Google Slides Accessibility

Creating accessible Google Slides presentations ensures that all students — including those with disabilities — can fully engage with your content. Accessibility features benefit everyone by improving clarity, navigation, and usability. This guide highlights key practices to help you design and share slides that are usable and accessible for all learners. Even small changes, like adding alt text or choosing readable colors, can make a big difference.

Key Accessibility Practices

When creating a Google Slides presentation, keep the following in mind:

  • Use built-in slide layouts and check reading order
  • Ensure readable text color, size, and alignment
  • Add alternative text (alt text) to images
  • Use tables only for presenting data
  • Add comments and suggestions instead of in-slide notes
  • Write descriptive link text
  • Use numbered and bulleted lists for structured content
  • Include clear slide titles, headers, and footers to support navigation
  • Add captions to videos and presentations
  • Share or publish slides in an accessible format

Slide Layout and Reading Order

The foundation of an accessible presentation starts with how your slides are structured. Using built-in layouts and checking the reading order of slide elements helps screen readers and other assistive technologies convey information accurately.

Use Built-In Slide Layouts

Google Slides provides pre-formatted slide layouts that include correctly tagged titles and content areas. These layouts help screen readers identify the structure of your slides and make it easier for everyone to navigate.

How to apply a built-in layout:

  1. Open your presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Go to Slide → Apply layout.
  3. Choose one of the available slide types (such as Title Slide, Title and Body, or Section Header).

Creating text boxes manually on a slide can break the reading order. If you add a text box to a page, make sure to review the page’s reading order. 

Check and Adjust Reading Order

Each slide in your presentation is read in the order it appears, but the individual elements (text boxes, images, shapes, charts, etc.) are read in the order they were added to the slide, not necessarily how they’re visually arranged. Incorrect reading order can confuse screen reader users.

How to check the reading order: 

  1. Select the top-left element on your slide.
  2. Press the Tab key to move through each element in order.
  3. The order of focus you tab through is the order a screen reader will follow.

Optional: Use Grackle Slides, an accessibility checker for Google Slides, to view and adjust the reading order more easily. The “Slides Structure” panel in Grackle displays the reading sequence and allows you to reorder elements if needed.

Text Color, Size, and Alignment

Readable text is essential for accessibility. Ensuring sufficient color contrast, appropriate font size, and clear alignment helps all users — especially those with low vision or reading disabilities — easily read and understand your content.

Use High-Contrast Text Colors and Don’t Rely on Color to Convey Meaning

Color is an important part of a presentation, but it’s critical that the colors you use are accessible. Text should have a strong contrast with the background. Use tools like the WebAIM Contrast Checker or TPGI’s Colour Contrast Analyzer to verify if the colors on your slide have adequate contrast.

Avoid instructions like “Click the green button” or using only red and green to show correct versus incorrect. Always include a text label, symbol, or other visual cue in addition to color so that content remains clear and accessible.

See Color and Accessibility for more information.

Choose Readable Fonts and Sizes

Fonts should be clear and large enough to read from a distance. Avoid overly decorative fonts and use larger text sizes whenever possible.

How to change the font style:

  1. Open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Highlight the text you want to change.
  3. Select the Font drop-down menu in the toolbar.
  4. Choose a different font style.

How to change the font size:

  1. Highlight the text you want to resize.
  2. In the toolbar, find the Font size indicator.
    The text portion of the Google Slides toolbar. Showing the font type, size, Bold, Italics, and Underlined buttons, font color, and font highlight color. The font size box, plus, and minus buttons is highlighted with a red box.
  3. Choose one of the following options:
    1. Select the plus or minus signs to make the text smaller or larger.
    2. Choose a size from the drop-down menu that appears when you click on the font size.
    3. Type a specific size in the size box.

Align Text for Readability

Proper alignment helps readers follow the content more easily. Most slides are easiest to read with left-aligned text, though you can use other options if they improve clarity.

How to change horizontal alignment:

  1. Select the text that you want to change the alignment of.
  2. In the toolbar, select the Alignment Drop-Down menu.
    A portion of the Google Slides tool bar showing the link, comment, alignment, spacing, bullet points, numbered list, decrease indentation, increase indentation, and clear page formatting options. The alignment drop down menu is highlighted in a red box.
  3. Choose Left, Center, Right, or Justified.

How to change vertical alignment:

  1. Select the text that you want to change the alignment of.
  2. In the toolbar, select the Alignment Drop-Down menu.
  3. Choose Top, Middle, or Bottom.

Titles, Headers, and Footers

Using slide titles, headers, and footers helps users understand where they are in a presentation and how content is organized. These elements improve navigation for everyone, especially people using screen readers. 

Slide Titles

Each slide template in Google Slides includes a title placeholder. Always use this field to give your slide a clear, descriptive title — screen readers rely on these titles to help users navigate your presentation. Make each slide title unique and descriptive — avoid repeating the same title on multiple slides.

How to add or change a slide title:

  1. Click in the text box labeled “Click to add title” and enter your title.
  2. To change the layout if no title field is present, go to Slide → Apply layout and choose a template with a title placeholder.

Headers and Footers

Headers and footers can include information like page numbers, course titles, or your name. Adding them through the Theme Builder ensures they appear consistently across your slides.

How to add a header or footer:

  1. Go to View → Theme Builder
  2. In the left panel, choose where to apply your header or footer:
    The Theme Builder editing window in Google Docs. There are three sections on the page. The smallest section on the far left is of the original example slides highlighted in yellow. The next section shows the different slide layouts and themes. This section is highlighted by a red box. The third and final section is the biggest this shows an example of the slide layout selected. This section is labeled Editing: Simple Light - Theme.

