Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

About WCAG

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a framework for making web content more accessible for people with disabilities. WCAG version 2.0 was published in 2008 by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international organization dedicated to creating web standards, and updated to WCAG 2.1 in June 2018. In 2012, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) also published WCAG 2.0 as ISO/IEC 40500:2012.

Content that conforms to WCAG 2.1 also conforms to WCAG 2.0. For policies requiring conformance to WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1 can provide an alternate means of conformance.

Microsoft is a major software and cloud-services provider to consumers, businesses, and governments around the world. To assist customers in making purchasing decisions, Microsoft publishes Accessibility Conformance Reports describing the extent to which our products and services support the WCAG criteria. This information can help Microsoft customers determine whether a particular product or service meets their specific needs.

Microsoft and WCAG

Microsoft's consideration of the WCAG standard in the development of products and services points to its commitment to making technology and data accessible for all customers.

Microsoft publishes WCAG reports that reflect the complete product or service. It generally doesn't create reports for individual features or components. Sometimes, Microsoft might release a new component for an existing product, or a new version of an existing component, which users can choose to install separately, and Microsoft might also publish a WCAG report for that component.

Download the WCAG (ISO/IEC 40500) accessibility standards

Microsoft in-scope cloud platforms & services

  • Azure and Azure Government
  • Azure DevOps Services
  • Dynamics 365 and Dynamics 365 U.S. Government
  • Intune
  • Office 365, Office 365 U.S. Government, Office 365 U.S. Government Defense
  • Windows Server 2016

Office 365 and WCAG

Office 365 environments

Microsoft Office 365 is a multi-tenant hyperscale cloud platform and an integrated experience of apps and services available to customers in several regions worldwide. Most Office 365 services enable customers to specify the region where their customer data is located. Microsoft may replicate customer data to other regions within the same geographic area (for example, the United States) for data resiliency, but Microsoft will not replicate customer data outside the chosen geographic area.

This section covers the following Office 365 environments:

  • Client software (Client): commercial client software running on customer devices.
  • Office 365 (Commercial): the commercial public Office 365 cloud service available globally.
  • Office 365 Government Community Cloud (GCC): the Office 365 GCC cloud service is available for United States Federal, State, Local, and Tribal governments, and contractors holding or processing data on behalf of the US Government.
  • Office 365 Government Community Cloud - High (GCC High): the Office 365 GCC High cloud service is designed according to Department of Defense (DoD) Security Requirements Guidelines Level 4 controls and supports strictly regulated federal and defense information. This environment is used by federal agencies, the Defense Industrial Base (DIBs), and government contractors.
  • Office 365 DoD (DoD): the Office 365 DoD cloud service is designed according to DoD Security Requirements Guidelines Level 5 controls and supports strict federal and defense regulations. This environment is for the exclusive use by the US Department of Defense.

Use this section to help meet your compliance obligations across regulated industries and global markets. To find out which services are available in which regions, see the International availability information and the Where your Microsoft 365 customer data is stored article. For more information about Office 365 Government cloud environment, see the Office 365 Government Cloud article.

Your organization is wholly responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Information provided in this section does not constitute legal advice and you should consult legal advisors for any questions regarding regulatory compliance for your organization.

Office 365 applicability and in-scope services

Use the following table to determine applicability for your Office 365 services and subscription:

Applicability In-scope services
Client Access, Excel, Office 365 admin portal for Android, Office 365 admin portal for iOS, Office Configuration Tool, Office Lens, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, SharePoint, To-Do, Visio, Word
Commercial Exchange admin center, Office 365 Customer Portal, Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, Office.com, OneDrive Admin Center, OneDrive for Business, OneDrive Sync Client, Outlook Groups
GCC Microsoft Entra ID, Compliance Manager, Delve, Exchange Online, Forms, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Teams, MyAnalytics, Office 365 Advanced Compliance add-on, Office 365 Customer Portal, Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, Office Online, Office Pro Plus, OneDrive for Business, Planner, PowerApps, Power Automate, Power BI, Skype for Business, Stream
GCC High Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Online, Forms, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Advanced Compliance add-on, Office 365 Customer Portal, Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, Office Online, Office Pro Plus, OneDrive for Business, Planner, PowerApps, Power Automate, Power BI, Skype for Business
DoD Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Online, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Office 365 Advanced Compliance add-on, Office 365 Customer Portal, Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, Office Online, Office Pro Plus, OneDrive for Business, Planner, Forms, Power BI, Skype for Business

Microsoft accessibility conformance reports

Find conformance reports for all our products and services.

Resources