Google Drive: Use and Troubleshoot GrackleDocs Accessibility Checker

GrackleDocs is an approved extension for checking the accessibility of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. You can use it to flag accessibility concerns and find options for fixing any flagged issues.

In this article:

Launching GrackleDocs

  1. Open a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file
  2. From the main menu, select Extensions
  3. Select Grackle Docs, Grackle Sheets, or Grackle Slides
  4. Select Launch
    • This will run the automatic accessibility checker on your file

Understanding Errors

Error marks will flag content for accessibility issues.

  • Green check = Passed
  • Green check with exclamation = Passed with warning 
  • Red X = Failed

Select the sections that are flagged by GrackleDocs to address accessibility issues. Once you've addressed flagged issues, select Re-Check to ensure any fixes implemented meet accessibility standards.

Note: GrackleDocs is an automatic accessibility checker, which means that it can't find all accessibility errors. Additional manual testing may be needed. 

Do Not Use Artifact Marking

Under Images, an error can show that suggests you Artifact All images and drawings or select Mark as Artifact within the Tag Image or Graphics menu.

Images and drawings do not need to be marked as artifacts. Artifact markings are only used in PDFs to designate decorative images in the tag order, and while Grackle Docs presents you with the option to Export to PDF, we do not recommend exporting your Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets to PDF format.

By exporting content from Google into PDF format, you are responsible for ensuring it is accessible. The University is exploring options for PDF accessibility remediation tools but does not provide one at this time.

Troubleshooting

Refreshing the Grackle add-on

  1. Open the Google document and verify that Launch and About are missing.
  2. Try reauthorizing the Grackle add-on by following How to Revoke Access for a Google Add-on (PDF).
  3. In the Extensions menu, select Add-ons then choose Manage add-ons.
  4. In the top-right corner of the Grackle Slide add-on, find the three dot menu.
  5. Select the "3 dots" menu , and you will receive a dropdown menu containing Uninstall, Use in this document, Help, and Report and issue. From this menu, choose Use in this document.
    1. If Use in this document is already selected, de-select the option.
    2. Close the browser completely. Then, reopen the Google document to see if Grackle options now show up. If not, select the Use in this document option again.
  6. Check the Grackle menu again to see if Launch and About are available.
  7. If not, close and reload the document, then try again.

Moving files in a Google Shared Drive

If your files are in a Google Shared Drive and the steps above do not fix the issue, a Manager of your shared drive can try these steps.

  1. Use the Move function to move a problematic file from the Google Shared Drive into the Manager's My Drive.
  2. From the Manager's My Drive, complete the steps in Refreshing the Grackle add-on above to try to turn Grackle on for the document.
  3. Once Grackle is working, use the Move function to move the file back into the shared drive.
  4. Check if Grackle continues to work after the file is back in the shared drive.

Additional resources

Last modified

TDX ID

7860