Google Sheets

Google Sheets lacks support for some accessibility features, such as table headers that repeat. With this in mind, be cautious of templates available in the Google Sheets template gallery and be sure that they comply the techniques discussed here.

All office documents start with a template, which can be as simple as a blank standard-sized page or as complex as a nearly complete document with text, graphics and other content. For example, a “Meeting Minutes” template might include headings for information relevant to a business meeting, such as “Actions” above a table with rows to denote time and columns for actions of the meeting.

Because templates provide the starting-point for so many documents, accessibility is critical. If you are unsure whether a template is accessible, you should check a sample document produced when the template is used (see Technique 11).

Google Sheets’s default template for new documents is a blank spreadsheet. The basic installation also includes a wide variety of templates ranging from blank service invoices to blank project management schedules. These are all accessible by virtue of being blank.

It is possible to create your own templates from scratch in Google Sheets. As well, you can edit and modify the existing templates, ensuring their accessibility as you do so and saving them as a new template.

To select a template

1. Go to Google Sheets.
2. At the top right, click on Template Gallery.
   
3. Select a template.
4. A copy of the template will open.

To create an accessible template

1. Create a new spreadsheet (from the default template or from an existing template).
   Note: If creating a template from an existing document, go to File > Make a copy. Type a name and choose where to save it, then, click Ok.
2. Rename your document. Be sure to indicate that the document is an accessible template by using terms such as “accessible” (e.g., “Accessible Memo Template”). This will improve its searchability and promote its use as an accessible template.
3. Ensure that you follow techniques in this document. You may also check the accessibility (see Technique 11).

To share your accessible template as a new document

You can share your accessible template, but it may be more useful to share the file as copy that other users can add to their Google Drive.

1. Go to the address bar change the end of the URL before sending it.
2. Replace “edit” at the end of the URL with “copy”.
   For example:
   Before: http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/d/12345678/edit
   After: http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/d/12345678/copy
3. Send the modified copy link.
4. When the recipient follows the modified copy link, they’re instructed to click on Make a copy.
   
   
5. They can then work on a copy of the accessible template.

For more information, see the resources below:

• Google: Create document templates
• Google: Share “Make a copy” links to your files

At this time (December 2019), Google Sheets does not offer an explicit language selection mechanism to indicate the natural language of your spreadsheet or changes in natural language at any point within the content (e.g., a few cells containing text in a different language than the rest of the spreadsheet). Google Sheets defaults the natural language to the language selected for your Google Account (see Google: Change Your Typing Language).

When exporting to other document formats, there is no guarantee that the natural language of your Google Account will be indicated as the natural language of your document. In order for assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers) to be able to present your document accurately, it is important to indicate the natural language of the document. If a different natural language is used for a paragraph or selected text, this also needs to be clearly indicated.

Google Sheets offers a mechanism for adding alternative text or longer descriptions to images and objects where it can be readily accessed by screen reader users. While you can add alt text, you will need to ensure that you provide longer descriptions in the body of the document, near the images and objects. While this solution is not optimal for screen reader users and will complicate your own accessibility testing, it is necessary until long descriptions are supported.

When using images or other graphical objects, such as charts and graphs, it is important to ensure that the information you intend to convey by the image is also conveyed to people who cannot see the image. This can be accomplished by adding concise alternative text to each image. If an image is too complicated to concisely describe in the alternative text alone (artwork, flowcharts, etc.), provide a short text alternative and a longer description as well.

To add alternative text to images and graphical objects

For images in a cell

1. Right-click* on the image.
2. Select Alt Text from the contextual menu.
   
3. Add your alt text to the Description field.
   

For images placed over cells

1. In the top right corner of the image, click on the three dots.
   
2. From the drop-down menu, select Alt text.
   
3. In the Description field type or paste appropriate alt text.
   

Note: The image used in the alt text screenshots above are by John Tenniel from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from the original 1865 edition of the book.

As you begin adding content, your spreadsheet will require structuring to bring meaning to the data, make it easier to navigate, and help assistive technologies read it accurately. One of the easiest ways to do this is to ensure that you properly format the cells.

