About the Checklist

Use the Accessible Email Checklist to double-check your email content. This checklist is meant to remind you to include accessibility best practices in your emails and help you develop good content creation habits. Before you know it, they’ll become a natural part of your process and you’ll no longer need the checklist!

Typeface, Text Formatting, and Descriptive Links

We recommend changing the font for all emails by changing the default font for Outlook. An accessible font is one that is familiar and readable, such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana. Note that there is no official accessible font as font preference varies by individual and by disability.
Use WebAIM’s Contrast Checker to verify your font color meets color contrast guidelines.
Italics can be harder to read and underlines should be reserved for hyperlinks only so that anyone in the color blind community that can't distinguish between links and underlined text can have easy access to hyperlinks. Note that you can also use a font color along with bold to emphasize content, but please keep in mind that not everyone will see the color you have selected whether due to the type of color blindness they have or due to using a display mode, such as high contrast mode or dark mode so bold should be the primary way to emphasize the important content. 
Reference the Add a numbered or bulleted list to a message Microsoft article to apply built-in lists to your email.
When creating descriptive links, remember to consider the following: Link names should be the same as the page name linked to; be as explicit as you can; too long is better than too short; make the link meaningful. Don’t use “click here” or “read more" as your link name; and add a short description when needed to clarify the link.

Headings and Tables

The main subject of the email (i.e., the email title) should be assigned as a Heading 1. There should only be one Heading 1 so any topic sections in the email should be assigned a Heading 2. When topic sections have sub-sections, those sub-sections should be assigned a Heading 3.
Microsoft Outlook does not support proper semantics for tables at this time. You should attach a spreadsheet to the email if you are sending people data. Please do not use tables for layout of your content, including your email signature. 

Images and Animations

Image-only emails have significant accessibility barriers, including: no ability to convey complex content structure to screen reader users in alt text; prevents epilepsy, vestibular disorder (lack of balance control), and motion sensitivity community from using high contrast or dark mode settings; no ability to convey the information to text-to-speech software that the neurodivergent community uses (i.e., anyone in the dyslexic, ADHD, and Autistic community that uses text-to-speech); and an image-based email will create barriers for anyone in the low vision community using magnification tools or browser zoom. 
The alt text should convey what a non-sighted user would miss by not being able to see the image. Reference the Outlook: Missing alternative text article for the steps on how to add alt text to images in your emails.
Graphics can include icons or simple banners that draw people into your email. You can use the WebAIM Contrast Checker to confirm your graphic meets color contrast guidelines. 

Attachments and Videos

If linking to an internal video, that video should meet the video accessibility guidelines covered in our Accessible Video Checklist. Use the same accessibility checklist to confirm the accessibility of any third-party videos that you will share in any email communication employees, students, or the public. For a thorough overview of these requirements, please complete the Introduction to Video Accessibility course. 

Final Review

Instructions on how to access and customize the Microsoft Editor in Outlook. 
Reference the Improve accessibility with the Accessibility Checker for step by step instructions on how to run the accessibility checker.