Microsoft Office is one of the most used pieces of software on the planet. It stands to reason then that some of the people using it may be blind or vision impaired. While there are screen reading tools available to make their lives easier, Microsoft is now making them easier to obtain.

Microsoft announced today that it has partnered with GW Micro to offer its Window-Eyes screen reading software for free to customers who are either blind or vision impaired. The offer is open to customers who have purchased and installed either Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2013. Those who have Office 2013 through Office 365 are also included.

Microsoft says that this latest partnership helps to make its products even more accessible to more people:

At Microsoft we are committed to provide everyone access to our technology. A fundamental consideration during product design, development and testing of Office is the level of accessibility of our applications. The Office team works closely with a variety of groups to improve the accessibility of our software including standards bodies, regulators, advocacy groups and an ecosystem of assistive technology (AT) vendors including the Narrator team in Microsoft. Our goal of this work is to provide our customers with solutions that give them choice, meets a variety of accessibility needs and is delivered at an affordable price.

By partnering with GW Micro we are able to improve access to the Office suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and Outlook. Whether people want to use Office at home, school or work they now have more flexibility and an improved opportunity to take advantage of our latest software innovations.

If you want to learn more about Window-Eyes or access the free download, hit up the official Web site.

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