Aexus Answers

Improve .docx Table Accessibility With Gt: Header Formatting

Alex Johnson
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Improve .docx Table Accessibility With Gt: Header Formatting

Creating accessible tables is crucial for inclusive communication. This article delves into enhancing the accessibility of tables generated using the gt package in R, specifically when exporting them to .docx format. The focus is on ensuring that table headers are correctly formatted to meet accessibility standards.

The Challenge: Ensuring Correct Header Formatting

When exporting gt tables to Word documents, the correct labeling of row and column headers is essential for accessibility. While determining the exact criteria for accessible tables in Word can be tricky due to differing online sources, two key elements emerge:

  1. Repeating Header Rows: The option to "Repeat Header Rows" under Table Layout must be selected. Thankfully, gt already handles this!
  2. Header Row and First Column Designations: Under Table Design, the Header Row checkbox must be checked. If the first column contains row labels (a stub), the First Column checkbox should also be selected. Currently, gt does not automatically perform this step, which is the focus of this article.

Understanding the Importance of Header Row and First Column Designations

Ensuring that the Header Row and First Column boxes are checked in Word is vital for screen readers and other assistive technologies to correctly interpret the table structure. Without these designations, users may struggle to understand the relationships between data points and their corresponding labels. By properly identifying header rows and columns, we create a more navigable and understandable table for all users.

Reproducible Example

Let's illustrate the issue with a reproducible example using R, gt, and a .qmd document.

---
title: "a11y-test"
format:   
  html:
    embed-resources: true
  docx:
    toc: false
---

```{r setup, include=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = FALSE, warning = FALSE, message = FALSE)
library(gt)

A simple table:

iris |>
    dplyr::group_by(Species) |>
    dplyr::summarise(Length = mean(Petal.Length), Width = mean(Petal.Width)) |>
    gt(rowname_col = 'Species') |>
    tab_header(title = 'Iris petal width')

sessioninfo::session_info()


This code generates a Word document.  When you open it, you will observe that:

*   The **Repeat Header Rows** option is correctly selected.
*   However, the **Header Row** and **First Column** boxes are not checked.

### Examining the Output

The image below shows the **Repeat Header Rows** option being selected:

![Image of Repeat Header Rows option selected](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8fcf2a2b-4068-4409-a924-dbe7a11b5101)

However, the image below illustrates that the **Header Row** and **First Column** boxes are not checked, presenting an accessibility issue:

![Image of Header Row and First Column options not checked](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d8e4c78c-73cd-4159-9b4c-a059d4a81c29)

## Expected Outcome

The desired outcome is for `gt` to automatically mark the first row as the header row by default and the first column when a stub (row labels) is specified. This would align with accessibility best practices and ensure that tables are correctly interpreted by assistive technologies.

### Why is this important for accessibility?

*Screen readers rely on these structural cues* to effectively convey the table's content to users with visual impairments. Without proper header designations, the table becomes a jumble of data, making it difficult to understand the relationships between rows and columns.

## Diving Deeper into Table Accessibility in Word

Different resources offer varying guidelines for creating accessible tables in Word. While some, like [Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/video-create-accessible-tables-in-word-cb464015-59dc-46a0-ac01-6217c62210e5) and [Penn State](https://accessibility.psu.edu/microsoftoffice/microsofttableheaders/), primarily focus on the **Header Row** checkbox, others like [UC Riverside](https://sdrc.ucr.edu/accessible-word-tables) emphasize the **Repeat Header Rows** toggle. Some sources, such as [Perkins School for the Blind](https://www.perkins.org/resource/creating-accessible-table-word/), suggest additional steps for comprehensive accessibility.

Through manual testing, it's evident that the **Header Row** checkbox is essential. The **Repeat Header Rows** toggle, while not always strictly required, significantly enhances readability and is a recommended practice. Ensuring both are correctly set contributes to a more accessible and user-friendly table.

### Best Practices for Accessible Tables in Word

*   **Always use the Header Row checkbox:** This is the most critical step for accessibility.
*   **Utilize the Repeat Header Rows toggle:** This improves readability, especially for longer tables.
*   **Keep tables simple:** Avoid complex layouts and merged cells, which can confuse screen readers.
*   **Provide alternative text:** Add alt text to the table that summarizes its content and purpose.
*   **Test with a screen reader:** Ensure the table is navigable and understandable using assistive technology.

## Session Information

Here's the session information for the environment used to generate the example:

sessioninfo::session_info()

─ Session info ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── setting value version R version 4.4.1 (2024-06-14 ucrt) os Windows 11 x64 (build 22631) system x86_64, mingw32 ui RTerm language (EN) collate English_United States.utf8 ctype English_United States.utf8 tz America/Chicago date 2025-11-13 pandoc 3.6.3 @ c:\Program Files\Positron\resources\app\quarto\bin\tools/ (via rmarkdown) quarto NA @ C:\PROGRA~1\Quarto\bin\quarto.exe

─ Packages ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── package * version date (UTC) lib source cli 3.6.5 2025-04-23 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) digest 0.6.37 2024-08-19 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) dplyr 1.1.4 2023-11-17 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) evaluate 1.0.5 2025-08-27 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) fastmap 1.2.0 2024-05-15 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) fs 1.6.6 2025-04-12 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) generics 0.1.4 2025-05-09 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) glue 1.8.0 2024-09-30 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) gt * 1.1.0 2025-09-23 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) htmltools 0.5.8.1 2024-04-04 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) jsonlite 2.0.0 2025-03-27 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) knitr 1.50 2025-03-16 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) lifecycle 1.0.4 2023-11-07 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) magrittr 2.0.4 2025-09-12 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) pillar 1.11.1 2025-09-17 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) pkgconfig 2.0.3 2019-09-22 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) R6 2.6.1 2025-02-15 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) rlang 1.1.6 2025-04-11 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) rmarkdown 2.30 2025-09-28 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) sessioninfo 1.2.3 2025-02-05 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) tibble 3.3.0 2025-06-08 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) tidyselect 1.2.1 2024-03-11 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) vctrs 0.6.5 2023-12-01 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) withr 3.0.2 2024-10-28 [1] CRAN (R 4.4.3) xfun 0.53 2025-08-19 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) xml2 1.4.0 2025-08-20 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3) yaml 2.3.10 2024-07-26 [2] CRAN (R 4.4.3)

[1] C:/Users/nathanj3/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.4 [2] C:/Program Files/R/R-4.4.1/library

  • ── Packages attached to the search path

## Conclusion: Paving the Way for More Accessible Tables

Ensuring that `gt` tables exported to `.docx` format automatically designate header rows and columns is a significant step toward creating more accessible documents. By addressing this issue, we empower users of assistive technologies to navigate and understand tabular data more effectively.

This article highlights the importance of adhering to accessibility guidelines when creating tables in Word documents. By implementing the suggestions outlined above, you can ensure that your tables are usable and understandable by all users, regardless of their abilities. It is also important to test these documents with screen readers to ensure compliance.

For more information on creating accessible tables, visit the **Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)** website. [**WAI Resources**](https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/tables/).

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