Make talking books within Word: Save as DAISY for Office 2010

Broader access to content is important in today's information-rich world. Microsoft Word is a critical tool for content creation. We're happy to announce that a free accessibility add-in for Microsoft Word is now available. Save as Daisy for Office 2010 makes working with Microsoft Word easier for people with print disabilities, and so helps them better meet their information needs.

Save as Daisy builds upon our partnership with the DAISY Consortium; it lets users of Microsoft Word 2003-2010 users convert Word Open XML files to the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) format. That format turns Word Open XML documents into accessible multimedia formats for people unable to read print. Some of these formats include synchronized text and MP3 audio that can be played directly within Windows 7 or DAISY XML, which works with compatible software readers and talking book/braille reading devices. The program supports most of Word features including table of contents, hierarchical structure, page numbers, tables and images.

People around the world are already using Save as DAISY to create digital talking books for business and personal needs. For instance, in Japan parents of blind children are creating talking books for their children's school needs. Aya Makino, a Japanese mother said, "Since the DAISY Translator makes it possible to create Daisy books without learning technical skills, it's convenient for creating a child's daily homework.  We urge parents of children with reading challenges to say 'Just save it as a DAISY book!'" Aya Makino is also the representative of Chofu DAISY, a Japanese group dedicated to DAISY book production and dissemination.

Save as DAISY was available for Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. We released a beta version of it last spring and received lots of helpful feedback from people in the accessibility community. Based on their feedback, we made significant improvements to it, including:

• System modified for easy translation into additional languages--the first planned language is Japanese
• Installation package now includes dependent programs
• Improvements to table of contents handling 

 This version supports Office 2003, 2007 and 2010, and works in all the languages Office currently supports around the world.

Learn More and Download

Find how-to info here: Using the Save as DAISY add-in for Word

To download it, go to the Microsoft Accessibility site.

Let us know how the new features that Save as Daisy adds to Microsoft Word 2010 help you work with Word docs and other file formats used by compatible software readers and talking book/braille reading devices. We'd love to hear your feedback.