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Working with Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a useful drafting tool when authors use its structural features rather than manual visual formatting.

Use Word styles

  • Use Title for the document title.
  • Use built-in Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 styles in logical order.
  • Do not make ordinary text look like a heading only by increasing its size or making it bold.
  • Use Word's numbered-list and bulleted-list controls instead of typed numbers, symbols, tabs, or spaces.

Use link text that describes the destination or action. Prefer 2026 Budget Report over click here or a pasted web address.

Keep tables simple

  • Use tables for related row-and-column data, not page layout.
  • Identify the header row.
  • Avoid merged, split, nested, or blank cells when possible.
  • Avoid fixed widths that force horizontal scrolling.
  • Consider headings and short paragraphs when a table is not truly necessary.

Handle images

  • Add concise alternative text that explains the image's content or purpose.
  • Mark decorative images as decorative when appropriate.
  • Do not use an image of text as the only source of important information.
  • Repeat essential chart conclusions in surrounding text.

Before copying from Word

  1. Confirm the final approved version.
  2. Resolve comments and tracked changes.
  3. Remove headers, footers, page numbers, and print-only elements that are not web content.
  4. Run Review > Check Accessibility or the Accessibility Assistant available in your version.
  5. Correct headings, links, images, tables, and reading-order problems.
  6. Save the approved source before transferring content.

Do not paste and publish immediately

A page can look acceptable while containing hidden Word-specific styles and markup. Transfer the content, inspect its structure, clean it, and review the saved result before publication.

Convert an approved DOCX file to HTML

For documents that should become Expandable HTML, use the approved Word file as the source record and create a separate conversion copy. schoolboard.net currently recommends Claude as the first file-based DOCX conversion workflow; Gemini is an acceptable alternative when it is the district-approved or available tool.

AI conversion does not establish WCAG conformance. Compare the complete HTML with the approved Word file, review embedded visuals and complex layout separately, and test the saved agenda.

See Microsoft Word DOCX conversion with Claude for preparation steps, the recommended prompt, privacy cautions, and the required browser and Source-editor workflow.