4.1 Named Styles

At this time (December 2019), Google Sheets does not offer named styles functionality.

You should make use of the named styles that are included with the office application (e.g., “Heading”, “Result”, etc.) before creating your own styles or using the character formatting tools directly. Named styles help your readers understand why something was formatted in a given way, which is especially helpful when there are multiple reasons for the same formatting (e.g., it is common to use italics for emphasis, Latin terms and species names).

For more information on formatting using named styles, see Technique 6.

Note: While office application suites support headings in much the same way, the named styles often differ.

Formatting header and result cells brings order to the spreadsheet and makes it easier for users to navigate effectively. For example, you can format header rows and columns using “Heading” styles to apply bolded, enlarged, and italicized text (among other characteristics). You may also want to format cells containing results of calculations to appear bold and underlined to help distinguish them from the rest of your data.

4.2 Other Cell Characteristics

Ensure your cells are formatted to properly represent your data, including number and text attributes.

To format cell characteristics

1. Highlight the cells that you want to format
   Note: to format a row or column, select the row or column indicator and follow the next steps
2. Go to the menu icon bar
3. Select the icon or drop-down list for the format you would like to apply (e.g., Format as currency, Format as percent, More formats)
   Note: When formatting your spreadsheet, it is best to avoid merging cells. At times, it may seem easier to present your data by merging cells, but this can make it more difficult for users of assistive technologies and people navigating your spreadsheet using the keyboard.
   

For more details, see the following articles from the Google Help Center:

• How to edit and format a spreadsheet (includes how to format your entire spreadsheet with themes)
• How to format numbers in a spreadsheet

5.1 Define Names

Naming the different data ranges within your spreadsheet makes it easier to navigate through the document and find specific information. By associating a meaningful name to a data range, you will be enhancing the readability of your document. These named ranges can be referenced in multiple locations of your document and within calculations and equations.

To define a name

1. Select the cells you would like to name
2. Go to menu item: Data > Named ranges. A menu will open on the right.
   
3. Type the range name you want (see Range Names, below).
4. To change the range, click the Spreadsheet Grid icon.
   
5. Select a range in the spreadsheet or type the new range into the text box, then click Ok.
6. Click Done.

Edit or delete a named range

1. Select Data, then Named ranges.
2. On the named range you want to edit or delete, click Edit.
   • To edit the range: Enter a new name or range, then click Done.
   • To delete the named range: Next to the name, click Delete range. On the menu that opens, click Remove.
   • Note: When you delete a named range, any formulas that reference it will no longer work. Protected ranges that reference a named range will use the cell values and continue to work.

Spreadsheet applications support various types of charts, which can be used to display your spreadsheet data in meaningful ways for your audience. It is important to ensure that your chart is as accessible as possible to all members of your audience. All basic accessibility considerations that are applied to the rest of your document must also be applied to your charts and the elements within your charts. For example, use shape and color, rather than color alone, to convey information. As well, some further steps should be taken to ensure that the contents are your chart are appropriate labeled to give users reference points that will help to correctly interpret the information.

To create an accessible chart

1. Go to menu item: Insert > Chart
2. In the Chart Editor , a data range has been pre-selected and will appear in the box labeled Data. (Note: If this range is incorrect, enter a new range in the box labeled Data . To update the data range by manually highlighting the cells, select the Select range… link. This opens the What data? dialog, which allows you to highlight the data range and select OK .)
3. In the Chard Editor dialog, select the Use row 1 as headers check box if the first row of your data is a header row
4. Select the chart type from the Recommended charts section
5. Select the Customize tab
6. In the Chart section , enter a title for the chart in the Chart title box
7. Select the Name link and enter a name for the chart in the Chart name box
8. In the Axis section, enter a title for the vertical axis in the Vertical name box
9. Select the Horizontal link and enter a title for the horizontal axis in the Horizontal name box
10. Define any other available options that may be associated with the chart
11. Select Insert

To add titles and labels

1. Double-click on the chart you want to change.
2. At the right, click Customize.
3. Select Series.
   Optional: Next to “Apply to,” choose the data series you want to add a label to.
4. Click Data labels.
   Optional: Under “Position,” choose where you want the data labels to show.
   Optional: Make changes to the label font.

