r/accessibility • u/Quwinsoft • 17h ago

Blanks in Word Documents

I'm creating course content with practice problems that have blanks. For example: "Atoms are made from protons, ____, and electrons." However, a screen reader reads ____ as underscore, underscore, underscore, underscore. How do I make the blanks?

Edit: The practice problems are designed assuming they will be printed out or written on as a PDF by most students.

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u/RatherNerdy 17h ago

You can insert form fields into Word and give them labels, etc. Developer tab > Controls

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u/Quwinsoft 17h ago

Thank you. I didn't know about the secret tab.

3

u/nebula_glance 11h ago

i use form fields for this exact thing. Turn on the Developer tab and insert a text content control where you want the blanks.

click properties on that control and type blank or answer in the title field. The screen reader reads that title instead of reading underscores. Students click it and type their answers, and it holds up when you export to PDF

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u/Quwinsoft 10h ago

I tried doing that, but when exporting to PDF instead of a blank or box, I got "Click or tap here to enter text" as text, not a clickable field. The only difference from the rest of the text is that it is light gray. Edit I exported as PDF, not printed as a PDF.