Between February and April 2017 State of Minnesota employees will have their Outlook software updated to “Office 365.” The Office of Accessibility is always looking for ways to keep accessibility top of mind, and now there is a feature built right in to the web app version of Outlook (OWA). You can choose to add a simple reminder asking people to send you accessible emails!

Why is this important even if you don’t currently need your emails to be accessible? Because 1 in 4 of today's 20 year olds will have a disability by the time they retire. And... we do not always know which of our colleagues has a disability.

To add this message to your web app:

• Open the Outlook web app an go to your settings via the gear icon.
• Select mail.
• In the options, above mail you will find “general”. Expand this menu. (keyboard only: you may need to use Shift-Tab to move to the options menu).
• Select Accessibility Settings.
• Select the checkbox for “Ask senders to send content that’s accessible”
• Select save.

In the grand scheme of potential improvements, this is minor, as few state employees use the web version of Outlook as their primary method for sending emails, but it demonstrates Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to improve the usability of their products. However, here’s a few simple steps you can do today.

To make your emails accessible:

1. Adding a photo, image or screen shot? If so, add "alt text" - a text description found in the format picture area.
2. Writing a longer email? Use heading styles, just like in Microsoft Word. Don't just change the font size or color.
3. Instead of links with text like "click here" or "link,", add a short meaningful description that describes where the link goes (e.g. Office of Accessibility webpage) by right clicking to find "hyperlink" or using the keyboard shortcut Control + K. Change the "text to display" field. 

More information about writing accessible emails is available from the Office of Accessibility webpage.