Accessibility: Office 365

Immersive Reader is featured in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. It changes the display on the screen to a simplified one, and it can also read out what is written on the screen. It can be useful for multiple things, including:

• Practicing presentations.
• Listening to emails (once you have headphones on!), to facilitate mutlitasking if needed.

How to find Read Aloud:

• For the online version of Word, click the View tab. Click Immersive Reader. 
• On the next screen, simply press play to begin Read Aloud.
• On the app version of Word, click the View tab. Then click Learning tools. From here you can choose Read Aloud.
• Immersive reader and Read aloud are not available on the app version of Powerpoint

Read Aloud in Outlook:

• For the online version, open the email you wish to listen to. Then click the view tab at the top of the email. Select Immersive Reader and press play to trigger Read Aloud.
• We do not have access to Read Aloud on our Outlook App.

Dictation can be used on the online versions of Outlook, Word and Powerpoint. We do not have access to it on the desktop apps. 

Note: if you are using dictation for long periods of time, be considerate of other staff that may be around you. In this scenario you may need to find a quiet space to work from, give other staff notification in case they would like to put on headphones, or save that document for when you are working from home.

To find Dictate:

• On Outlook, open a New Message. It can then be found on the Message tab.
• In Word and  Powerpoint it is on the Home tab.
• In each of them, it is just a simple microphone icon that you are looking for. 

Accessibility checker ichecks the accessibility of any documents you create. It will highlight issues, and suggest fixes, as shown below. Accessibility checker should be available on all web and desktop versions of Word, Outlook , Excel and PowerPoint.

To open Accessibility Checker on Word, Excel or PowerPoint:

• Open your desired app.
• Click the Review Tab
• Click Check Accessibility

To use Accessibility Checker on Outlook:

• Go to New Message 
• Type up your email.
• On the menu on the top of the screen, click the Message tab.
• Then click the elipses that are on the far right of the screen.
• From the dropdown menu, click Check Accessibility.