This article is for people who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.
Use Outlook with your keyboard and a screen reader to create and edit a table in your email messages. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Convert text to a table
If you have a block of text that uses consistent separators, it is easy to convert it to a table.
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Select the piece of text you want to convert to a table.
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To open the Convert Text to Table dialog box, press Alt+N, T, V.
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Do one of the following:
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If your text uses paragraphs as separators, press Alt+P.
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If your text uses commas as separators, press Alt+M.
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If your text uses tabs as separators, press Alt+T.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter. The table is created and the focus returns to the message with the table selected.
Convert a table to text
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Place the cursor somewhere in the table you want to convert to text.
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Press Alt+J, L to open the Layout tab of the Table Tools.
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Press V to open the Convert Table to Text dialog box, and then do one of the following:
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If you want the text to use paragraphs as separators, press P.
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If you want the text to use commas as separators, press M.
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If you want the text to use tabs as separators, press T.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter. The focus returns to the message with the text selected.
Insert a table
You can specify the dimensions of a table, such as the number of columns and rows, and their height and width. Outlook inserts a basic grid-type table for your use.
: To make a table as accessible as possible, it's important to give the table a header row.
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While writing a message, place the cursor where you want to insert the new table.
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To open the Insert Table dialog box, press Alt+N, T, I.
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Type the number of columns you want.
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Press the Tab key, and then type the number of rows you want.
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If you want to use these dimensions again in the future, press Alt+S to select the Remember dimensions for new tables option.
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To close the Insert Table dialog box, press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter. Outlook adds the table to your message and the focus moves to the first column of the first row.
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To check that your table has a header row, press Alt+J, T to open the Design tab of the Table Tools.
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Press the Tab key until you hear: "Checked, Header row checkbox." With JAWS and NVDA, you hear: "Table style options group box, header row checkbox, checked." If you hear "Unchecked," press Spacebar to toggle the header row on, otherwise press the Esc key to return the focus to the table.
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Use the arrow keys to move around the table, and type your information in the cells.
Use built-in table styles
After creating a table, you can quickly modify its appearance using the built-in styles in Outlook.
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Place the cursor anywhere in the table.
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Press Alt+J, T to open the Design tab of the Table Tools.
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Press S to open the Table Styles menu.
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Use arrow keys to move through the list of styles until you find the one you want, for example, "Grid table 1, light."
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To select the style you want, press Enter. The selected style is applied to your table and the focus returns to the table.
Delete a table
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While writing a message, place the cursor anywhere in the table you want to delete.
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Press Alt+J, L to open the Layout tab of the Table Tools.
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To delete the entire table, press D, T. The table is deleted, and the focus returns to the message.
Set table properties
Use the Table Properties dialog box to give your table a title and a description to make it more accessible, or to modify table alignment.
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While writing a message, place the cursor anywhere in the table you want to edit.
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To open the Table Properties dialog box, press Alt+J, L, O.
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To set the alignment of the table in relation to the body text of the message, do one of the following:
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To align the table with the left edge of the text, press Alt+L.
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To align the table with the center of the text, press Alt+C.
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To align the table with the right edge of the text, press Alt+H.
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To choose how body text wraps around the table, do one of the following:
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To make the text wrap around the sides of the table, press Alt+A.
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To make the table separate from text, press Alt+N.
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To give the table a title and a description, press Alt+T, and then press the Right arrow key until you hear: "Selected, Alt Text tab item." With JAWS, you hear: "Alt text tab" and with NVDA you hear: "Alt Text tab item, selected."
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Press the Tab key and type the table title, and then press the Tab key and type the description.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "OK button," and then press Enter. The focus returns to the message.
Add columns or rows to a table
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While writing a message, place the cursor at the point in the table where you want to add a column or a row.
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Press Alt+J, L to open the Layout tab of the Table Tools.
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Do one of the following:
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To add a row above the selected point, press A.
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To add a row below the selected point, press B, E.
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To add a column left of the selected point, press L.
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To add a column right of the selected point, press R.
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The menu closes, and the focus returns to the table.
See also
Use a screen reader to format text in your email in Outlook
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in an email in Outlook
Use a screen reader to set up your email account in Outlook
Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook
Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use Outlook on the web with your keyboard and a screen reader to create a table when composing a message with Mail. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques.
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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This topic assumes that the Reading pane is off.
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When you use Outlook on the web, we recommend that you use Microsoft Edge as your web browser. Because Outlook on the web runs in your web browser, the keyboard shortcuts are different from those in the desktop program. For example, you’ll use Ctrl+F6 instead of F6 for jumping in and out of the commands. Also, common shortcuts like F1 (Help) and Ctrl+O (Open) apply to the web browser – not Outlook on the web.
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We're currently updating Outlook.office.com (Outlook on the Web). Some people are already using the new Outlook, and for others the classic version will be the default experience until we complete the update. For more information, go to Get help with the new Outlook on the web. Since the instructions in this topic apply to the new experience, we recommend that you switch from the classic experience to the new Outlook. To switch to the new Outlook, press Ctrl+F6 until you hear "Command, Try the new Outlook," and then press Enter. If you hear "Command toolbar" instead of "Command, Try the new Outlook," you're already using the new Outlook.
Insert a table
When you insert a table in your message, you can specify the number of columns and rows. Outlook on the web inserts a basic grid-type table for your use.
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While composing a message, place the cursor where you want to insert the new table.
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Press the Tab key once. You hear: "Formatting options, Format painter." Then press the Right arrow key until you hear "Insert table," and press Enter. The table size selection dialog box opens.
: If pressing Enter does not open the dialog box, press the SR key+Spacebar to turn scan mode off, and try again.
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To select the number of columns in the table, use the Right and Left arrow keys. Your screen reader announces the currently selected columns and rows, for example, "3 by 1 table."
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To select the number of rows in the table, use the Down and Up arrow keys. Your screen reader announces the currently selected columns and rows, for example, "3 by 3 table."
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When done, to insert the table, press Enter. The dialog box closes and the focus moves to first cell of the table in the email message body.
See also
Use a screen reader to insert a table in Outlook for Mac
Use a screen reader to format text in your email in Outlook
Use a screen reader to insert a picture or image in an email in Outlook
Use a screen reader to set up your email account in Outlook
Basic tasks using a screen reader with email in Outlook
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
