Build and verify a household budget with a screen reader
At a glance
Microsoft's Excel tutorial uses Copilot Plan mode to create a budget workbook that can be checked by keyboard. This workflow is listed under Money & Bills, Accessibility, Spreadsheets.
- Agents / tools
- Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Excel, Narrator
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What they did
1) Use Excel with eligible Copilot access and a screen reader. Save a blank .xlsx workbook to OneDrive, use Automatic calculation, and enable content-analyzing connected experiences in Account Privacy. Use Current Channel or Monthly Enterprise Channel. 2) Press Alt+C, then Enter to open Copilot; use the mode selector to choose Plan. Request household income and expense sections, monthly columns and totals, category dropdowns, a surplus summary, currency formatting, overspending highlights, and an income-versus-expenses chart. 3) Read the proposed plan with the screen reader. Correct omissions before activating Proceed. 4) Return to the grid with F6. Use Control+Home and arrow keys to inspect the summary, F2 to read totals formulas, and category cells to confirm dropdowns. Select chart objects through Go To Special > Objects. 5) Ask Copilot to correct specific errors and inspect those cells again before using the workbook.
Worth knowing
Visual change highlighting is not fully announced by screen readers. Ask Copilot to list modified sheets and ranges, then verify them in the grid.
