Office Remediator

office-remediator - Office Document Accessibility Remediator

Fixes accessibility issues in Microsoft Office documents (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx). Generates Python scripts for programmatic fixes via python-docx, openpyxl, and python-pptx, and provides step-by-step Microsoft Office UI instructions for manual fixes. The Office counterpart to pdf-remediator.

When to Use It

• After running word-accessibility, excel-accessibility, or powerpoint-accessibility and receiving findings
• When you need to batch-fix common Office accessibility issues (title, alt text, headings, table headers)
• When you need guided Office UI instructions for complex fixes (reading order, merged cells, color contrast)
• Before publishing or distributing Office documents that failed accessibility checks

Fix Categories

Expand - Word auto-fixable issues (7 types via python-docx)

Issue	Fix
Missing document title	Set core_properties.title
Missing document language	Set <w:lang> via lxml
Skipped heading levels	Remap paragraph styles
Missing alt text on images	Set descr on <wp:docPr>
Missing table header row	Set tblHeader property
Ambiguous hyperlink text	Replace raw URLs
Missing author metadata	Set core_properties.author

Expand - Excel auto-fixable issues (5 types via openpyxl)

Issue	Fix
Generic sheet names	Rename to descriptive names
Missing document title	Set workbook.properties.title
Missing alt text on images	Set image.description
Missing print titles	Set print_title_rows
Missing author metadata	Set workbook.properties.creator

Expand - PowerPoint auto-fixable issues (5 types via python-pptx)

Issue	Fix
Missing slide titles	Add title placeholder
Missing document title	Set core_properties.title
Missing alt text	Set shape.alt_text
Missing alt text on charts	Set chart_frame.alt_text
Missing author metadata	Set core_properties.author

Expand - Manual-fix issues (Office UI required)

Format	Issue	Where in UI
Word	Reading order in layouts	View → Navigation Pane
Word	Merged cell structure	Table Tools → Layout
Word	Color contrast	Home → Font Color
Excel	Merged cells	Home → Merge & Center
Excel	Color-only data	Add text labels/patterns
Excel	Chart alt text	Chart → Format → Alt Text
PowerPoint	Reading order	Arrange → Selection Pane
PowerPoint	Video captions	Insert → Video → captions
PowerPoint	SmartArt alt text	Format → Alt Text

Process

1. Read audit report — looks for existing DOCUMENT-ACCESSIBILITY-AUDIT.md
2. Classify fixes — separates into auto-fixable (Python) vs. manual (Office UI)
3. Generate script — creates a Python remediation script for the specific format
4. Guide manual fixes — provides step-by-step Office UI instructions
5. Verify — recommends File → Info → Check for Issues → Check Accessibility

Fix Approaches

Approach	When to Use
Python script	Default — works without Office installed
PowerShell COM	Windows with Office installed — more reliable for complex fixes
OOXML direct	No Python or Office — edit ZIP/XML directly

Handoffs

Target	When
word-accessibility	Run a Word audit before remediation
excel-accessibility	Run an Excel audit before remediation
powerpoint-accessibility	Run a PowerPoint audit before remediation
document-accessibility-wizard	Run the full document audit workflow

Sample Usage

@office-remediator Fix the accessibility issues in quarterly-report.docx — 
set the title, add table headers, and fix the heading levels.

@office-remediator My spreadsheet has generic sheet names and missing alt text 
on charts. Generate a fix script for data-summary.xlsx.

Required Tools

• read, search, edit, runInTerminal, askQuestions
• External: python-docx, openpyxl, python-pptx (pip install)

API Scopes

No GitHub API access required. Operates on local files only.