To add alternative text to a chart

1. In the top right corner of the chart, click on the three dots.
   
2. From the drop-down menu, select Alt text.
3. In the Description field type or paste appropriate alt text.
   

Other Chart Considerations

• When creating line charts, use the formatting options to create different types of dotted lines to facilitate legibility for users who are color blind
• Change the default colors to a color safe or gray-scale palette
• Use the formatting options to change predefined colors, ensuring that they align with sufficient contrast requirements (see Technique 9)

At this time (December 2019), Google Sheets does not include an “Insert Table” feature.

If you use the Grackle Sheets add-on, tables can be given structure and table headings can be indicated. While these fixes won’t be useful for making tables more accessible in Google Sheets, it does allow you to export the document into another format with appropriate table tags intact. For more on Grackle Sheets, see Technique 11.

While cell formatting is the most common method of structuring documents, other content structuring features should be used where appropriate:

8.1 Add a Document Title

At this time, Google Sheets makes use of a single document name. Within Google Sheets, this serves well as a title, but when exporting to ODT, the document name is used to form the file name and the ODT “Title” properties field is left blank.

In case the document is ever converted into another format (e.g., HTML or PDF), it should be given a descriptive and meaningful title.

To change the file name of the current document

1. Go to menu item: File > Rename
2. In the Rename Document dialog, enter a new document name
3. Click OK

8.2 Avoid “Floating” Elements

Avoid “floating” elements (other than charts) such as floating images, objects, tables or text boxes. Similarly, avoid placing drawing objects directly into the document (e.g., as borders, to create a diagram). Instead, create borders with page layout tools and insert complete graphical objects.

To learn how to insert images and graphical object into Google Sheets, see Google: Add an image to a spreadsheet.

8.3 Use Descriptive Sheet Names

In Google Sheets, spreadsheets have the default name “Sheet1” and so on. To improve the accessibility and navigability of your spreadsheets, follow these recommendations:

• Name sheets with a sheet name that describes its content.
• Delete unused sheets to avoid unnecessary navigation.

To rename a spreadsheet

1. At the bottom of your Google Sheet, click on the drop-down arrow beside the sheet name.
   
   Note: Alternately, you can double click on the sheet name.
2. Type a descriptive name for your sheet and hit Enter.
   

9.1 Format of Text

When formatting text, especially when the text is likely to be printed, try to:

• Use font sizes between 12 and 18 points for cell contents.
• Use fonts of normal weight, rather than bold or light weight fonts. If you do choose to use bold fonts for emphasis, use them sparingly.
• Use standard fonts with clear spacing and easily recognized upper and lower case characters. Sans serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Verdana) may sometimes be easier to read than serif fonts (e.g., Times New Roman, Garamond).
• Avoid large amounts of text set all in caps, italic or underlined.
• Use normal or expanded character spacing, rather than condensed spacing.
• Avoid animated or scrolling text.

But can’t users just zoom in? Office applications do typically include accessibility features such as the ability to magnify documents and support for high contrast modes. However, because printing is an important aspect of many workflows and changing font sizes directly will change document details such the pagination, the layout of tables, etc., it is best practice to always format text for a reasonable degree of accessibility.

9.2 Use Sufficient Contrast

The visual presentation of text and images of text should have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. To help you determine the contrast, here are some examples on a white background:

• Very good contrast (Foreground=black, Background=white, Ratio=21:1)
• Acceptable contrast (Foreground=#767676, Background=white, Ratio=4.54:1)
• Unacceptable contrast (Foreground=#AAAAAA, Background=white, Ratio=2.32:1)

Also, always use a single solid color for a text background rather than a pattern.
In order to determine whether the colors in your document have sufficient contrast, you can consult an online contrast checker, such as:

• WebAIM: Contrast Checker
• Juicy Studio: Luminosity Color Contrast Ratio Analyzer
• Joe Dolson Color Contrast Spectrum Tester
• Joe Dolson Color Contrast Comparison

