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AuthorTec Accessibility

How to Use

Note for legacy users of AuthorTec Accessibility only: This tool is located on the Review tab in Word.

Overview

AuthorTec Accessibility allow you to easily:

  1. Generate Alt Text for screen readers

  2. Review and edit Alt Text

To Use Accessibility:

  • Open your document in Word

  • Click the AuthorTec tab along the top of your screen in Word

  • Click Accessibility in the Find, Edit and Extract group

  • This will open the Prepare Document for Accessibility dialog

Key Points

With AuthorTec Accessibility you can:

  • Scan your entire document or just a portion of it to look for objects that require Alt Text.

  • Search for all objects or just a subset of them.

  • Use the “Generate text” option to automatically generate Alt Text from the file names associated with each object.

  • Specify whether to add Alt Text to all objects or only those that need it.

After auto-generating Alt Text, we recommend:

  • Use the Review and Edit feature to improve what the screen reader will “say” about your inserted objects.

Step-by-Step Instructions

 1. Begin by defining your search area

Steps by number on Accessibility dialog

  • By default AuthorTec assumes you want to scan the entire document

  • To search only a portion of the document, select the area and then check the option to Search Only Selected Range

2. Select the Object types to Check

  • In the small white box that says Select, click the drop down arrow

  • Your choices are All or Individual Objects

  • If you select All, you will see the large white box populated with a list of all the possible objects

  • If you select Individual Objects, you will be able to check the boxes of the objects you want checked

3. Action

  • Select the Action To Perform

  • If you request Perform Generate Text then you can also specify how you want AuthorTec to handle any Existing Text - meaning any existing Alt Text that might already be in place

    • AuthorTec will automatically generate Alternate Text from the data it has about the objects in your document - drawing from things like the file name and file type of the object

    • After AuthorTec has generated Alternate Text, we strongly recommend that you run the Review and Edit function to tighten up your titles and description and make them as useful as possible to individuals who cannot otherwise see your images

  • Alternatively, you can opt to start with Review and Edit

4. To get started - EITHER

  • Click the Perform Generate Text button

  • OR - Click the Begin Review button 

5. Begin Review

  • After selecting Review and Edit click Begin Review

  • AuthorTec will move to the first object in the document and will display in the dialog box the Alt Title and Alt Description currently associated with the object

6. Edit the Title and Description

  • Type in your edits

  •  Click Apply Edits 

  • Click the green arrows to move forward or backward through the Alt Text entries in the document