Writing and presenting about math is easy and inclusive with Microsoft 365

Hi, Insiders! I’m Peter Wu, a Principal Software Engineer on the PowerPoint team. As the summer winds down and students and educators head back to school, I’d like to share tips for incorporating math in your documents, presentations, and other communications with Microsoft 365, and recent improvements that make writing and presenting about math easier and more accessible to everyone.

We’re so grateful to the international nonprofit DAISY Consortium for closely partnering with us on this initiative, providing actionable feedback on these features, and helping us to address issues that impeded the usage of our apps and tools by people with disabilities, in particular blind people and people with low vision.

Insert math from webpages and other apps with MathML

MathML is the standard for representing mathematical notation that many apps, websites, and assistive technologies support. Improved MathML support in Microsoft 365 allows you to insert math in your documents and presentations that renders beautifully and is easy to read and edit.

For example, many webpages use a popular library for displaying math called MathJax. MathML is included in the webpage for each math object, and you can copy the math into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for Windows or for Mac by following these steps:

1. Right-click on the math or tab to it, then press Shift + F10 (on Windows) or Control + Space (on Mac) on your keyboard to expand the context menu.
2. Select Copy to Clipboard > MathML Code.
3. Press Ctrl + V (on Windows) or Command + V (on Mac) to paste the object into your document, spreadsheet, or presentation.

Tips and tricks

• In Word, if you want the math to have a “display” layout where it is on a line by itself and uses larger symbols and more space, place the insertion point in the math, then click the dropdown arrow to the right, or press Alt + ↓ (on Windows) or Option + ↓ (on Mac), and select Change to Display.

• In Excel, math can only be inserted into text boxes, shapes, and SmartArt diagrams, so place the insertion point into one of those before you paste.
• You can also copy MathML from the web browser DevTools, Notepad (on Windows), or TextEdit (on Mac) and paste it into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint as math.
• When you copy MathML from some apps such as Visual Studio Code and paste it into Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, you’ll need to click the Paste dropdown on the Home ribbon and then click Keep Text Only to ensure it is pasted as math. In Word, pressing Ctrl + Shift + V (on Windows) or Command + Shift + V (on Mac) is another way to do this.

Insert math using Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot can answer your questions about math, and it uses MathML to format the math in its response! You can easily copy the response including the math into your documents and presentations by following these steps:

1. Navigate to https://microsoft365.com/.
2. Write a question about math, such as “What is the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs of length 3 and 4?”
3. Select a range of text that includes the math by dragging over it, or by pressing F7 to enter caret browsing, then Shift + → multiple times. Include some text before and after the math to ensure the math is fully included.
4. Press Ctrl + C (on Windows) or Command + C (on Mac) to copy the content.
5. Press Ctrl + V (on Windows) or Command + V (On Mac) to paste the content and math into a document, spreadsheet, or presentation.

Tips and tricks

• All major web browsers render MathML natively such as MathML in Action, and more webpages are using MathML now, including ones that use KaTeX to generate MathML.

• You can use the Microsoft 365 apps together with many other apps that support MathML to work with math more easily. For example, with xFormula for iOS, you can compose, import, and edit math in an on-screen keyboard within PowerPoint. You can then copy it as MathML and paste it into PowerPoint.

Type math faster with AutoCorrect

We have also worked closely with the DAISY Consortium and math experts to make it easier to type math in Microsoft 365. For example, to enter the “subset of” symbol (⊂), type “\subset” in an equation, then press the Space bar. To insert the “not a subset of” symbol (⊄), type “\notsubset,” then press Space. We recently added over a hundred codes for mathematical symbols so that more of the symbols that you use regularly are included.

Tips and tricks

• See the Quick start guide to Math AutoCorrect commands and symbols for the list of codes included.

Use LaTeX in PowerPoint and Excel

For over 40 years, mathematicians, scientists, researchers, and engineers have been publishing papers with math using LaTeX. Word for Windows, Word for Mac, and Outlook for Windows have supported typing math in LaTeX syntax for several years. Recently, we added LaTeX support in PowerPoint and Excel for Windows and for Mac as well. For people who are proficient in LaTeX, we hope this makes it easier and faster to enter math in Microsoft 365:

1. Go to the Insert ribbon tab and select Equation.
2. Click the LaTeX to Math button.
3. Type the LaTeX you want to insert, then click the LaTeX to Math button to convert it to math.
   
