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Using monday.com boards with screen readers

Overview

Boards are one of the most powerful and complex parts of monday.com, and they behave differently from traditional data tables. This guide explains how to navigate and read monday.com boards using a screen reader. It includes:

  • How boards are semantically structured for screen readers
  • How to navigate boards effectively today
  • Which column types are operable for screen reader reading
  • Current accessibility limitations

 

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Introduction to the monday.com board

Although boards may visually resemble tables, treating them as tables results in an inconsistent and confusing experience for screen reader users. monday.com boards are complex and dynamic. 

To provide a more consistent and predictable screen reader experience, boards are presented using a list-based structure instead of table semantics, designed to preserve context for:

  • Groups and subitems
  • Dynamic columns
  • Inline controls and menus
  • Large and complex boards

 

How boards are structured

Boards are organized using headings, sections, and lists rather than rows and columns. This structure gives screen reader users multiple fast ways to navigate and always provides context about where they are.

The Board Hierarchy

In practical terms, the board hierarchy is as follows:

  • The board name is a heading (level 1). This is the top-level landmark for the entire board.
  • Groups are heading level 2 elements. Each group is also wrapped in a container with role="group" that is labeled by its heading, so screen readers announce the group name when entering it.
  • Column headers appear as a list within each group. The list’s accessible name is “<group name> properties” (for example, “Group 1 properties”). Each list item contains the column name as a button, along with sort and options buttons for that column.
  • Items within a group are each represented as a list. The list’s accessible name is the item name (for example, “Item 2”). The item name is also a heading (level 3).
  • Properties (cells) within an item are list items. Each list item’s accessible name combines the property name and its value (for example, “Date: 17 March 2026”). Interactive properties contain buttons, form elements, or links that can be reached using standard screen reader shortcuts.
  • The summary row at the bottom of each group is a list with the accessible name “<group name> summary” (for example, “Group 1 summary”).

Subitems, when expanded, appear nested inside their parent item. Subitem names are headings (level 4). Subitems have their own column headers list, since subitem columns may differ from parent columns.

Heading Hierarchy

The heading levels map directly to the board’s information hierarchy. The following table outlines the heading hierarchy:

Level What It Represents Shortcut Key
H1 Board name Press 1
H2 Group name and item count Press 2
H3 Item name Press 3
H4 Subitem name Press 4

List Naming Convention

Every list on the board has an accessible name, so screen reader users always know what they are navigating:

List Accessible Name (Example)
Column headers list “Group 1 properties”
Item list “Item 2” (the item’s own name)
Summary row list “Group 1 summary”
Subitem column headers list “Item 3 subitem properties”
Subitem list “Fix bug” (the subitem’s own name)

To ensure screen reader users always have context, each property (cell) within an item list is announced with both the property name and the value. Interactive properties contain buttons, form elements, or links that can be reached directly.

Recommended navigation approach

Boards are optimized for:

  • Heading navigation. Moving between groups, items, and subitems.
  • List and list-item navigation. Moving within items and cells, and accessing column header actions.

Some screen readers offer multiple navigation modes (for example, DOM order vs. grouped navigation). Using list-based and heading-based navigation is essential for boards to function as intended.

Navigation Summary

To use boards effectively, screen reader users should rely on the following navigation methods:

Key What It Does
H and Shift+H Jump through all headings: board name, group names, item names, subitem names
1 and Shift+1 Jump to the board heading
2 and Shift+2 Jump between group headings
3 and Shift+3 Jump between item headings
4 and Shift+4 Jump between subitem headings
L and Shift+L Jump between lists: property lists, item lists, summary lists
I and Shift+I Jump between list items (properties and their values)
B and Shift+B Jump between buttons within properties
F and Shift+F Jump between form elements within properties (when present)
K and Shift+K Jump between links within properties (when present)
Tab and Shift+Tab Move between interactive controls in sequence

Heading Navigation

Heading navigation is used to move between groups, items, subitems, and major sections of the board. Pressing H moves to the next heading at any level. Pressing a number key (3, 4, or 5) moves to the next heading at that specific level, letting you skip directly to the next group, item, or subitem.

List Navigation

List navigation is used to enter an item, move between cells within that item, explore column header actions, and navigate subitems. 

This approach relies on standard screen reader navigation commands and does not require custom commands, but it may differ from how traditional tables are navigated. We are currently optimizing experiences on JAWS and NVDA with releases currently in progress. 

Navigation methods that rely on moving by table rows or columns will not work reliably - boards are not optimized for table navigation commands. 

 

What screen reader users can do today

With the navigation approach described above, screen reader users can:

  • Navigate between groups, items, and subitems using headings
  • Read property names and values with full context on every list item
  • Understand when properties are empty. The content on an empty property will be a static “no content” text.
  • Access column header actions (sort, column options) through the column actions list
  • Expand and collapse groups and subitems
  • Browse boards without unexpected loss of context

Current accessibility support focuses on reading and understanding board content. Some actions and editing capabilities are still being expanded.

 

Supported columns for screen reader reading

Below is a list of columns supporting reading. When navigating the columns in this list, screen readers announce the item name, the column name, and the current value (or an empty value if the cell is empty).

Columns supported for reading:

  • Name
  • Status
  • Text
  • Numbers
  • Date
  • Timeline
  • People
  • Dropdown
  • Formula
  • Label / Color
  • Board Relation (Mirror)
  • Long Text
  • Link
  • Checkbox
  • Email
  • Phone
  • Button
  • Rating
  • Vote
Note: Support for these columns currently focuses on reading and understanding values. Editing values, triggering actions, or configuring columns may be limited or unavailable at this stage.

 

Current limitations

We want to be transparent about what is still limited or not yet supported.

Cell Interactivity

Not all cells are currently presented as interactive buttons. Some cells can be read but not yet activated or edited using a screen reader. The monday.com team is actively working to make all cell types interactive so that screen reader users can activate and edit values directly. This is being rolled out progressively across column types.

Large Boards and Virtualization

Boards use virtualized rendering, which means the page only renders the elements currently visible on screen. On very large boards, this can occasionally cause the screen reader’s reading position to shift unexpectedly when scrolling. The monday.com team is actively working to resolve this behavior. 

In the meantime, we recommend working with smaller boards (fewer groups and items) for the most reliable screen reader experience. Splitting a large board into multiple smaller boards can help avoid this issue

Editing and actions

At this stage:

  • Changing column values is limited
  • Some action confirmations are not announced 
  • Column settings and right-click actions are not supported 

Keyboard-only usage

  • Keyboard-only navigation is partially supported
  • Full keyboard parity without a screen reader is still in progress

Screen reader differences

  • Behavior may vary between screen readers such as NVDA, JAWS, and VoiceOver
  • Large or complex boards may behave differently
     

 

Get help or share feedback

If you encounter accessibility barriers while using boards and would like to share feedback, you can contact monday.com support. Please include: 

  • information on your screen reader
  • your browser 
  • and what you were trying to do

Your feedback helps us continue improving accessibility across monday.com.

We recognize that boards are central to many workflows, and we want to provide the scaffolding everyone needs to be successful on monday.com. Accessibility improvements are ongoing, and this guidance will continue to evolve as support expands.

 

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