Microsoft Offers “Save as DAISY XML” Add-in for Office Word

The "Save as DAISY XML" add-in is a solution designed to integrate with various versions of the Office Word application in order to enable users with vision disabilities to access content in the most common assistive technology format in the world. Put together by Microsoft, Sonata Software and the Digital Accessible Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium, the "Save as DAISY XML" add-in can be used with Office Word 2007, Word 2003 and Word XP in order to save Open XML-based text files into DAISY XML.

"This new ‘Save as DAISY XML’ functionality for Microsoft Word has the potential to break down barriers for millions of visually impaired individuals around the world and enhance the experience for virtually anyone who loves to read," said Chris Capossela, senior vice president of the Information Worker Product Management Group at Microsoft. The add-in is offered as a free download and will bridge the gap between Microsoft's Open XML documents and DAISY XML files.

"We are proud of our collaboration with the DAISY Consortium and Sonata Software to deliver valuable benefits for people with a visual impairment. This tool will make it easier for anyone - from a child writing to his or her grandparent, to a government agency providing vital information to its citizens - to create accessible content," Capossela added.

Furthermore, accompanying the "Save as DAISY XML" add-in for Office Word to the market, is the DAISY Pipeline. Also set up as a free solution, the DAISY Pipeline transformation suite will permit users to convert DAISY XML into the DAISY Digital Talking Book (DTB) format.

"Microsoft’s initiative to put ‘Save as DAISY XML’ in Microsoft Word is the first step to bring fully accessible content to people who are blind or who have a print disability. We know that much of the information in documents today is created with Microsoft Word; this new add-in provides an unprecedented leap forward in the worldwide effort to make information available to all," commented George Kerscher, secretary general of the DAISY Consortium.

"Save as DAISY XML" add-in for Office Word can be downloaded from here.
Daisy Pipeline is available for download here.

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