    1. Theme: Applies the header or footer to all slides.
      The first two sections of the Theme Builder window in Google Slides. The layout titled Theme and the two original slides to the left are highlighted in red boxes with an arrow connecting the two. The arrow indicates that if you select the layout titled theme, it will apply that theme to the entire slideshow.
    2. Layouts: Applies it only to slides using a specific layout.
      The first two section of the Theme Builder window in Google Slides. The first section showing the original slides is highlighted by a red box. Within that box the second slide is highlighted in yellow. In the second section the section title Layouts is highlighted by a red box. The third layout option under this seciton title is highlighted by a red box as well. Arrows connect the three red boxes indicating if you select the theme highlighted under the layout title it will select and edit the slide highlighted in the first section.
  3. Go to Insert → Text box to add your text, then format it as needed.
  4. Select the X in the top-right corner to exit Theme Builder.
Note: You will only be able to edit the headers and footers within the Theme Builder. 

Alt Text

Adding alternative text (alt text) ensures that images are accessible to people who are blind, have low vision, or use screen readers. Alt text describes the essential content or purpose of an image, allowing users who can’t see it to still understand the information it conveys. 

How to add or edit alt text:

  1. Select an image, drawing, or graphic you want to describe.
  2. Choose one of the following options:
    1. Slides: Go to Format options → Alt text.
    2. Mac: Press Cmd + Option + Y.
    3. Windows/Linux: Press Ctrl + Alt + Y.
  3. Enter Alt text into the dialogue box.
  4. Optional: Add a title in the Advanced Options.

See Alt Text Basics for more detailed guidance and examples. 

Tables

Use tables to present data and information, not to control the layout of your slides. Instead of using tables for visual structure, rely on built-in slide layouts or text boxes, and reserve tables solely for data. Properly structured tables make it easier for screen reader users to understand how information is organized.

Google Slides does not include built-in header row features like some other applications. However, you can help clarify the structure of your table by bolding the text in the header row or column. This visual distinction makes it easier for all users to understand how the table is organized. It’s also important to keep tables as simple as possible. Avoid merging cells or creating complex nested tables, as these can be difficult for assistive technologies to interpret.

Review our Table Accessibility page for more information.

Descriptive Links

When adding links to a presentation, use descriptive link text instead of pasting the full URL. Descriptive links help all users — especially those using screen readers — understand where the link will take them without needing to read a long string of characters. Make sure your link text makes sense out of context. Instead of “click here,” use meaningful phrases like “view the course accessibility guide” or “submit the request form.

How to add a descriptive link:

  1. Highlight the text where you want the link to appear.
  2. Select the Insert link icon in the toolbar, or use Ctrl + K (Windows) / Cmd + K (Mac).
    A portion of the Google Slides tool bar showing the Bold, Italics, Underlined, font color, font highlight color, link, comment, allignment, and spacing optoins. The comment option is highlighted in a red box.
  3. In the first field, enter descriptive text for the link.
  4. In the second field, paste the URL.
    The link option settings. Two text boxes stacked on top of one another. The top one states "Text" and the bottom one states "Search or paste a link."
  5. Click Apply.

You can find more examples on our Link Accessibility page.

Lists

Using proper list formatting helps screen readers identify and announce items as part of a list, improving navigation and comprehension for users. Google Slides can automatically detect and format some lists, such as when you type 1. followed by a space to start a numbered list. Use bulleted lists for items without a specific order and numbered lists for steps or sequences. Avoid creating lists manually with dashes or symbols — screen readers may not recognize them as lists.

How to create a list:

  1. Go to the slide where you want to add a list.
  2. In the toolbar, select either the bulleted list or numbered list option in the toolbar.
  3. If you don’t see the style you want, open the drop-down menu next to the list icons for additional options.

For more information on creating accessible lists, visit the List Accessibility page.

Captions

Captions make spoken content accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and they also support comprehension for many other learners. Google Slides offers automatic captioning for both live presentations and embedded videos.

Present Slides with Captions

When presenting your slides, you can turn on automatic captions so that spoken words appear at the bottom of the screen in real time.

How to turn on captions while presenting:

  1. Open your presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Click Slideshow to start presenting.
  3. At the bottom of the screen, select the Captions icon to turn on automatic captions.

Add Videos with Captions

If your slides include videos, be sure they are captioned. Captions ensure that all viewers can access the spoken content and follow along with the video. If you’re embedding videos from other platforms like YouTube or Kaltura, make sure they include accurate captions before you add them to your slides. Captions created on the source platform will carry over, which helps keep your presentation accessible.

Comments

When editing your own or someone else’s presentation, use the commenting feature instead of adding notes directly onto the slides. Comments help keep feedback organized and easy to find, and the presentation owner will receive an email notification when a comment is added. Using comments instead of text notes helps ensure the content on the slide remains clear and accessible, while still allowing collaborators to review and respond to feedback efficiently.

How to add a comment:

  1. Highlight the text or object you want to comment on.
  2. Select the Add comment icon in the toolbar (or right-click and choose Comment).
    A portion of the Google Slides toolbar showing the Bold, Italics, and Underlined buttons, the font color options, the font highlight option, the link, and comment button, the alignment, spacing, bullet points, and numbered lists opttions. The comment option is highlighted by a red box.
  3. Type your comment, then select Comment to post it.

Sharing Google Slides

When sharing a Google Slides presentation, it’s best to share it in its original format rather than converting it to a PDF or PowerPoint file. Converting slides often removes accessibility features and can make the content more difficult to navigate with assistive technologies.

Publishing your presentation to the web creates an HTML version that displays as a single, scrollable page. Screen readers often read this version more smoothly, making the content easier to access and understand.

How to publish a presentation to the web:

  1. Open your presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Go to File → Share → Publish to web.
  3. Choose your publishing settings.
  4. Click Publish.
  5. Copy the generated URL to share.

Additional Resources