Microsoft has pushed a new update to its PowerPoint presentation app on macOS, bringing the customization tool Reading Order Pane. The accessibility feature has started rolling out to PowerPoint for Mac users on the Beta channel running version 16.98 (Build 25050901) or later.
Reading Order Pane is already available for PowerPoint users running Windows. It makes presentation slides more accessible by letting you choose the sequence in which presentation content will be read to users who rely on accessibility tools.
It happens sometimes that for users who have impaired vision, using screen readers to read slides, the content is read in a different order than how it's laid out. Reading Order Pane lets you visualize the order in which the content will be read and make changes if necessary.
The tool helps create a logical reading flow for elements in your slide, which is crucial for screen reader users. If the text is read in the wrong order, the user might not be able to "make any sense of it or miss important points. Or worse, they might get the wrong message," Microsoft cautioned in a blog post.
It said that the new feature arrived in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day last week. As part of it, Microsoft also allowed PowerPoint for Mac users to generate captions using speech recognition.
The Reading Order Pane works for new or existing presentations in PowerPoint for Mac. Under the 'Review' tab, you can click on the drop-down menu next to the 'Check Accessibility' option to find the 'Reading Order Pane.'
There are several things you can do with the accessibility tool. For instance, you can group objects together by holding the Command key and clicking the items in the pane. Next, press Command + Option + G to save the changes. You can uncheck an item to exclude it from the reading order and click the Edit button on its right side to add alt text.
The alt text is the content the screen reader reads aloud to the user. A warning sign will appear for the items that have missing alt text. You can sort the items into the desired order by dragging and dropping them to the desired position.
You can also use PowerPoint's Accessibility Assistant to find slides that may have a poor reading order, Microsoft said, adding the assistant isn't perfect. The final order should be based on your judgment. It notes that changing the reading order for overlapping objects might affect how they visually stack. You should revert the changes if the slide doesn't look how you want it to.
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