Creating accessible emails in Microsoft Outlook
Last updated on January 26, 2024When drafting an email, keep the following areas in mind to ensure everyone can access it.
Who does this affect?
- Mateo has dyslexia. His colleague sent him an urgent email using a cursive font. This makes it difficult for him to read, so it takes him longer to respond.
- Rory is photosensitive. They receive an email with an animated flashing GIF which triggers a migraine.
- Nadiya only has her phone with her. She receives an email with a screen shot of text which is too small for her to read. She cannot properly read the email until she gets to a desktop computer.
Steps to take
- Make sure your text has acceptable colour contrast
- Write in plain language
- Use an accessible font
- Use descriptive hyperlinks
- Structure your email using headings and lists
- Add alternative text to images
- Clearly name all the documents you attach. Include a description of the attachments in the body of your email
- Use tables only for tabular data, like a schedule or list of fees
- Use a signature rather than an electronic business card to sign off your emails
- Use Outlook’s Accessibility Checker to identify issues
Structure your content
If you have a long email, use headings to break the content out into chunks. People and assistive technologies scan written content for headings because they provide context.
- You can use multiple ‘Heading 1’ to break up content into chunks
- Use ‘Heading 2’ as sub-headings, and so on
- Write short clear headings that describe the content
- Use sentence case for headings (start with a capital letter, the rest should be lower case)
- Use bulleted lists to make information easier to scan. Only use numbered lists to show ordered steps
Watch Microsoft’s video on improving heading accessibility.
Use descriptive hyperlinks
Hyperlink keywords that describes where the link goes. For example: don’t use ‘click here’ or ‘read more’.
Add ScreenTips that provide a description when your cursor hovers over a hyperlink.
How to: File > Options > General > ScreenTips Style > Show Feature Descriptions in ScreenTips > OK
Watch Microsoft’s video on creating accessible links.
Make your email signature accessible
Your team may have rules on how to write your email signature. Make sure they follow accessibility standards.
- Use a sans serif font like BC Sans, Arial or Calibri
- Use a 12 point font or larger
- Do not use italics, they're hard to read
- Use a high enough colour contrast
- Use descriptive link text
- Use alternative text on graphics
Resources
- Watch Microsoft’s video on improving email accessibility
- Watch Microsoft’s video on creating accessible file names
- Microsoft guide on making emails more accessible