Accessibility features
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Any word on when Gamma will be fully accessible to those with disabilities?
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Merged in a post:
Need Accessiblty Options for the Gamma slides, images, tables, etc.
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Janet Hanson
I am a professor at a university and all our student and public facing content must be accessible to accessibility reader equipment. Is it possible to provide the option for including alt text with each image on the GAMMA slides? Also is there a way to ensure the headers on the slides are the appropriate levels for accessibility requirements? Finally, can GAMMA provide column headers and row descriptors in an accessible format for all tables in the presentations?
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Janet Hanson really appreciate the super clear accessibility breakdown here, and totally hear you on needing this for university and public-facing content. I’ll pass this to the team as a concrete request: per-image alt text, proper heading levels/structure for screen readers, and accessible table semantics (row/column headers).
Quick question so we can make sure we’re solving the right thing: what’s the main way you’re publishing/sharing Gamma content for compliance checks (presenting in-browser vs exporting to something like PDF/PowerPoint/HTML)?
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Merged in a post:
Accessibility Issues
Ana Marjanovic
I use Gamma frequently and find it to be a powerful tool for creating content. However, I run into challenges when trying to share these materials publicly because they are not consistently ADA compliant.
Accessibility checkers such as WAVE often flag issues, particularly missing alternative text and, at times, problems with reading structure. At present, I have not found a clear way to add alt text directly within Gamma.
When exporting to PDF, addressing these issues becomes time-intensive, as alt text and other accessibility elements must be added manually. This creates a barrier to efficient publishing.
Given that accessibility compliance is a legal requirement in the United States, and that responsibility ultimately falls on the content creator, having more built-in accessibility features within Gamma would significantly improve its usability for public-facing materials.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Merged in a post:
Great design should be for everyone! We need a VPAT and full WCAG compliance for accessibility
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Gary Huff
Gamma, please publish a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) and pursue full WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance certification so that public entities, like educational institutions, can continue to use your products after April 26, 2026 when new ADA laws take effect.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Also—just a heads up, we are making some progress. We just launched gamma.app/accessibility last week
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Totally hear you, Gary Huff. Accessibility docs like a VPAT and a clear WCAG 2.1 AA conformance story are table stakes for schools and other public orgs, especially with that April 2026 deadline. I’ll pass this to the team.
Quick couple questions so we capture what you need:
1) Are you specifically looking for a VPAT 2.4 (WCAG 2.1 AA), and do you need it to cover the web app only or also any exports (PDF/PPT) and embeds?
2) Is there a procurement deadline on your side where having a published VPAT is required to keep Gamma approved?
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Gary Huff
Nik Payne (Gamma design). Thanks you for the quick response, Nik. Yes, it's my understanding that we specifically need a VPAT 2.4 mapped to WCAG 2.1 AA, and the scope needs to cover all three areas you mentioned... the web app (published Gamma pages students access directly via URL), PDF and PPT exports (which faculty distribute through our LMS and email), and embeds (Gamma content embedded inside LMS course pages.
On the procurement timeline. there is an immediate and binding deadline for us. The DOJ's ADA Title II final rule takes effect April 24, 2026. Any tool without documented alignment becomes a liability at that point, and a VPAT is the standard artifact our IT accessibility reviewers and disability services office require to keep a tool approved for instructional use. Some colleges might welcome an interim or partial VPAT, but I haven't asked our IT Team about that yet.
I know this is a lot and I appreciate all of the steps Gamma is and hopefully will continue to take toward this. It's a great tool and I'd hate for faculty and students to lose access for instruction and learning.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Hi all! I've been working to build awareness about accessibility within the company and get some of this work onto our roadmap. I gave a presentation to the entire company this morning, and we just shipped a V1 of our accessibility statement on our website.
Hopefully more to come!
Sandy Kendell
Nik Payne (Gamma design) Thank you for this update! I appreciate the work you all are doing to make Gamma more accessible for all users and to make it WCAG 2.1 AA compliant for those those of us who work in the public sector in the U.S.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Hey Ana, thanks for the feedback. We're starting to think more seriously about this now.
Grab some time on my calendar if you want to share a bit more detail!
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Merged in a post:
Tagging PPTX or PDF Files for Accessibility
Kristin Bennett
I am an professor in higher education and use Gamma quite a bit to create presentations for my lectures. They are designed beautifully, but they download in a format that is not tagged which creates issues around accessibility. It would be create if Gamma had the functionality to have exported files tagged for PDFs. Or at the least for PowerPoint to have the export in .PPTX files match the appropriate heading levels when you open in PowerPoint vs. everything exporting as a textbox.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Kristin Bennett really appreciate you calling this out, and the accessibility context helps a ton. I’ll pass this along to the team. Quick couple questions so we understand the target: 1) Are you mainly blocked on PDF export being properly tagged (reading order, headings, alt text), PPTX structure (real title/body placeholders + heading levels), or both? 2) When you open the PPTX in PowerPoint, which elements are most painful to fix manually right now (slide titles, section headers, lists, images/alt text)?
Kristin Bennett
Nik Payne (Gamma design) Hi Nik! Thank you for the reply. To answer the first question, it is both. The easiest workaround at this time (though it is an extra step) is to download as a PDF and then go into Adobe and have Adobe do the tagging which is not always accurate. When I download a PPTX file, I cannot really use it because the LMS system will flag it for accessibility issues due to the structure. To fix the PPTX file, I would essentially have to re-create the presentation. As for the PPTX file, it is most painful to fix the slide titles and body content, especially if I have bullet points. I have to basically re-create the entire structure. The alt text and true textboxes are a secondary pain point I would say.
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