How to Track Accessibility Issues with Google Sheets (or Excel)

Tracking accessibility issues in a spreadsheet is a free and simple way to track progress towards accessibility and compliance.

Here’s how to set up and manage your accessibility tracking spreadsheet effectively.

Setting Up Your Tracking Spreadsheet

Your accessibility audit report will likely be delivered in Excel spreadsheet format or you can also receive it directly in Google Sheets.

If this is the case, you’ll just need to adapt the audit report to include your tracking preferences.

We’ll continue on as if you’re starting new or copying and pasting the issues over to a new spreadsheet.

Core Columns to Include

Your spreadsheet needs will need a few columns for effective issue tracking. The following columns will capture the key data, but you may want to add more.

• WCAG: The specific success criterion (1.1.1, 2.1.2, etc.)
• URL: Page location of the issue
• Issue: Description of the accessibility problem
• Level: Conformance level (A, AA, or AAA)
• Role: Team member type responsible
• Status: Current progress state
• Screenshot/Recording: Link to visual documentation of the issue
• Notes: Implementation details or questions

This structure matches what most audit reports provide while adding the tracking elements you need for project management.

Other columns you may want to add:

• Date(s): Fix date, Last updated, etc.
• Last Progress: What the last progress made was
• Feedback: Validation comments on unresolved issues
• Priority: Custom high/medium/low designation for issue urgency
• Assigned To: Specific person’s name rather than just role type

Everything is mostly self explanatory, but what you’ll find is absolutely crucial is keeping information current.

Get Kris Rivenburgh, Founder Accessible.org’s stories in your inbox

Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.

Remember me for faster sign in

If someone forgets to update the spreadsheet, it can quickly lead to uncertainty, confusion, or re-work. If multiple updates go undocumented, this can cause the project to get sidetracked just trying to figure out where it stands.

Creating Status Indicators

A simple Google Sheet gives you the line by line issues you need for tracking.

You can also add in different status indicators to show where each issue. For example, in the spreadsheet template example above, the status column provides the ability to switch statuses from:

• Not Started
• 25% Progress
• 50% Progress
• 75% Progress
• Completed

Some teams add “Validated” as a final status after auditor review. Others prefer simpler options like “In Progress” and “Done.” Choose what works for your workflow.

Here’s a Google Sheet tracking template I created for ADA Title II web compliance, but can be used for tracking any project (this includes the status labels).

Note: the template is populated with a placeholder WCAG checklist rather than an audit report. You’ll need the audit report.

Advanced Tracking

Google Sheets has a number of advanced functions that can improve tracking for your project. Here’s a quick list:

• Conditional Formatting — Color-code issues by status (green for completed, red for not started) and highlight overdue items to quickly identify problems needing attention.
• QUERY Function — Create dynamic filtered views that automatically update, like showing only incomplete issues or displaying high-priority items assigned to specific team members.
• Pivot Tables — Generate automatic summaries grouped by WCAG criterion, assignee, or status that refresh instantly when data changes, eliminating manual report creation.
• Data Validation — Ensure consistency with dropdown lists for status, team members, and WCAG criteria, preventing typos and standardizing entries across your tracking sheet.
• IMPORTRANGE — Connect multiple spreadsheets to track different digital assets separately while pulling all data into a master dashboard for consolidated reporting.

Note: Excel offers similar capabilities with slightly different implementations. Conditional formatting, pivot tables, and data validation work nearly identically.

Considering a Tracking Platform Alternative

For simple projects with 25 or less issues, you can fairly easily track progress with a spreadsheet. The more issues, the more dedicated you need to be to tracking each issue.

We’ve tracked 150+ issues in Google Sheets before so it can be done.

However, with more projects and more issues, you may want to consider an project management platform that can track individual issues.

Many teams use Jira or Asana.

We built a tracking platform specifically designed for accessibility project management.

Here are five key differences with our Tracker platform that save time:

1. Direct Audit Upload: Upload your Excel audit report and all issues extract automatically. No manual data entry or copy-pasting required.
2. Assign Team Members: Send team members invites and assign them to the issues you want them working on.
3. Built-in Prioritization: Two formulas instantly sort issues by legal risk (based on lawsuit data) or user impact (based on severity scoring). No need to create your own prioritization system.
4. Integrated AI Assistance: Five AI tools help fix issues faster. Get plain English explanations, code examples, and alternative approaches without leaving the platform or copying to ChatGPT.
5. Automatic Analytics and Data Visualizations: Know where your organization stands with progress on WCAG conformance and compliance as soon as issues are updated.

You can learn more about our issue tracking platform at AccessibilityTracker.com.

Summary

Most organizations will be working towards WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA conformance and they’ll have audit reports with dozens if not hundreds of issues.

With accessibility and compliance on the line, keeping track of those issues is imperative.

Whether you choose a spreadsheet, general project management platform like Jira, or Accessibility Tracker, you just want to make sure you track accurately.