The Esri software development teams have been hard at work on creating accessibility features and functionality across Esri Products in 2026. Below is a comprehensive list of accessibility features and improvements identified across the 2026 release plans. These span multiple ArcGIS products that were released in the first half of 2026.
Reading Order for Accessible PDFs
ArcGIS Pro 3.7 allows you to set the reading order to support accessibility during the creation of PDFs. When exporting a tagged PDF, you will see a Reading Order panel. Here you can manually reorder how screen readers traverse layout elements such as titles, text blocks, map frames, tables and more. Previously, reading order strictly followed drawing order, which often caused confusion for those navigating by screen readers. With Reading Order, you can create a logical narrative flow, improving the overall accessibility within a PDF.
Export to PDF | ArcGIS Pro documentation
The Upgrade Attachments geoprocessing tool has an option to add two or six editable metadata fields to the existing ATTACH table. New attachments support metadata added to the EXIFINFO column, which offers optional alternative text fields if needed.
Additionally, both MapFrame and PictureElement classes now have an alt text property.
As part of the ArcGIS Pro 3.7 release, the ArcGIS Topographic Mapping extension has received several new accessibility improvements. This includes enhancements to screen reader narration and keyboard accessibility for multiple panes and layout elements.
New font options in Map Viewer
Map Viewer now includes language-specific fonts and hyper-legible fonts to support complex scripts, accessibility needs, and organizational branding. Configure labels—ArcGIS Online Help | Documentation
Significant Accessibility Improvements & New Accessible Templates
Significant accessibility improvements have been made to Experience Builder to provide a more inclusive and user-friendly experience. The Timeline and Comparatist templates were optimized for accessibility.
ARIA Landmark role support
With this release, Experience Builder allows authors to assign Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) landmark roles to key app elements and widgets. This helps screen reader users quickly understand page structure and navigate between regions.
Multilingual Support for Accessibility
Experience Builder introduces new capabilities to support accessibility, including multilingual support, smarter drawing tools, and deeper data integration for building more inclusive and impactful web apps. The new Language Switcher widget serves diverse audiences by allowing users to interact with the app in their preferred language. Language Switcher widget—ArcGIS Experience Builder | Documentation
The ArcGIS Instant Apps template Atlas delivers a more accessible, intuitive experience for both app authors and viewers. Recent enhancements elevate the authoring experience, improve usability for end users, and help organizations meet accessibility compliance standards.
Consistency and Accessibility as a Priority
ArcGIS Dashboards believes in preserving users' existing dashboards, while ensuring workflows run smoothly. With more consistent system messaging and interaction patterns, ArcGIS Dashboards continues to improve support for assistive technologies.
Improved indicator text scaling
Indicator text scaling ensures consistent, easy-to-read indicators across any device. This results in dashboards that stay visually aligned, readable, and easy to scan as values update.
Bidirectional Language Support
ArcGIS Dashboards now supports bidirectional layouts. Authors can configure left-to-right, right-to-left, or opt for device-inherited layout direction, ensuring dashboards align with user expectations across different languages and regions.
Survey123 Mobile brings improved accessibility support with a redesigned workflow and enhanced login experience for public users. Plus, the Translation Assistant can translate surveys into multiple languages.
What's new in ArcGIS Data - released June 2026
GeoEnrichment Report Templates improved for better accessibility
The classic Esri report style has been replaced with a newer and more modern template that observes WCAG 2.1 AA criteria. This update impacts products that utilize the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment service to generate demographic reports.
