Accessibility in Office projects

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Applies to: yesVisual Studio noVisual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Office include many accessibility features that enable you to build custom solutions that meet standard accessibility requirements. Microsoft publishes guidelines for accessibility on the Web. For details, see the Accessibility website.

In most cases, Office projects in Visual Studio meet accessibility standards or exposes properties that you can set to make your solutions accessible. However, there are some features that have limited accessibility.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and VSTO Add-in projects. See Features available by Office application and project type.

Accessibility at design time

Use shortcut keys in document-level projects

When a Microsoft Office Word document or a Microsoft Office Excel workbook is open in Visual Studio, only one application at a time receives the shortcut key commands. By default, Visual Studio receives all shortcut key commands, but you can make Word or Excel receive them when the document has focus by selecting Dynamic keyboard scheme on the Keyboard Settings page of the Options dialog box. For more information, see Microsoft Office Word Keyboard, Microsoft Office Keyboard Settings, Options dialog box and Microsoft Office Excel Keyboard, Microsoft Office Keyboard Settings, Options dialog box.

Display shortcut keys for the Ribbon in document-level projects

When a Word document or an Excel workbook is open in Visual Studio, you cannot press the Alt key to view shortcut keys for the tabs and controls on the Ribbon. To view the shortcut keys while the document or workbook is open in the designer, perform the following steps.

To view shortcut keys for Ribbon tabs and controls in the designer

  1. In Visual Studio, on the Tools menu, click Options.

  2. Expand the Office Tools node, and select Microsoft Office Excel Keyboard or Microsoft Office Word Keyboard, as appropriate.

  3. Select Dynamic keyboard scheme.

    A message appears that states that you must restart Visual Studio for the change to take effect.

  4. Click OK.

  5. Restart Visual Studio, and reopen your project.

  6. Open the document or workbook designer for your project.

  7. Press F6 to display the shortcut keys for the Ribbon.

Accessibility at run time

Windows Forms controls on Office documents

Windows Forms controls expose accessibility properties to provide information about the control to accessibility aids, such as screen readers. You can take advantage of these accessibility properties when the controls are on an Office document in a document-level customization. For more information, see Provide accessibility information for controls on a Windows Form.

However, there are some accessibility limitations at run time when Windows Forms controls are hosted on an Excel workbook or Word document:

  • You cannot tab from one control to another.

  • Controls on a document are disabled when you change the zoom setting of the document to anything other than 100%.

    For information about limitations of Windows Forms controls on documents, see Limitations of Windows Forms controls on Office documents.

Actions panes and custom task panes

When an actions pane or custom task pane has focus, you access controls the same way you would access controls on a Windows Forms application. To move your cursor between the actions pane and the document, you can press F6.

For more information about actions panes and custom task panes, see Actions pane overview and Custom task panes.

Display modes

Visual Studio has the following limitations related to display modes:

  • Controls on a Word document or Excel worksheet are disabled when you change the zoom setting of the document to anything other than 100%.

  • The New Project dialog box does not display controls correctly if a user changes the computer's accessibility options to Use High Contrast.

You can use Magnifier to overcome these limitations. Magnifier is a display utility in Windows that creates a separate window that displays a magnified portion of the screen.

See also