PowerPoint Gets Smarter Contrast Checks for Transparent Backgrounds in Windows & Mac

Microsoft is rolling out a fresh update to PowerPoint for Windows that makes Accessibility Assistant smarter at spotting color contrast issues, especially when text appears over transparent backgrounds. The company says that this makes contrast checks reflect what users actually see, even on slides with layered visuals, gradients, or images.

Prior to this update, PowerPoint only checked contrast on solid backgrounds, which sometimes missed real-world visibility problems. Now, text on images, gradients, or other slide content will be evaluated correctly, helping creators ensure presentations are readable for people with low vision or color-vision deficiencies.

To try it, open any PowerPoint file, go to Review, select Check Accessibility, and choose Hard-to-read text contrast. Then, the tool will now flag text over transparent areas that might not meet accessibility standards.

This feature is available for Microsoft 365 subscribers running Windows Version 2603 (Build 19822.20114) or later, and Mac Version 16.108 (Build 26032513) or later. Like many preview features, Microsoft is gradually rolling out this one as well.

All that said, there are a few limitations. Microsoft says that contrast checks for transparent backgrounds do not yet apply to text in tables without a solid fill, nor to text in native chart elements like legends or data callouts.

Let’s not forget that you can now generate richer Alt Text in PowerPoint on Mac and use powerful new image editing tools. Moreover, Microsoft has also rolled out faster file search in the PowerPoint web app.