McGill uses Microsoft products in the majority of its workplaces, namely Windows 10 and Office 365. This article highlights the built-in accessibility features of these products, along with links to follow so you can try them yourself. While many of these features were introduced to address barriers that people with disabilities experience when using technology, customizing your settings to your needs can help you regardless of whether or not you have a disability.
Windows 10
- Modify the visibility of your screen by:
- Minimize distracting notifications by turning on Focus Assist
- Use voice commands to control your computer via Voice Recognition
- Learn built-in Keyboard shortcuts as alternatives to using your mouse
Microsoft Office 365
Learning Tools are is available in select Microsoft products such as OneNote, Word, the Edge browser and Outlook (web). You are encouraged to use the links included to discover these tools for yourself and find the settings that work best for you. Highlighted below are a few of the features available
Immersive Reader
By selecting the Immersive Reader feature you can adjust different settings to meet your reading preferences. The settings that you can adjust vary by the product you’re using (e.g. Word vs. OneNote), nevertheless we have listed a few here so you can search for them:
- Column width: changes the spacing between columns of text
- Page colour: changes the colour of the page for the reader only. Acts as a digital colour overlay that can help some with the readability of the text
- Text spacing: adds more spacing between each letter
- Syllables: adds spacing between syllables
- Read aloud: a text-to-speech feature that can be customized for reading speed and voice
- Colour coding parts of speech: highlights words in different colours based on category (e.g. noun, adjective)
- Line focus: only a limited number of lines of text are viewed at a time
- Picture dictionary: reads the word aloud and includes a graphic
- Translate: click on a word and have it translated into another language
Other Learning Tools
Dictate: a speech-to-text feature that uses voice recognition software instead of typing on the keyboard in order to produce text
Focus: this view hides toolbars and reduces visual clutter to help you focus on what you’re doing