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Accessible Word Forms
Creating Accessible Forms in MS Word
Introduction
Set-Up
Layout
Accessible Text Edit Fields
Accessible Check Boxes
Accessible Drop-down Fields
Saving the Form
Filling Out an Accessible Form
Other Considerations
Contact Us
Introduction
With the instructions below, you
will be able to develop easy-to-use forms. There are several advantages
to developing your forms using the Forms tool provided by Word.
- You will develop the forms once, but they will be usable
over and over again.
- If you ever need to change/add/remove anything from a form
you’ve already developed, you can make that change in moments
without having to re-create the whole form.
- Since the forms will be protected, people filling them out
will only be able to type in the appropriate fields, ensuring
that the forms will print out properly every time.
- The Add-Help Text that appears each time you tab onto a
field makes these forms readily accessible by a blind person using JAWS.
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Set-up
To create a form
in Word, you use the Forms toolbar. Since this is not among the standard
toolbars visible when you first launch Word, you need to bring up the
Forms toolbar. To do this go to the View menu on the standard menu bar,
then choose the Toolbars submenu, and down arrow to Forms. Press ENTER
on this item to check it and close the menus.
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Laying Out the Form Content
Your form may have
a lot of text that is not directly related to entering data. This may
include instructions on how to fill out the form, headings, disclaimers,
etc. Type in or copy/paste all of the text that needs to appear on the
printed form, formatting it as appropriate. The edit fields that people
move to in order to fill in data will be put onto the form for you when
you use the options on the Forms toolbar. This will ensure that users
only type in the right places on the form. (The sample below shows the
form context without the edit areas and checkboxes.)
Sample form 1
Personal Contact Information
First Name: Last Name:
Street address:
City: State: Zip:
Personal Information
SSN: DOB: Sex: Male Female
U.S. citizen: Yes No
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Creating an Accessible Text Edit field
A form field is
the space a person filling out the form uses to type in text or response
to a question on the form. Usually, a highlighted area provides a visual
marker to show where to fill in this text. To create an accessible text
edit field, do the following:
- Place your cursor at the beginning of the space where you expect
a person to start filling in text. This is usually, but not always,
just to the right of the question on the form.
- Press ALT to move to the menu bar item “File.”
- Press CTRL+TAB until you move to the forms toolbar.
JAWS will say “Edit box button.”
- Press ENTER. An edit box appears at your cursor location.
(Mouse users, point and click on the first button of the toolbar.)
- Go back to the forms toolbar and choose the Form Fields Options button.
(JAWS says “Properties button.”) This brings up a dialog
that lets you change various aspects of the edit box you just created.
For example, you can set default text to appear in a field or you can
limit the number of characters users can type in the edit field. In
fact, if you do this, it guarantees that users won’t type more
than you need them to type. For example, limit the edit field for State
to 2 characters so that users can only fill in a two-letter state abbreviation.
If your cursor is at the beginning of or in the middle of the edit field
you can also press your Applications key to open a context menu. Then
you can choose Properties from that menu.
- Press ALT+T (or click on it) to activate the Add
Help Text button. This brings up a multi page dialog that lets you add
a meaningful prompt or tool tip for the person filling out the form.
You land on the Status Bar page tab.
- Press ALT+T or TAB three times to
move to the edit area for adding your own text, the third radio button
called “Type Your Own Text.” The text you enter on here
will be visible on the Word status bar and will also be read to a blind
person using JAWS. In most cases, simply type in the same question that
is printed on the form. So if the form reads “First name:”
type “first name” (with minimal punctuation and no quotation
marks).
- TAB to or click on the OK button to exit the Add
Help Text dialog, and again to exit the Text Form Field Options dialog.
You will be placed back in your edit field in the original document.
- If the question on the form is very wordy, you can copy and paste
its text into the “Type Your Own Text” edit field to save
extra typing. This field, however, is limited to 138 characters.
- If the question on the form includes abbreviations such as DOB, spell
out the abbreviation (for example, “date of birth”) so that
the prompt is meaningful.
