Accessibility features in M365

Immersive Reader helps with reading comprehension. It removes extra clutter and provides tools such as line focus, wider text spacing, and read-aloud. This supports staff who prefer clearer layouts, larger text, or audio alongside reading.

Tips:

Use the toolbar in Immersive Reader to:

• Turn on Line Focus to highlight one line at a time.

• Adjust Text Spacing to make words easier to see.

• Use Read Aloud to listen to the content being read out.

How-To guides: 

Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Immersive Reader in a range of applications: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote.

Dictation lets you speak instead of typing. This can reduce effort, speed up writing, and support staff who find typing difficult. Dictation is also available in Copilot Chat, where you can speak your prompts instead of entering text.

Tips:

• Click the microphone icon in an app to begin dictation.

• Speak clearly into your microphone. Your words will appear as text on the screen.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Dictation in a range of applications: Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Copilot Chat.

Accessibility Checker reviews your document, email, or presentation to make sure it can be used by everyone. It highlights issues such as missing alt text, unclear headings, or difficult colour contrast, and suggests how to fix them.

Tips:

• Review results in the Accessibility Assistant pane.

• Follow recommended actions to improve accessibility.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Accessibility Checker in a range of applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote.

The Editor and Proofing tools in Microsoft 365 check your writing for spelling, grammar, and clarity. They can help you spot mistakes, improve sentence structure, and make your documents easier to read.

Tips:

• Check the Review or Options ribbon tabs for Editor, Spelling, and Thesaurus tools.

• Review suggestions in the Editor pane or in the right-click menu on underlined words.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Editor and Proofing in a range of applications: Outlook, Word, OneNote, PowerPoint.

Using built-in styles and headings in Microsoft 365 helps keep your documents clear and well-structured. Headings make it easier to navigate long documents and allow screen readers to move through content quickly.

Tips:

• Look for Styles in the Message or Home ribbon tabs.

• Customise and save your formatting choices in the Style gallery.

• Easily create a table of contents based on your heading styles.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Styles and Headings in a range of applications: Outlook, Word, Excel, OneNote.

Themes let you change the appearance of an application. You can switch to Dark Mode or High Contrast mode to reduce eye strain and make content easier to see.

Tips:

• Match themes in your apps with your operating system settings.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Themes in a range of applications: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint.

Keyboard shortcuts let you perform actions in M365 apps quickly without using a mouse or touchscreen. This can save time and improve accessibility.

Tips:

• Find a list of available shortcuts in Outlook with Shift+?

• Find a list of available shortcuts in Teams with Ctrl+.

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to use Keyboard Shortcuts in a range of applications: Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote.

Notifications alert you to new emails and messages, reactions, mentions, and event, meeting and task reminders. You can customise how and when you receive them to reduce distractions.

Tips:

• Snooze or dismiss events and tasks from the Outlook reminder window

• Join a Teams meeting from the reminder

• Mute Teams chats or channels to stop receiving alerts

• Pin important chats or channels to the top of your list to easily see new activity

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to manage Notifications in your applications: Outlook, Teams.

Live Captions show spoken words as text on the screen during Teams meetings. This supports staff who find it easier to follow written text or need captions for accessibility.

Tips:

• Customise captions for a personalised experience

• Avoid background noise and multiple people speaking concurrently to ensure captions are accurate

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guide to use Live Captions in Teams meetings.

You can turn messages and emails into Microsoft To Do and Planner tasks. This helps with organisation and reduces the chance of forgetting important actions.

Tips:

• Create a Planner task from a Teams message through More options (...) > Create Planner task

• Pin the Planner app in Teams for easy access

• View and create To Do tasks from your Outlook inbox using the My Day panel

• Keep organised by using task lists, adding due dates and reminders

How-To guides: Use the following Microsoft Support guides to manage Tasks in your applications: Outlook, Teams.

The taskbar is along the bottom of your screen. You can adjust the pinned apps, appearance and behaviour of the taskbar to personalise it to your needs.

Accessing taskbar settings:

1. Right-click on the Taskbar

2. Select Taskbar settings

Tips:

• Align the Start menu to the left or centre in Taskbar behaviours > Taskbar alignment
• Pin and unpin apps on your taskbar by right-clicking on the app in your taskbar and selecting Pin or Unpin
• Easily manage essential system and accessibility controls with Quick Settings (click the network, volume, batter icons)

The Start menu provides quick access to applications and files. There are Pinned and Recommended sections in the menu, which provide personalisation options and keeps the things you use most often within easy reach.

Personalise your Start menu:

1. Right-click the app in the Start menu or document folder in File Explorer

2. Select Pin (or Unpin) to Start

3. The item will appear as a tile in the Start Menu Pinned section

Tips:

• Adjust the size of the Pinned and Recommended sections in Start menu > Settings > Personalisation > Start > Layout

Colours and Themes are personalisation settings that allow you to use Dark or Light mode, customised colours, and Microsoft themes with wallpapers, sounds and colours. Changes to the appearance of your desktop and applications can reduce eye strain and make text clearer.

