Developers can leverage the accessibility improvements in PDF export in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to build more inclusive solutions. Office 2024, Office LTSC 2024, and Microsoft 365 Version 2408 and later include many improvements that enable people with disabilities who consume PDFs using assistive technologies such as screen readers to understand the content better. For example, they can easily read and understand text in multiple languages, text in nested bulleted or numbered lists, and Alt Text for pictures. And they will skip over objects that are marked decorative to avoid clutter and confusion. Accessibility is vital for so many people with disabilities to be able to collaborate with others effectively. For more information and to see the whole list of improvements, visit Office 2024 PDF Accessibility. 

When the apps export as PDF, they include semantic information such as the type of each element, descriptions of graphical elements, and the hierarchy of the elements in the PDFs using PDF/UA tags. To help developers optimize the experience for the content generated by their solutions, we have provided details on the PDF/UA tags used for each type of content in each app in the following pages:

Word PDF Accessibility 

Excel PDF Accessibility 

PowerPoint PDF Accessibility 

When generating content, keep in mind that not only is it important for the content to look good, but it is also important for the content to have good semantics. 

Developers can also write add-ins using the object model to automate PDF export in the Microsoft 365 apps for Windows using either the built-in exporter or their own exporter that implements the IMsoDocExporter COM interface. This enables developers to export PDFs with their own enhancements including customizations to the PDF/UA tags. See Extending Office PDF Export to learn how to build a custom exporter. 

Take advantage of these accessibility improvements in PDF export to build solutions that empower everyone!