A sight-impaired person needs a screen reader to read out a description of the objects on the computer screen. If your MS PowerPoint slide has an object, you can add alternative text or alt text to it. This helps the screen reader, as they are not sophisticated enough to understand what the object represents.
When adding alt text, you can do it in two ways:
- Automatically generate the alt text
- Manually generate the alt text
We will show you in simple, step-by-step instructions how to add alt text to an image in Microsoft PowerPoint.
Let us begin.
Method #1: Add Automatically Generated Alt Text
This method allows PowerPoint to generate its own alt text.
Step #1: Open PowerPoint
Open your PowerPoint presentation.
Navigate to the slide with an image to which you want to add alt text.
Select the image by clicking on it.
Step #2: Set automatic alt text generation
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar to open the File menu.
In the File menu, click on Options at the bottom.
This opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
In the left pane, click on the Accessibility tab.
In the right pane, under Automatic Alt Text, click on the tick-box – Automatically generate alt text for me.
Click on the OK button at the bottom to close the dialog box.
Step #3: Open alt text menu
Click on the Picture Format tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon.
In the Accessibility group, click on the Alt Text icon.
An Alt Text menu will open in the right panel.
The menu offers three choices:
- Describe the object — Manually type in 1-2 detailed sentences in the box provided.
- Generate alt text for me — Generates the alt text in auto mode.
- Mark as decorative — Mark the object as a decorative object.
Step #4: Add auto generated alt text to the object
As we are auto generating the alt text, click on the tab Generate alt text for me.
PowerPoint generates its own alt text in the box.
Click and select Approve alt text.
Click on the X mark at the top right to close the dialog box.
Method #2: Add Manually Generated Alt Text
This method guides you in how to describe the image yourself, and add that manual description as the alt text. Use this if you find the auto-generated text not suitable.
Step #1: Open PowerPoint
Open your PowerPoint presentation.
Navigate to the slide with an image to which you want to add alt text.
Select the image by clicking on it.
Step #2: Set automatic alt text generation
Click on the File tab in the top menu bar to open the File menu.
In the File menu, click on the Options tab at the bottom.
This opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box.
In the left pane, click on the Accessibility tab.
In the right pane, under Automatic Alt Text, click on and deselect Automatically generate alt text for me.
Click on the OK button at the bottom to close the dialog box.
Step #3: Open alt text menu
Click on the Picture Format tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon.
In the Accessibility group, click on the Alt Text icon.
An Alt Text menu will open in the right panel.
The menu offers two choices:
- Describe the object — Manually type in 1-2 detailed sentences in the box provided.
- Mark as decorative — Mark the object as a decorative object.
Step #4: Add manually created alt text to the object
Manually type in a suitable description of the object in the box.
Click on the X mark at the top right to close the dialog box.
Conclusion
Use our methods to add alt texts to your images in MS PowerPoint slides. You can add an auto-generated alt text, or you can write your own.