9.3 Avoid Using Color Alone

Color should not be used as the only visual means of conveying information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing a visual element. In order to spot where color might be the only visual means of conveying information, you can create a screenshot of the document and then view it with online gray-scale converting tools, such as:

• GrayBit v2.0: Grayscale Conversion Contrast Accessibility Tool

9.4 Avoid Relying on Sensory Characteristics

The instructions provided for understanding and operating content should not rely solely on sensory characteristics such as the color or shape of content elements. Here are two examples:

• Do not track changes by simply changing the color of text you have edited and noting the color. Instead use Google Sheets’s review functionality features to track changes, such as revision history.
• Do not distinguish between images by referring to their appearance (e.g. ,“the bigger one”). Instead, label each image with a figure number and use that for references.

9.5 Avoid Using Images of Text

Before you use an image to control the presentation of text (e.g., to ensure a certain font or color combination), consider whether you can achieve the same result by styling “real text”. If this is not possible, as with logos containing stylized text, make sure to provide alternative text for the image following the techniques noted above.

10.1 Write Clearly

By taking the time to design your content in a consistent way, it will be easier to access, navigate and interpret for all users:

• Whenever possible, write clearly with short sentences.
• Introduce acronyms and spell out abbreviations.
• Avoid making the document too “busy” by using lots of whitespace and by avoiding too many different colors, fonts and images.
• If content is repeated on multiple pages within a document or within a set of documents (e.g., headings, footings, etc.), it should occur consistently each time it is repeated.

10.2 Navigational Instructions

Provide a general description of the spreadsheet contents and instructions on how to navigate the data effectively. The best way to do this is to make a cell at the beginning of the data (e.g., A1) with this information. It will be the first cell accessed by assistive technologies. If you are using this cell for a label or data, you can attach a comment note to the cell containing navigational instructions.

10.3 Provide Context for Hyperlinks

Hyperlink text in your document should be meaningful when read out of context. To be an effective navigation aid, the link text should describe the destination of the link.

Consider the experience of screen reader users: Generally, screen readers generate a list of links, and screen reader users navigate this list alphabetically. Hyperlink text such as “click here” or “more” is meaningless in this context.

In order to be useful to someone using a screen reader, ensure that hyperlink text is self-describing and meaningful on its own.

To add hyperlinks with meaningful text

1. Go to menu item: Insert > Link. Alternately, you can select the text you’d like to add a link to and press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Macs).
2. In the pop-up box, enter descriptive text in the Text display box.
3. Enter the link address in the Link.
4. Select Apply.
   

At this time (December 2019), Google Sheets does not offer a mechanism to check for potential accessibility errors in your document prior to publishing. However, a third-party add-on called Grackle Sheets can be used to check the accessibility of your workbook (see below).

In order to get some indication of the accessibility of your document or template (see Technique 1), then you may consider saving the file into HTML or PDF in order to perform an accessibility check in one of those formats (see Evaluating the Accessibility in Other Formats).

Grackle Sheets

What is Grackle Sheets? Grackle Sheets is a third-party add-on that runs on spreadsheets created in Google Sheets. It helps with checking and improving the digital accessibility of your document. Due to the nature of Google Sheets, some accessibility features, such as tables, are only fully accessible when exporting the document to another format, like an HTML file.

How does it work? After Grackle is launched, It scans the current spreadsheet for accessibility issues and identifies and locates errors. Feedback appears in a sidebar that is docked on right-side of the screen. By exploring the sidebar, you can immediately learn about accessibility issues and find and fix the detected errors by interacting with the Grackle sidebar.

Note: Grackle’s accessibility checker is free to use; however, the ability to export and produce accessible HTML spreadsheets, and so on, is only free for the first 30 days (as of December 2019).

At the time of testing, Grackle Sheets performs the following 13 accessibility checks:

• Sheets
  • Sheets document needs a proper title
  • Sheet names should be descriptive
  • The number of sheets should be reasonable
  • Avoid making sheets too large
  • Sheets should not be empty
• Tables
  • Tables should have headers
  • Tables should not be too long
  • The number of tables should be reasonable
  • The use of merged cells is not recommended
  • Avoid isolated cells
• Charts
  • Charts should have alternate text
• Contents
  • High color contrast should be used
  • Fine print should be avoided

How to install Grackle Sheets

Grackle Sheets can be installed from the Add-ons menu of a Google Docs document.

