---
title: "Accessible Outlook Emails"
canonical: "https://help.cccs.edu/space/KnowledgeBase/927301644/Accessible%20Outlook%20Emails"
format: markdown
---
## Overview

The accessibility of an email can be deceptive. While they may come across as simple text messages, they often suffer from many of the same accessibility pitfalls as other types of documents. An accessible email should be just as readable to a mobile user as it is to a user with disabilities utilizing assistive technology. 

**Note: **These tools are not available in the Outlook mobile app. Keyboard shortcuts are provided for the desktop version of Outlook.

## Customizing Default Formatting

A strong way to start writing accessible emails is to customize your default formatting. It is recommended to use a **12 pt serif font **with at least **1.5 line spacing**.

### Customizing Default Font on Desktop

1. Go to **File **and then **Options **(or press **Alt + F **and then **T**).
2. Navigate to the **Mail **tab (press **down arrow **once).
3. In the **Compose Messages** section, make sure the **Compose messages in this format **dropdown is set to **HTML **(press C).
4. Choose **Stationery and Fonts **in the **Compose Messages **section (or press F).
5. Under **New Mail Messages**, select **Font **(or press F).
6. Choose a sans-serif font (i.e. **Roboto, Calibri, Arial**) with a size of at least **12 pt**.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for **Replying or forwarding messages **(O) and **Composing and reading plain text messages **(N).

### Customizing Default Font Online

1. Select the **gear icon **in the top right of the Outlook Web App.
2. Navigate to the **Compose and Reply **section in the **Mail settings**.
3. Make sure the **Compose messages in this format **dropdown is set to **HTML**.
4. Choose a sans-serif font (i.e. **Roboto, Calibri, Arial**) with a size of at least **12 pt**.

![The Outlook Web App with the gear icon in the top right labeled 1, the Compose and Reply section second from the top labeled 2, the HTML dropdown labeled 3, and the font and size dropdowns labeled 4.](media://f02f3e50-ce74-4d45-abfa-9f33786d79bf)

### Customizing Default Line Spacing

The Outlook desktop app lets you set default line spacing, or how much white space is in between each line. This feature is not included in the Outlook Web App. A wider line spacing is recommended for easier reading.

1. In the **Home **tab, select **New Email **to start writing a new email (or press **Alt + H, N + 1, **and then **M**).
2. Select the **Format Text tab **in the email editor.
3. Select the **Line and Paragraph Spacing dropdown**, which resembles two up and down arrows next to five white lines. You can also press **Alt + O **and then **K **on your keyboard.** **
4. Select **Line and Spacing Options**.
5. Change the **After **box to **6 pt **to add more space between different styles.
6. Choose **1.5 lines **in the **Line Spacing** dropdown.
7. Check **Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style **if needed. This reduces extra space between list items but does not add extra space between paragraphs.
8. Select **Set As Default **or press **D**.
9. In the window that appears, choose **All documents based on the NormalEmail.dotm template **(or press **A**) to apply the line spacing to all future emails.
10. Press **OK**.

![A blank email with the steps to set default line spacing as shown in the text.](media://a071d47a-f238-4560-a008-0389495cee0c)

## Best Practices

Writing an accessible email begins the moment you start typing, not just when checking accessibility at the end.

### Subject line

Make sure your emails have a brief, descriptive subject line. Change the subject line in a reply chain when the topic of the email changes. While this sounds like a given, a vague subject can be misleading and hard to understand.

### Content

- **Body: **Make sure the body of your emails are clear and readable. Refrain from using overly complex language.
- **Colors: **Ensure your text meets contrast standards and color is not the only means of conveying information.
- **Images: **In addition to alt text, ensure that any important details in an image are represented as plain text.
  - If attaching an event flyer, write details such as date, time, and location as plain text.
  - If using QR codes for links, offer the link it leads to as a caption.
- **Lists: **Use Outlook’s built in numerical and bulleted list formatting instead of typing numbers or bullet points yourself.
- **Links: **Ensure that links have descriptive labels instead of the full link URL or a vague label like “Read More” or “Click Here.”
  - Press **Ctrl + K **to create or edit a link. Enter the label in the **Text to display **field.
- **Languages: **Mark languages for bilingual text so it can be proofed in that language and recgonized by text-to-speech voices.
  - Select the text, open the **Language dropdown **in the **Review tab**, and select **Set Proofing Language. **Choose a language and then choose **OK**
- **Sections: **If your email gets long, break it up into paragraphs or sections marked by Heading styles. This is more applicable to something like a newsletter than a brief message or reply.
  - Heading styles can be found in the **Styles dropdown **in the **Format Text **tab. You will need to Pop Out the email to see this tab.
  - Use **Heading **for your titles, **Heading 2 **for sections, **Heading 3** for sub-sections, and so on.
- **Tables: **Use tables to show data and relationships. Use a style with banded and header rows.

### Signature

Make sure your signature is just as accessible as the rest of your emails and follow both best practices and accessibility checks. The Signatures tool can be found in the **Mail section **in the **Options**. A more robust option is to type your signature in Word and copy it into the signature editor.

## Check Accessibility

Outlook comes with a **Check Accessibility tool** you can find in the **Review tab**. This will open the Accessibility Assistant on the right side of the window which you can use to diagnose accessibility issues. Note that this is not a be-all end-all tool and you should always manually check your emails for accessibility barriers.

You can configure the Accessibility Assistant instantly point out accessibility issues in your email. A notification will appear above the email that lets you review accessibility issues.

1. Go to **File **and then **Options **(or press **Alt + F **and then **T**).
2. Navigate to the **Accessibility **section.
3. In the **Accessibility checker options** section, choose the radio button labeled **Show me accessibility warnings while I work. **This will notify you if accessibility errors are in your email as you write.
4. Uncheck **Automatically generate alt text for me **since automatically generated alt text is often inaccurate and not descriptive.

Note that in the Outlook Web App, the Accessibility Assistant will catch issues but you will need to manually repair them.

### Color and Contrast

**Hard-to-read text contrast: **Choose a high-contrast font color or change the page color to make it easier to read.

### Media and Illustrations

**Missing alt text: **Give an image a descriptive 1-2 sentence caption or mark it as decorative if its content is purely aesthetic or not relevant to the email. Assistive technology users hear alt text captions read out loud. Alt text also displays in place of an image if it does not load, making it useful for readers with poor internet connections.

### Tables

- **Missing table header: **Select **Use first row as header **and ensure the contents of the first row serve as headers for the rows below.
  - Refrain from using tables for layout. Only use tables for data and its relationships.
- **Use of merged or split cells: **Select **Split Cells **to unmerge the cells.
  - Merged or split cells can confuse assistive technology users who rely on hearing the relationships between rows and columns.
- **Fixed width table: **Select **Open table properties **and uncheck **Preferred width**.
  - A table with a specified width may cause users with zoomed in screens or mobile devices to scroll horizontally.

### Document Structure

**No headings in document: **Review the document structure for headings. Ensure that headings are not represented as plain text with a larger font, as they do not serve the same semantic purpose as headings.

### Document Access

**Restricted Access: **Ensure the email is not restricted so it can be accessed by assistive technology.