Inclusive technology

Windows accessibility features can greatly enhance your experience of using your computer. Use the Search button on the Windows 10 taskbar to find 'Ease of Access'

Accessibility features include:

Windows Magnifier: This magnifier can be moved around the screen, locked in place or resized. Magnifier can enlarge up to 1600%, but loses definition at higher magnification. There is also the option to invert colours for high contrast.

Narrator: Narrator is a built-in screen reader in Windows that reads all text on the screen aloud and describes events like error messages so you can use your PC without a display.  The software uses the voices already installed on your computer.

High contrast settings: choose a high contrast colour scheme to suit you

Speech recognition: Plug in a microphone, and take the tutorial to begin using this facility

Mouse and cursor options: You can change the size and colour of your cursor, or move it around using the keyboard.

The Quick Access Toolbar is a good place for storing the Microsoft Word tools that are most useful to you. The Quick Access Toolbar can sit above or below the main Ribbon of commands as you choose. Right click on the ribbon/command bar to access the option 'Customize Quick Access Toolbar.'

This will display the full range of commands you can choose from. Useful commands include:

Document Map: this will create a list of heading and subheadings contained within the document making it possible to see an outline of the document's contents and easier to navigate around.

Font and Page colour: These two commands make it possible for you to change colours to suit your preferences

Text highlight colour: this enables you to highlight passages of text in different colours

Speak selected text: passages of selected text can be spoken out loud, which is a useful way of checking your own work.

Translate: this button enables you to have either selected text or whole documents translated into other languages

WHERE TO FIND IT : Office 365

Immersive Reader is a reading enhancement tool available in Office 365 that will work with Word, OneNote and Outlook. Immersive Reader will speak text in a choice of voices and allows you to view the text in a variety of fonts, sizes and background colours. In Word online and OneNote Immersive reader can be accessed from the View menu. In Outlook a message can be viewed in Immersive Reader by looking under the More Actions menu.

In OneNote a PDF file inserted using the 'Insert as printout' option can be viewed using Immersive Reader, but anything else on same page will also be read, and the formatting of the PDF may be lost.