07/09/2024
11 am PT / 12 pm MT / 1 pm CT / 2 pm ET
*approximate length: 45 minutes to 1 hour
Presenter: David Ringstrom, CPA
In this presentation author and Excel expert David H. Ringstrom, CPA show you how you can make spreadsheets accessible for users relying on assistive technology. Doing so actually makes spreadsheets more accessible for ALL users. David will discuss features such as the Navigation task pane, Excel's Accessibility Checker feature, and design strategies such as alternatives to using merged cells. David will also cover other ways that you can avoid inadvertently storing information in an inaccessible fashion.
David is the author of “Exploring Microsoft Excel's Hidden Treasures: Turbocharge your Excel proficiency with expert tips, automation techniques, and overlooked features”. He demonstrates every technique at least twice: first, on a PowerPoint slide with numbered steps, and second, in the subscription-based Excel for Microsoft 365. David draws your attention to any differences in Excel 2021, 2019 or 2016 during the presentation and in his detailed handouts. The handouts include an Excel workbook with most of the examples he uses during his demonstrations.
Excel for Microsoft 365 is a subscription-based product that receives periodic feature updates. Conversely, perpetually licensed versions have year numbers in their names and do not receive any feature updates.
Who should attend: Professionals who are seeking to implement ease of use and accessibility features in Excel.
Topics typically covered:
- Comparing Center Across Selection to Merged cells for centering text across two or more columns
- Creating title and heading levels with cell styles
- Using text to convey the meaning of colors used in a spreadsheet
- Avoiding storing vital info in headers and footers, such as Confidential or Do Not Distribute because it falls outside of the reading order and doesn't appear on the worksheet
- Learning how the Table feature empowers you to improve the integrity of Excel spreadsheets
- Enabling users utilizing assistive technology to safely disregard stylistic elements of a spreadsheet by marking them as decorative
- Determining how using merged cells in spreadsheets can stymy simple tasks and create accessibility issues
- Extracting data from pictures by way of the From Picture command
- Navigating through workbooks and identifying non-blank worksheet cells with the Navigation task pane in Microsoft 365
- Eliminating pictures of data in spreadsheets because the information is inaccessible via assistive technology
- Checking Excel workbooks for accessibility issues by way of Excel's Accessibility Checker feature
- Creating a logical reading order for spreadsheets so that they can be navigated cell by cell with arrow keys
Learning objectives:
- Recall which command enables you to import cell styles from another open workbook
- Recall the menu in Excel where the Table feature resides
- Identify the location of the Accessibility Checker within the ribbon in Excel 2019 and later
Level: Basic
David H. Ringstrom, CPA, is an author and nationally recognized instructor who teaches scores of webinars each year. His Excel courses are based on 25 years of consulting and teaching experience. David’s mantra is “Either you work Excel, or it works you,” so he focuses on what he sees users don’t, but should, know about Microsoft Excel. His goal is to empower you to use Excel more effectively.