How to view, add, or edit alt text on an image in Microsoft Word to help users with screen readers

• You can view and add alt text on images in Word through the "Edit Alt Text" menu.
• When you view alt text in Word, you can edit it as well.
• You can type alt text in the Alt Text pane, or mark an image as decorative, so screen readers will ignore it.

Even though alt text is commonly thought of as a way to help visually impaired users on the internet, you can add it to images and illustrations in Microsoft Word as well.

You should use alt text in Word if your documents will be read by people who rely on accessibility tools like screen readers.

And once you add alt text in Word, you can view or edit it at any time. Here's how to do it in Word for Mac and PC.

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How to view, add, and edit alt text on images in Word

You can read or edit the alt text for images already in a Word document in just a couple of clicks.

1. Right-click an image or graphic object in a document. In the drop-down menu, click "Edit Alt Text…"

2. The Alt Text pane should appear on the right side of the screen. For many kinds of images, Word automatically generates alt text using its own image recognition technology. For other images, though, the field may be blank if no one has crafted alt text for it yet.

3. If you want to add or edit alt text, click the alt text field and enter any description you want. If the image adds no value to the document other than aesthetics — for example, if it's a border or dividing line — then you can click "Mark as decorative."

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