Procedure for converting tables to screen reader friendly versions

MS Word .doc (92 kb)

MS Word .doc Large Print (90 kb)

Part One: Using MS Word and MS Excel

This procedure uses MS Word and MS Excel, or another combination of word processor and spreadsheet program. Go to Part Two for a procedure involving only the word processor program.

It is important to note that the procedure will not work on tables with split columns or rows.

Sample table

Age group
Men & Boys
Women & Girls
Total

To access the original table, download the MS Word .doc version (92 kb) or the MS Word .doc Large Print version (90 kb)

1. Select the above table and copy it to the clipboard

2. Paste the table into a new Excel worksheet. The result will look somewhat like this:

Age group
Men & Boys
Women & Girls
Total
under 18
72
73
145
18 to 65
127
172
299
over 65
90
122
212
All ages
289
367
656

To avoid problems later on, make sure that the data in the header row of the MS Word table displays on a single row in Excel.

3. In Excel, insert columns to the left of each of the original table columns.
To do this, place the cursor in each of the original columns and choose Columns from the Insert menu. A blank new column appears to the left.
The result will look somewhat like this:

Age group

Men & Boys

Women & Girls

Total

under 18

72

73

145

18 to 65

127

172

299

over 65

90

122

212

All ages

289

367

656

4. In Excel, copy the column head of the leftmost column, in this case “Age group.”
Then select the cell to the left of the cell containing data in the first row of the table, in this case “under 18”.
Then, use Shift plus the Down Arrow key to select all the cells in this column.
Then press Control plus the letter V, or choose Paste from the Edit menu.
The column heading that was copied to the clipboard will be inserted into each of the selected cells simultaneously.

5. Copy the column head of the second column and paste it into the appropriate rows in the blank column you had inserted to the left of the original table’s second column. Repeat the process for additional columns. The result will look somewhat like this:

Age group

Men & Boys

Women & Girls

Total
Age group
under 18
Men & Boys
72
Women & Girls
73
Total
145
Age group
18 to 65
Men & Boys
127
Women & Girls
172
Total
299
Age group
over 65
Men & Boys
90
Women & Girls
122
Total
212
Age group
All ages
Men & Boys
289
Women & Girls
367
Total
656

6. In Excel, delete the top row of text, which contains the original table’s column headings and is no longer needed.

7. Select the remaining cells.
Copy the selection to the clipboard.
Then return to MS Word and paste the clipboard content into a Word document.
The result will look like this:

Age group
under 18
Men & Boys
72
Women & Girls
73
Total
145
Age group
18 to 65
Men & Boys
127
Women & Girls
172
Total
299
Age group
over 65
Men & Boys
90
Women & Girls
122
Total
212
Age group
All ages
Men & Boys
289
Women & Girls
367
Total
656

8. In Word, select Options from the Tools menu and, on the View tab of the Options dialog, check the boxes for Non-printing Characters. This facilitates finishing the remainder of the conversion process because it reveals the locations of paragraph marks, tab characters and spaces.

9. Select the newly-pasted table (Table menu, Select, Table).
Choose Convert Table to Text from the Table menu.
In the Convert Table to Text dialog that opens, make sure the Tabs radio button is selected in the section for Separate Text With…
The converted table should look like this:

Age group under 18 Men & Boys 72 Women & Girls 73 Total 145
Age group 18 to 65 Men & Boys 127 Women & Girls 172 Total 299
Age group over 65 Men & Boys 90 Women & Girls 122 Total 212
Age group All ages Men & Boys 289 Women & Girls 367 Total 656

10. Select the paragraphs resulting from converting the table to text. The following steps use the Replace command, on Word’s Edit menu, for only these paragraphs. It is important not to do Replace operations on an entire document, unless you create a separate document devoted only to making an adapted version of a table.

10.1 If necessary, activate the More button to reveal Search Options
With the cursor in the Find What field of the Replace dialog box, activate the Special menu and choose Paragraph Mark (or type ^p).
In the Replace With field, choose Paragraph Mark twice from the Special menu (or type ^p^p into the text box).
Activate the Replace All button or use the keyboard shortcut Alt plus A.
A dialog appears indicating that Word has finished checking the selection, telling how many changes were made, and asking if you want to check the remainder of the document. Select the No button or type the letter N.

10.2 In order to relate the column headings to data in the cells corresponding to them, you do replace operations that put these pairs on separate lines.
In the example above, the first pair on each line will not be changed.
The following pairs, beginning with tab characters followed by “Men & Boys”, need to be pushed onto new lines.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Men & Boys.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Men & Boys.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72 Women & Girls 73 Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127 Women & Girls 172 Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90 Women & Girls 122 Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289 Women & Girls 367 Total 656

10.3 The next pairs that need to be put on new lines begin with a tab character followed by Women & Girls.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Women & Girls.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Women & Girls.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72
Women & Girls 73 Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127
Women & Girls 172 Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90
Women & Girls 122 Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289
Women & Girls 367 Total 656

10.4 The final pairs that need to be put on new lines begin with a tab character followed by Total.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Total.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Total.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72
Women & Girls 73
Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127
Women & Girls 172
Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90
Women & Girls 122
Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289
Women & Girls 367
Total 656

11. For easier reading, both visually and with screen reader software, it is desirable to replace all of the tab characters with colons followed by two spaces.
In the Replace dialog, with the cursor in the Find What field, choose Tab Character from the Special menu or type ^t.
In the Replace With field, type a colon followed by two spaces. Choose Replace All, or type Alt plus a, and limit the result to the selection.
It should look something like this:

Age group: under 18
Men & Boys: 72
Women & Girls: 73
Total: 145

Age group: 18 to 65
Men & Boys: 127
Women & Girls: 172
Total: 299

Age group: over 65
Men & Boys: 90
Women & Girls: 122
Total: 212

Age group: All ages
Men & Boys: 289
Women & Girls: 367
Total: 656

Part Two, using MS Word only

While using MS Excel or another spreadsheet application in conjunction with Word or another word processor is one good way to convert tables to an accessible form, when only a word processor with table handling capability is available, the following procedure can be used to convert a table for optimum use by blind or visually impaired individuals.