Accessing Personalisation settings:

1. Select Settings > Personalisation from the Start menu or right-click on the desktop and select Personalise

Tips: 

• Choose Dark or Light mode within the Colours section
• Choose from built-in themes within the Themes section

Snap Layout helps you arrange several windows on your desktop. It makes it easier to see and work with multiple apps or documents at the same time.

Using Snap layout:

1. Hover your mouse over the maximise button in the top right corner of the window

2. Click on the Snap layout you'd like to use

3. Select other windows to fill the remaining layout spaces

Tips:

• Drag windows to the side or corner of your screen to snap it to the selected location
• Drag windows to the top of your screen to select a Snap layout

Windows 11 includes built-in tools that let you adjust how your device looks and works. These settings can make the screen easier to see, reduce distractions, and help you personalise your workspace.

Opening Accessibility settings:

1. Select Settings > Accessibility from the Start menu or right-click on the desktop and select Personalise or Display settings, then Accessibility

Tips:

• Change text size to make text on your screen and in your apps larger or smaller

• Change mouse pointer colour and size and touch indicator settings to make them stand out

• Turn on captions to display spoken words as text on the screen during videos or meetings

Use Focus sessions to improve your concentration for a set time period by reducing distractions. Temporarily turn off notifications, sounds and alerts from emails, apps and contacts. This is helpful when giving presentations, attending meetings, or working on tasks.

Starting a Focus session:

1. Select Settings > System > Focus from the Start menu or right-click on the desktop and select Personalise or Display settings, then System > Focus

2. Adjust Focus options, as needed

3. Click Start focus session button

Tips:

• Use the timer in the Clock app to check the time remaining in your Focus session
• Begin or check a Focus session status by clicking on the clock or notification bell on the taskbar

Collections help you save groups of websites in one place. You can also add notes. This can reduce the effort of finding pages again and help you organise information for projects. They also sync across devices, enabling you to work seamlessly.

Creating a Collection:

1. Click Settings and more (...) from within the Edge browser, then More tools > Collections

2. Name the Collection

3. Add webpages, notes and content

Tips:

• Open all webpages in a collection from the Collections panel with a right-click > Open all
• To close the collection webpages, right click the title tab and select Close grouped tabs
• Drag and drop images and highlighted text into the Collections panel

Tab groups help by organising webpages into groups, keeping your browser tabs tidy, and making it easier to find pages you need. You can expand and collapse Tab groups, reducing cluttered tabs. Easily get back to where you left off by opening the Tab group you need. 

Creating a Tab group:

1. Click Settings and more (...) from within the Edge browser, then Tab groups > Create new tab group

2. Enter a name and select a colour for the Tab group

Tips:

• Add tabs to the group by right-clicking the title tab > New tab in group, or by dragging and dropping open tabs into the group
• Add a Tab group to a Collection by right-clicking the title tab > Add tab group to a new collection

Split Screen shows two web pages side by side in the same browser window. This is useful when comparing information or taking notes.

Using Split screen:

1. Click Settings and more (...) from within the Edge browser, then Split screen

2. The page you are on stays on the left side

3. The right side shows your open tabs. Choose one, or type a new web address

Tips:

• Drag the divider between the pages to adjust the size

• Close Split screen by selecting the Split screen button or by closing one of the open pages

Immersive reader simplifies web pages so they are easier to read. It removes clutter and lets you change text size, spacing, font, and background colours. It also includes Read aloud, which speaks the text on the page. This helps staff who benefit from clearer layouts, larger text, or listening instead of reading.

Using Immersive reader:

1. In the web address bar, select the Immersive reader button or More actions > Immersive reader
2. If the button does not appear, type the word read followed by a colon (:) before the web address. For example, type read colon https colon slash slash example dot com
3. Controls are in the Immersive reader toolbar
4. Close Immersive reader by de-selecting the button in the web address bar

Tips:

• Listen to the page text with Read aloud
• Change voice speed and style with Voice options
• Personalise text size, spacing, font, themes with Text preferences
• Highlight lines or translate language with Reading preferences

Workspaces let you create separate browser sessions. Each workspace has its own tabs and favourites. This is useful for managing different projects or tasks. You can also share workspaces with colleagues, giving everyone access to the same web pages and web documents.

Creating a Workspace:

1. Click the Tab actions menu > Create a new workspace in the top left corner, next browser tabs

2. Click Create new

3. Enter a Workspace name and choose a colour, then click Done

4. Add web pages and documents in browser tabs to the Workspace

Tips:

• Share with colleagues by selecting Invite to workspace and entering their name or email address

• Use other Edge features to keep your Workspaces organised, like Collections and Tab groups