recommended font size for body text in a spreadsheet. Some font families designed to be legible at smaller sizes (such as Open Sans) can be appropriate at 10 points for body copy.
Describe Visualizations
Visualizations and charts made in your spreadsheet need a descriptive title and equivalent alternative text. Alt text text will be read aloud to a person using a screen reader to tell them what is in the visualization.
Related Resources
Get tips for making your Google Sheets presentation as accessible as possible, including using Grackle Sheets.
Learn how to make your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet accessible in this series of videos from Section508.gov.
Learn how to use the Microsoft Accessibility Checker within Excel to look for potential accessibility issues.
Get step-by-step instructions and best practices for making your Excel spreadsheets accessible by using the Accessibility Checker, adding alt text, creating accessible tables and more.