1. Open a Google document.
2. Select Add-ons > Get Add-ons.
   • Search for “Grackle” in the search field.
   • Select the add-on and click Install.
3. Note: A message will appear requesting access to data that the add-on needs to work. Review the message and click Allow.
   

How to launch and use Grackle Sheets

Grackle Sheets is simple to launch and is accessed from the Add-ons menu.

1. Open a Google document
2. From the Add-ons menu, select Grackle Docs, then select Launch.
   
3. A sidebar launches that identifies errors and warnings.
   • Clicking on each error and warning will expand the selection and provide guidance on how to resolve each issue.
   • Select the “Locate” button on any flagged item will take you to that line of the document to review.
4. Continue to review and address each flagged item.
   • Select the “Re-Check” button at the top of the sidebar to update the report.
   • Continue to revise until all checks have passed.
     

Note: During testing, we noticed that Grackle Sheets may flag a chart as needing alt text even though alt text has been provided.

Automated accessibility checkers cannot be trusted to check for all accessibility concerns, so be sure to review the recommended techniques in this document.

Evaluating Accessibility in Other Formats

To evaluate HTML accessibility

If you wish to check the accessibility of your document or template (see Technique 1), one option is to save it into HTML format and use one of the web accessibility checkers available online. Such as:

• AChecker
• WebAIM Wave Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

To evaluate PDF accessibility

If you saved your document in tagged PDF format, you can use the following tools and steps to evaluate the accessibility of the PDF document:

• Adobe Acrobat Professional
• CommonLook PDF Evaluator
• PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) – a free alternative provided by “Access for all”

To evaluate PDF accessibility in Adobe Acrobat Professional

1. Go to menu item: Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check…
2. In the Full Check dialog, select all the checking option
3. Select the Start Checking button

In some cases, additional steps must be taken in order to ensure accessibility information is preserved when saving/exporting to formats other than the default.

Share a presentation in HTML view

When using Google Slides’ HTML view, your whole presentation is displayed in a single, scrollable HTML page, instead of displaying the presentation one slide at a time. This is a helpful feature if your audience includes people who use screen readers.

To access a presentation in HTML view, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Shift + p (Windows or Chrome OS) or ⌘ + Option + Shift + p (Mac).

Export to alternate formats

1. Go to menu item: File > Download as
2. Select the file type

PDF

PDF documents are not always accessible. Accessible PDF documents are often called “Tagged PDF” because they include “tags” that encode structural information required for accessibility. To evaluate the accessibility of your PDF document, see Technique 11.

To clean up your HTML file

• Remove unnecessary styles, line breaks, etc.
• Remove unnecessary id, class, and attributes
• Remove font tags
• Remove styles in the <head> tag
• Ensure the <th> tags have a scope attribute
• Remove <p> tags nested inside <th> and <td> tags
• Check for accessibility (see Technique 11)
  Note: you may wish to use HTML editors or utilities to help with this process.

Disclaimer: This list is provided for information purposes only. It is not exhaustive and inclusion of an application or plug-in on the list does not constitute a recommendation or guarantee of results.

• OOo2GD – an extension that allows you to export, update and import all your documents, spreadsheet and presentations between OpenOffice.org applications and Google docs.
• Google Sheets Section 508 Compliance
• Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
• Google: Make your document or presentation more accessible

If you are interested in what features are provided to make using Google Sheets more accessible to users, documentation is provided through online articles and Help forums:

• Go to menu item: Help > Google Docs Help Center

1. Google Sheets Online Help Center
2. GAWDS Writing Better Alt Text
3. Google: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
4. Google: Make your document or presentation more accessible

This document was produced as part of the Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project.

This project has been developed by the Inclusive Design Research Centre, OCAD University as part of an EnAbling Change Partnership project with the Government of Ontario and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).