4. To review and edit the LaTeX, click the Math to LaTeX button again.

Tips and tricks

• Not all LaTeX control words are supported, including \begin{...} and \end{...}, and you can’t define your own macros within an equation.

Accessible math in Microsoft 365

When you use one of the techniques described above to insert math in Microsoft 365, it is not only easy to edit but also accessible to people who rely on screen readers to read the content. For example, to read a text box or shape containing math in PowerPoint for Windows using Narrator, the screen reader included with Windows, follow these steps:

1. Select the text box or shape.
2. Press CapsLock + B to move to the beginning of the text.
3. Press CapsLock + C to have Narrator read the text.

The math is spelled out in words using math speech to clearly convey the structure of the expression. Math speech works best with Narrator on Windows and VoiceOver on Mac.

Word takes the experience further by providing MathML to the screen reader so that it reads each part of the math as you step through it. With JAWS and NVDA with the MathCAT add-on, you can read math in Word for Windows part by part.

Also, when you Save or Export as PDF in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, math in the PDF is accessible since math speech is included in the <Formula> PDF/UA tag. Word includes MathML in PDF/UA as well for an enhanced experience.

And when you present using PowerPoint Live in Teams, math is accessible since math speech is included.

 

What will the next major scientific breakthrough be? No one knows, but we hope easier and more inclusive communication and collaboration with math will help it happen!

Availability

Pasting MathML from webpages and other apps and additional Math AutoCorrect codes are available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for Windows to Beta Channel users running Version 2508 (Build 19220.20000) or later. They are available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote for Mac to Beta Channel users running Version 16.100 (Build 25081948) or later.

LaTeX is generally available in Word and Outlook for Windows and Word for Mac, and available in Excel and PowerPoint for Windows to Beta Channel users running Version 2508 (Build 19106.20000) or later, and in Excel and PowerPoint for Mac to Beta Channel users running Version 16.100 (Build 25070600) or later.

Math speech is generally available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote for Windows and PowerPoint Live in Teams. It is available in Excel and PowerPoint for Mac to Current Channel (Preview) users running Version 16.99 (Build 25062900) or later.

MathML for screen readers is generally available in Word for Windows.

MathML in PDF is generally available in Word for Mac, for Android, for iOS, and for the web, and is available in Word for Windows for users running Version 2506 (Build 18925.20000) or later.

 

Don’t have it yet? It’s probably us, not you.

Features are released over some time to ensure things are working smoothly. We highlight features that you may not have because they’re slowly releasing to larger numbers of Insiders. Sometimes we remove elements to further improve them based on your feedback. Though this is rare, we also reserve the option to pull a feature entirely out of the product, even if you, as an Insider, have had the opportunity to try it.

Feedback

Please click Help > Feedback in the app you are using to submit your thoughts about these features. We’re excited to hear from you!

We’re thrilled by the feedback we’ve received from users about these math enhancements to Microsoft 365:

• From Sara Shunkwiler, disabled engineer, STEM educator, and Instructional Designer at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering: “The STEM pipeline can be a turbulent and lonely path for under-represented students, faculty, and working professionals, particularly those with disabilities. While mathematics is foundational to the engineering field, the focus of accessibility efforts is typically on the written word, overlooking the information conveyed in equations. Over the past few years, we have wrestled with the technical challenges of accessible equation creation, visual and spoken equation accuracy, and culture change among STEM faculty. Math accessibility continues to be a work in progress, but through a combination of cross-functional focus groups and faculty development, we are building a culture of inclusion and broadening equitable access to STEM fields. Our teams at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Central Florida, and The Ohio State University are excited to be able to work directly with Microsoft accessibility engineers who have taken our feedback to heart and made major updates to math accessibility in just a few short months.“
• From Ailee Dixon, Miss Maryland contestant and former nursing student (told by her college to leave higher education after losing her vision): “Making math accessible to screen reader users is incredibly important, as it gives students who are blind or visually impaired a chance to pursue higher education. People always say that we don't need to make STEM content accessible because there are no blind and low vision students in higher level math. Why? Because disabled students aren’t given the opportunity to pursue STEM careers. Making math accessible will have a lifelong impact by opening doors to many students with a variety of disabilities. That benefits everyone, not just the 29% of us with disabilities and 6% with vision disabilities.“

 

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