GrackleDocs for Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides) adds accessibility checking and repair guidance, and accessible PDF export to Google Workspace documents. You can access GrackleDocs from the "Add-Ons" menu in Google Docs, Sheets or Slides.
More Information
People who use screen-reading software, or have certain other disabilities, are unable to "read" a PDF file created in the normal manner by Google Workspace. Google does not properly add accessibility features to the PDF such as "tags" and structure. The university has purchased the GrackleDocs add-on for Google Workspace.
GrackleDocs is an add-on for Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, and Slides) that allows you to check for issues that make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to use your document. Once you’ve corrected the issues it identifies, it can export your documents in PDF format in an accessible manner.
As soon as you launch GrackleDocs from the "add-on" menu in Google docs, slides or sheets, it will automatically test the document against a list of accessibility standards and show you the results in its sidebar. The sidebar has two tabs, "Accessibility Check" and "Document Structure". You should visit both.
- Items marked with a green check mark are resolved do not need attention.
- Items marked with a red ‘x’ require your attention.
- Items with a green check mark and smaller red warning circle are things you should attend to, but will not critically affect the document’s accessibility.
On the "Accessibility" tab, proceed through the list of items which need attention (at least those items with a red X)
- Clicking an item in the list will expand it.
- The expanded item will have a list of Locate and Tag (if applicable) buttons.
- Clicking a Locate button will highlight the part of the document the issue is referring to.
- Clicking a Tag button will show a pop-up where you can enter alternate text description for the item. See the More Information About Alternate Text section for more details.
On the "Document Structure" tab of the GrackleDocs sidebar you will check the document reading order and heading structure.
- Scroll down through the Document Structure display
- Verify that the order of elements matches the order for how the document should be read aloud. This is particularly important if your document has multiple columns or a grid-like structure.
- If the order is not correct you can drag the elements in the list into their proper position.
- Also check the heading order.
- The document should only have one "Heading1" element.
- Section Headings should be styled (Using the style feature of the Google Workspace editor) as "Heading2"
- Sub-headings within a section should be styled as "Heading3" and so on.
- Do not use "styles" to change the look of headings in the document. Instead, apply the correct style for the heading level and then change the visual presentation (bold, italic, size, etc.) as desired.
- Headings should be nested in numerical order, for example:
- Heading 1
- Some text....
- Heading 2
- Some text...
- Heading 2
- Some text...
- Do not skip headings, e.g., the following is incorrect
After fixing one or more items, click the "Re-Check" button to re-evaluate your document based on the changes you have made.
Google Workspace's built-in PDF export does not generate accessible PDFs (even if you have fixed all the accessibility issues in your document). GrackleDocs has its own PDF exporter to create accessible PDFs.
- Double-check the Accessibility and Document Structure tabs in the GrackleDocs add-on for issues.
- Click the "Export to PDF" button in the GrackleDocs sidebar.
- The Progress Monitor pop-up box will appear. For most situations, you can leave the default options as-is and click the Start button.
- Unless you selected a different option, GrackleDocs will create a PDF from your GoogleDoc and put it in the same folder in Google Drive as the original document.
- GrackleDocs will also display a Download button when it finishes creating the PDF to allow you to save the PDF on your computer.
Visual elements, such as images, that communicate information need to include an electronic text-equivalent ("alternate text" or "alt-text") that conveys the same information to people using screen-reading software. Screen-reading software will reads the alt-text aloud when it encounters the image. Text embedded within an image, such as a chart, also requires alt-text.
GrackleDocs will alert you to images and charts that require, but are missing, alt-text and will allow you to easily add alt-text.
If an image is purely used for decoration, or the information it communicates is equally communicated in the text, you can tag the image as an "artifact" (using GrackleDocs), which will cause screen-reading software to ignore it. If you are unsure whether an image or other non-text element needs alt-text, try reading the relevant part of your document aloud and skip the image. If doing so conveys all the same information to the reader then the image can probably be marked as an "artifact".
You may also add "alt-text" to an image or chart in the Google Workspace editor by right-clicking the object and selecting "alt-text". Both the "Title" and "Description" fields must be completed.
Environment