Accessibility Starts in Word, Not in EPUB
Written by
Monika Zarczuk-Engelsma
Posted on
Sep 15, 2026
Category
Accessibility
When I talk to publishers about the accessibility of ebooks, I very often hear a similar statement:
“We’ll deal with this at the end, when we prepare the EPUB.”
This is one of the most widespread beliefs in the industry—and also one of the most costly.
Accessibility does not begin at the moment of file export or during testing. It does not even start when a graphic designer finishes a cover design or a DTP operator opens InDesign.
In reality, it begins much earlier—often as soon as the author submits the text in Word format.
It is precisely at this stage that many decisions are made—decisions that will either facilitate the creation of an accessible ebook later or leave the entire team spending weeks fixing problems that could have been avoided with a single click.
Everything Starts with the Structure
Let us imagine two identical books.
Both have the same content, the same title, and the same author.
The first one was prepared in Word using styles: chapters were marked as "Heading 1," subsections as "Heading 2," lists were created using the appropriate tools, and tables were constructed as actual tables.
In the second one, the author did everything manually: titles were bolded and enlarged, spacing was created by repeatedly pressing the Enter key, lists were created by manually typing hyphens, and the table was constructed using spaces.
On screen, both publications may look almost identical.
However, to electronic devices, they are completely different documents.
The first has a structure, whereas the second is merely a collection of text fragments that happen to look right.
That is precisely why experienced accessibility specialists often repeat that a computer does not “see” what something looks like. It understands only how it has been coded.
Word Knows Far More Than Most of Us Realize
Many people think of Microsoft Word simply as a word processor. Yet, for years, it has featured robust tools that support the creation of accessible documents.
Heading styles, numbered lists, alternative text for images, language settings, and table structures—all of these can be prepared before the actual layout process begins.
Moreover, these features do not benefit only blind users.
If chapters are marked as actual headings, generating an automatic table of contents is easier. If illustrations have captions, it is easier for the editor to verify that all elements have been included. If the document has an organized structure, working on subsequent versions of the book is significantly easier.
This is a good example of universal design. Solutions implemented with accessibility in mind very often streamline the work of the entire publishing team.
The Most Expensive Mistake? “We’ll Fix It Later”
Anyone who has worked on ebook production knows that changes made at the end of a project are the most costly.
This applies to accessibility as well.
If you discover only after exporting the EPUB that all headings need to be re-tagged, lists aren't actually lists, or tables need rebuilding, it takes many times longer than preparing the document correctly from the start.
You can compare it to building a house.
It is much easier to move a wall during the design phase than when the building is already finished.
It is the same with a book.
The sooner we attend to the document structure, the fewer problems will arise during subsequent stages of production.
Manual Formatting is the Enemy of Automation.
One of the most common errors found in Word documents is manual formatting.
The author wants to highlight a chapter title, so they increase the font size to 20 points and bold the text, while the subheading is set to 16 points.
Another section is coloured navy blue.
To a human, everything looks logical.
However, the program has no way of knowing that a larger font signifies a new chapter.
Such information is very often lost during export to EPUB or conversion to HTML.
If, however, styles are used, the computer knows exactly which elements are headings, which are paragraphs, and which are figure captions.
That is precisely why styles are not merely a convenient extra, but the language we use to communicate with the software.
Empty Lines and Spaces Have Consequences, Too
This is another habit learned from working with documents intended for print.
When someone wants to start a new page,
they press Enter twenty times or use a dozen spaces to align the text.
This looks fine in print, but in a digital publication, problems quickly arise.
Changing the font size shifts the entire layout, with spaces appearing in random places. Some applications display vast empty spaces, while others ignore them completely.
That's why Word offers tools for creating spacing, indents, and page breaks. Using them ensures the document remains predictable even after exporting to other formats.
Accessibility Is Not a One-person Job
In many publishing houses, accessibility is only considered when the project reaches an accessibility specialist.
It's a bit like expecting a proofreader to improve the plot of a novel.
Not everything can be fixed at the final stage.
If the author prepared a clear document, the editor maintained its structure, the DTP operator preserved it, and the person preparing the EPUB ensured the correct coding, the entire process runs much more smoothly.
Accessibility isn't a single step—it's the result of collaboration between the author, editor, proofreader, graphic designer, DTP operator, and the person preparing the digital publication.
Each of them adds a small element that ultimately determines the quality of the finished book.
A Few Minutes that Can Save Many Hours
Word also has a tool that is surprisingly rarely discussed– Check Accessibility.
You can launch it from the Review → Accessibility → Check Accessibility menu (in newer versions of Microsoft 365, also from the Review or Overview tab).
The program automatically checks for:
missing alternative text for illustrations,
problems with heading structure,
errors in tables,
elements that may pose difficulties for users of assistive technologies.
Of course, it won't replace a full audit or testing of the finished EPUB, but it allows you to catch many basic errors before the document reaches the next production stages.
It's a few minutes of work that often saves many hours of revisions later.
What About InDesign, Then?
At this point, someone might say,
"We're putting everything together in InDesign anyway."
That's true. However, InDesign doesn't create information out of thin air.
If the source document is well-prepared, it's much easier to maintain the correct structure during layout and export to EPUB. Word styles can be mapped to InDesign paragraph styles, maintaining a logical division of content. This ensures that headings remain headings, lists remain lists, and the entire publication retains its semantics.
However, if the input material is chaotic, even the best DTP operator will first have to recreate its structure. This adds extra work, increases the risk of errors, and significantly complicates the creation of an accessible ebook.
Accessibility Also Means a Well-planned Book Structure
Not every accessibility issue stems from faulty formatting. Sometimes, the problem arises even earlier—at the publication planning stage. Imagine a guidebook divided into chapters, subchapters, and shorter sections. If the author does not clearly establish the hierarchy of these elements, the finished ebook might end up with a structure where a third-level heading immediately follows a chapter heading, and elements at the same level are inconsistently marked—sometimes as headings and other times as plain text. To a sighted person, the difference might be almost imperceptible, as font size, bolding, or spacing provide visual cues about what is what. A screen reader, however, does not rely on visual appearance; it relies on the information encoded in the document structure. Therefore, before considering how to format something, it is worth answering a simpler question: what is the function of this element within the book? A well-planned hierarchy makes the subsequent process of preparing the EPUB not only easier but also far more predictable—both for readers using screen readers and for anyone who might later edit, typeset, convert, or update the material.
To conclude, I will reiterate: an available ebook is not the product of a single tool or a solitary decision made at the end of the publishing process. It is the result of deliberate design from the very first stage of working with the text. The sooner the publishing team considers that a digital book must be not only visually appealing but also well-constructed in terms of structure and information, the better the final result will be.
It is important for not only publishers and those responsible for ebook production to be aware of this, but also the authors themselves. After all, they are often the ones who create the initial document that serves as the foundation for the entire publication. Adopting a few good habits when working in Word can make the journey from manuscript to accessible ebook simpler, faster, and more predictable.
For accessibility is not an extra stage in book production; it is an integral part of the book's quality.
Bibliography:
https://www.gov.pl/web/dostepnosc-cyfrowa/jak-tworzyc-dostepne-dokumenty-tekstowe-w-edytorze-ms-word
https://learn.microsoft.com/pl-pl/answers/questions/5106327/dost-pno-dokumentu-word
https://archiwum.niepelnosprawni.pl/ledge/x/1963444
https://boss.cen.eu/media/BOSS%20CEN/ref/guidelines_accessible_word_and_pdf.pdf
https://uit.stanford.edu/accessibility/techniques/documents/ms-word
https://abilitynet.org.uk/factsheets/creating-accessible-documents-0