w:tblCaption (Table Caption)

Specifies a string caption for a table, used by assistive technologies for accessibility.

Parent elements

w:tblPr

Description

w:tblCaption stores a plain-text caption or summary for a table. It is intended for accessibility: screen readers and other assistive tools can read this caption to describe the table’s purpose to users with visual impairments.

It is defined in ECMA-376 Part 1 §17.4.46.

w:tblCaption does not render visually — it is an accessibility metadata element only.

Attributes

Attribute	Type	Possible Values	Description
`w:val`	`xsd:string`	Any string	Caption text for the table.

Examples

<w:tblPr>
  <w:tblCaption w:val="Annual sales figures by region"/>
  <w:tblDescription w:val="This table shows quarterly sales data for each region."/>
  <w:tblW w:w="9000" w:type="dxa"/>
</w:tblPr>

using DocumentFormat.OpenXml.Wordprocessing;

var tblPr = new TableProperties(
    new TableCaption { Val = "Annual sales figures by region" },
    new TableDescription { Val = "This table shows quarterly sales data for each region." }
);

Notes

Pair w:tblCaption with w:tblDescription for complete accessibility metadata: caption is the short title, description is the longer summary.
These elements are especially important for compliance with accessibility standards such as PDF/UA and WCAG 2.1.