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Easy Accessibility: Using Microsoft Word Templates To Save Time And Effort

taught by: Carmen Matthews


Session Summary

In this session, I’ll share the approach the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has taken to encourage the use of Word templates in the agency. You’ll create a Word template using accessibility best practices then take it for a test drive: creating a new document from your template and applying your template to an existing document. You’ll walk away with knowledge of what is working for us at TWC, a copy of the templates our agency uses, and a fresh template for your workplace.


Description

Do you and your coworkers struggle with making Microsoft Word documents accessible? Are you spending too much time editing and designing each document to fit accessibility needs? Let me help! The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) had those problems, too, and we improved our processes using Word templates.

Templates are collections of customized styles that can be used when creating Word documents. You typically use templates for documents that are created frequently, such as letters and reports. They save time and energy because there’s no need to repeatedly format elements in each new document.

In this session, I’ll share the approach TWC has taken to encourage the use of templates in the agency.

We’ll look at the templates TWC is using then you’ll create your own Word template using accessibility best practices. Next, we’ll take your fledgling template for a test drive: creating a new document from your template and applying your template to an existing document.

You’ll walk away with knowledge of what is working for us at TWC, a copy of the templates our agency uses, and a fresh template for your workplace.


Practical Skills

  • Edit styles using accessibility best practices to guide your design.
  • Create a template.
  • Apply templates to existing documents.