Insert Accessible Tables and Charts in Canvas

Introduction

Tables are a great way to present data, and just a little extra care when creating tables will help your course accessibility. Luckily for faculty, the Canvas table tool creates tables that are accessible and look good visually.

Be sure to keep in mind best practices regarding tables both on Canvas and elsewhere:

• Only use tables for presenting data (both numerical and categorical); avoid using tables for visual layout purposes.
• Be sure to identify headers when applicable.
• Keep tables as simple as possible and try to avoid merged cells and headers if possible.

Step by Step Instructions

Inserting Accessible Tables:

1. Open the Editor’s Menubar in the Rich Content Editor.
2. Select Insert.
3. Hover over Table and select your desired dimensions.
4. Select any of the table cells.
   1. In the menu, select Table>Table Properties.
   2. Check the caption box and select OK.
   3. Type an appropriate caption in the caption field.
5. Select the header cells.
   1. In the menu, select Table>Table Properties.
   2. In the Cell Type box, select Header cell.
   3. Select the scope.
   4. Select OK.
   5. Repeat for row-headers.

Inserting Graphs and Charts:

All graphs and charts need to be created in a separate document and then linked or embedded in Canvas. Reference the guides for Creating Accessible Charts and Graphs in Microsoft Office and the Google Suite. When you have accessible charts and graphs, use the steps below to insert them into Canvas.

From Google Docs:

1. Copy the link or URL to a document or spreadsheet with your chart or graph
2. Open the Editor’s Menubar (PC: Alt+F9; Mac: fn+option +F9) in the Rich Content Editor
3. Click Insert
4. Click Link and select External Link
5. Paste the URL from Step 1
6. Rename the text to a more accessible indicator
   1. e.g: the title of the graph or chart, “Link to Chart/Graph”

From Microsoft Office:

1. Open the Editor’s Menubar (PC: Alt+F9; Mac: fn+option +F9) in the Rich Content Editor
2. Click Insert
3. Click Document and select your desired document
4. Click Insert
   1. Click the link and open Link Options to change the link name