Back to Top from Creating an Accessible Text Edit Field
Creating an Accessible Check Box
A checkbox is a visual symbol that a person filling out the form uses
to indicate a response without typing in text. To create a checkbox, do
the following:
- Place your cursor where you expect a person filling out the form
to place a checkmark.
- Choose the Check Box button on the Forms toolbar.
- Choose the Form Fields Options button (JAWS says “Properties
button”) on the Forms toolbar. This brings up a Tool Form Field
Options dialog that lets you change various aspects of the checkbox.
If your cursor is at the beginning of or in the middle of the edit
field you can also press your Applications key to open a context menu.
Then you can choose Properties from that menu.
- Press ALT+T to activate the Add Help Text button.
This brings up a multi page dialog that lets you add a meaningful prompt
for the person filling out the form. Press ALT+T
(or choose the third radio button in this group) again to move to the
edit area for adding your own text. In most cases, to ensure that the
prompt is meaningful, you may need to type a prompt that is not printed
on the form. For example, for a question that has corresponding yes and
no checkboxes, you should type a prompt that is meaningful for each
checkbox. So in our sample form, the prompt for the Yes checkbox for
the question on U.S. citizenship should read, “U.S. citizen?
Yes.” The prompt for the No checkbox should read, “U.S.
citizen? No.”
Back to Top from Creating an Accessible Check Box
Creating an Accessible Drop-down Field
Example, for Semester you might have Spring, Summer, Fall, etc.
- From the Forms Toolbar choose the Drop-down Form Field item. (
JAWS says “Combo Box Button.”)
- You land in the “Drop Down Form Fields Option” dialog box,
in an edit field. Type in the first value you wish to appear in your list
(i.e. Spring).
- Press ALT+A to activate the Add button and you land
back in this field ready to type in another value (i.e. Fall).
- Continue this process until all values you want are added. If needed
you can tab to the list of values to select a value and move that item
up or down in the list by using the up or down controls that follow this
list. The first item in the list will be the default value later when
the form is being used.
- Press ALT+T to activate the Add Help Text button.
- Press ALT+T to move to the “Type Your Own”
edit field.
- Type in something like the following: “Press ALT+DOWN ARROW to
open a menu of choices. Press UP OR DOWN ARROW to move through this list
and press enter when you find the correct item.”
- TAB to the OK button and activate it. Repeat and you
end up back in your document.
Note: If you have text to the right of the drop-down field, make sure
to put at least three blank spaces between the end of the field and the
first part of your text following it. This is because a graphic symbol
with a down arrow appears to the right of the field when the form is
protected and ready to be filled out.
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Saving the Form
Once you complete laying out the text of the form, creating its edit
fields, and adding the help text for each field, you need to save it.
First choose the Protect Form button on the Forms toolbar. Once this
button is pressed, you can only move to and edit data in the fields
you created, and you are protected from accidentally changing any of
the text of the form itself.
Note: If you ever need to make changes to the form text itself, you
can toggle the Protect Form button to unprotect the form and make your
changes. When you're finished, toggle the Protect Form button again to
turn protection back on.
Authors of forms should turn off the Forms toolbar and make sure that
the document is in Print Layout view before saving the document so that
JAWS users will not need to do this on their own.
Save your form with a meaningful filename (e.g., intake form).
Back to Top from Saving the Form
Filling Out an Accessible Form
Note: JAWS users, when you open a protected form you may need to set
the document to either Print Layout view, or in some cases Normal view,
and turn off the Forms toolbar for best reading results.
Open the file and choose Save As to save your form with a meaningful
name other than the original name. This way, your original blank form
stays intact for repeated use.
Press the TAB key to move forward from one field to
another or SHIFT+TAB to move backwards from one field
to another. Fill in the form as needed and save again when finished.
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Other Considerations for Using Word Effectively
- Limit the use of white space.
- Don't use tables for formatting. Tables should be used for tabular
data. Use columns and other native formatting techniques in Word.
Back to Top from Other Considerations
Freedom Scientific Contact Information
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