It is important to note that the procedure will not work on tables with split columns or rows.

Sample table

Age group
Men & Boys
Women & Girls
Total
under 18
72
73
145
18 to 65
127
172
299
over 65
90
122
212
All ages
289
367
656

1. Select the leftmost column in the table.
To do this, place the cursor in any cell in the column and choose Select Column from the Table menu.
Then choose Insert Column from the Table menu.
Next, copy the column heading, “Age group,” from the leftmost column of the original table.
Paste it repeatedly into cells in the newly inserted column to the left.

2. Select the second column and insert a new column to its left, as described above.
Copy the heading of the original second column, Men & Boys, and paste it repeatedly into cells of the newly created column to its left.

3. Repeat this procedure for additional columns.
You will probably need to zoom the MS Word window to 75 percent or less to view the entire contents of the altered table.
The result will appear somewhat like this:

Age group

Men & Boys

Women & Girls

Total
Age group
under 18
Men & Boys
72
Women & Girls
73
Total
145
Age group
18 to 65
Men & Boys
127
Women & Girls
172
Total
299
Age group
over 65
Men & Boys
90
Women & Girls
122
Total
212
Age group
All ages
Men & Boys
289
Women & Girls
367
Total
656

4. Select the top row of the table (which contains the original headings) and, from the Table menu, choose Delete Row.
The resulting table contains data to be used for the conversion process.
The only difference here is that the table to be converted to text has not been pasted from Excel but has been worked on only in Word.

5. Select Options from the Tools menu and, on the View tab of the Options dialog, check the boxes for Non-printing Characters. This facilitates finishing the remainder of the conversion process because it reveals the locations of paragraph marks, tab characters and spaces.

6. Select the table (Table menu, Select, Table).
Choose Convert Table to Text from the Table menu.
In the Convert Table to Text dialog that opens, make sure the Tabs radio button is selected in the section for Separate Text With…
The converted table should look like this:

Age group under 18 Men & Boys 72 Women & Girls 73 Total 145
Age group 18 to 65 Men & Boys 127 Women & Girls 172 Total 299
Age group over 65 Men & Boys 90 Women & Girls 122 Total 212
Age group All ages Men & Boys 289 Women & Girls 367 Total 656

7. Select the paragraphs resulting from converting the table to text. The following steps use the Replace command, on Word’s Edit menu, for only these paragraphs. It is important not to do Replace operations on an entire document, unless you create a separate document devoted only to making an adapted version of a table.

7.1 If necessary, activate the More button to reveal Search Options
With the cursor in the Find What field of the Replace dialog box, activate the Special menu and choose Paragraph Mark (or type ^p).
In the Replace With field, choose Paragraph Mark twice from the Special menu (or type ^p^p into the text box).
Activate the Replace All button or use the keyboard shortcut Alt plus A.
A dialog appears indicating that Word has finished checking the selection, telling how many changes were made, and asking if you want to check the remainder of the document. Select the No button or type the letter N.

7.2 In order to relate the column headings to data in the cells corresponding to them, you do replace operations that put these pairs on separate lines.
In the example above, the first pair on each line will not be changed.
The following pairs, beginning with tab characters followed by “Men & Boys”, need to be pushed onto new lines.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Men & Boys.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Men & Boys.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72 Women & Girls 73 Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127 Women & Girls 172 Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90 Women & Girls 122 Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289 Women & Girls 367 Total 656

7.3 The next pairs that need to be put on new lines begin with a tab character followed by Women & Girls.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Women & Girls.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Women & Girls.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72
Women & Girls 73 Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127
Women & Girls 172 Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90
Women & Girls 122 Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289
Women & Girls 367 Total 656

7.4 The final pairs that need to be put on new lines begin with a tab character followed by Total.
To do that, go to the Find What field of the Replace dialog, insert a tab character (Special menu, Tab Character or type ^t) followed by Total.
Then, in the Replace With field, insert a paragraph mark (Special menu, Paragraph Mark or type ^p) and type Total.
Choose Replace All for the selection only. The result should appear thus:

Age group under 18
Men & Boys 72
Women & Girls 73
Total 145

Age group 18 to 65
Men & Boys 127
Women & Girls 172
Total 299

Age group over 65
Men & Boys 90
Women & Girls 122
Total 212

Age group All ages
Men & Boys 289
Women & Girls 367
Total 656

8. For easier reading, both visually and with screen reader software, it is desirable to replace all of the tab characters with colons followed by two spaces.
In the Replace dialog, with the cursor in the Find What field, choose Tab Character from the Special menu or type ^t.
In the Replace With field, type a colon followed by two spaces. Choose Replace All, or type Alt plus a, and limit the result to the selection.
It should look something like this:

Age group: under 18
Men & Boys: 72
Women & Girls: 73
Total: 145

Age group: 18 to 65
Men & Boys: 127
Women & Girls: 172
Total: 299

Age group: over 65
Men & Boys: 90
Women & Girls: 122
Total: 212

Age group: All ages
Men & Boys: 289
Women & Girls: 367
Total: 656

Copyright © 2006/2019 Kaizen Program for New English Learners with Visual Limitations

Kaizen Program
for New English Learners with Visual Limitations
email: kaizen ( at ) quixotes.org
web: https://www.quixotes.org/kaizen//