Create accessible hyperlinks in Microsoft Word

Overview

Creating descriptive hyperlinks in Microsoft Word can help make them more accessible to people using a screen reader. Typically, when a screen reader encounters a hyperlink (such as http://www.iu.edu) in a Word document, the text may be read out letter-by-letter, which can be confusing to those using screen readers. You can change the display text for a hyperlink so it's more meaningful to everyone.

Open the "Insert Hyperlink" dialog box

To add descriptive text for links, you'll use the "Insert Hyperlink" dialog box. You can open this dialog box in one of two ways:

• Via keyboard shortcut: Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-k. This will let you insert a new link where the cursor is positioned, or edit a link when the cursor is on a link.
• Via the ribbon: On the ribbon, click the Insert tab, and then, in the "Links" group, click Hyperlink.

The "Insert Hyperlink" dialog box will appear:

Add descriptive text to a hyperlink

To add descriptive text to a hyperlink in Word:

1. Copy the hyperlink you want to include in your text (for example, http://www.iu.edu).
2. In Word, place your cursor where you want the hyperlink to appear.
3. Open the "Insert Hyperlink" dialog box by pressing Ctrl-k on your keyboard or using the ribbon; for instructions, see Open the "Insert Hyperlink" dialog box.
4. In the "Address:" field, paste the hyperlink you copied as part of step 1.
5. In the "Text to display:" field, type the text you want to use to represent the link.
6. Click OK to finish adding the link.

Instead of showing only the URL for a web page, the hyperlink now uses descriptive text indicating where the link leads.