Use Built-In Slide Layouts: Select Home and next select Layout, choose a built-in layout. Do not use textboxes for layouts.

Unique Slide Titles: Name all slides with a distinctive title. Use numbers to create unique title as needed (e.g. Slide 1, Slide 2, etc.)

Reading Order : Verify content is arranged in the correct reading order, top-to-bottom or left-to-right. Adjust content by selecting Home, Arrange, Selection Pane, and adjust content order by select the up or down arrows.

Margins: Make sure to leave blank space at the bottom of slides for video captions.

Text: Author with accessible sans-serif fonts (e.g. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica).

Font: Size: Use a 24 pt. font size.

Spacing: Set line spacing to at least 1.2x (or 10pt space after) using paragraph controls.

Image Descriptions: Right-click (or Control+ click on Mac) essential images, select View Alt Text (or Edit Alt Text), and write a brief description (under 150 characters) explaining context.

Decorative Content: Check Mark as decorative in the Alt Text pane for purely visual graphics so screen readers skip them.

Describe Complex Visuals: Provide a supplemental description for details graphs, diagrams, or charts as needed.

Descriptive Hyperlink Text: Use text that clearly indicates the destination (e.g., "Visit the Office of Digital Accessibility"). Avoid generic labels like "click here", "read more". Add the descriptive link and include the full URL for presentation purposes (e.g. https://www.digital-accessibilty.edu instead of www.digital-accessibilty.edu).

Insert Hyperlink: Highlight descriptive text, right-click and select Link (or press Ctrl + K on PC / Cmd + K on Mac), and paste the URL into the address field.

Color Contrast: Use contrasting colors for chart and graph data, do not rely on color alone to convey meaning of visuals. Verify color contrast by using the WebAim Color Contrast Checker.

Table Formatting: Use simple tables for tabular data only. enable Header Row in Table Design. Avoid merging/splitting cells, include "No Data" in blank cells.

Use Built-in Lists: Add lists by using the Bullets or Numbering tools under the Home tab rather than manually typing dash or bullet symbols.

Captions: Make sure captions are accurate for embedded videos and audios. Disable media auto play, in PowerPoint go to the slide that contains the media, select Playback, change the selection from Automatically to When Clicked On.

Caption Support: Review Creating Accessible Captions.

Run the Accessibility Checker: Go to Review > Check Accessibility. Resolve any identified errors such as missing alt text or reading order.

Manually Review:  Review and resolve errors such as color contrast, accurate alternative text descriptions, missing captions, and reading order.

Document Metadata: Add a descriptive document title and specify the primary language in the file properties before saving. Select the File, Info, and then select Advanced Properties, type a simple title for the document in the Title field.

Converting PowerPoints to PDFs: A best practice is to use the accessible PowerPoint instead of converting a PowerPoint to a PDF. PowerPoint must be convert to a PDF, make sure to complete the following steps:

Verify Accessibility: Review the PowerPoint for accessibility errors and resolve before convert. After converting make sure to verify the the PDF tags are correct.

Export to Tagged PDF: Go to File > Save As (or Export), choose PDF, and select "Best for electronic distribution and accessibility" (PC) or "uses Microsoft online service" (Mac).

Do Not Use Print to PDF: Avoid using the print to PDF function, as all of the accessibility tags will be removed.