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Accessible PDFs

PDF inaccessibility presents significant challenges and access barriers for people with disabilities. To address this, it’s vital to understand and apply the accessibility principles described on this website when preparing digital files or source documents for sharing or uploading online. These principles include using proper heading levels, ensuring adequate color contrast, and providing clear, concise alternative text for informative images. Adhering to the Web PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.1 helps ensure the creation of accessible and user-friendly PDF files, supported by the additional tips:

Does it Need to be a PDF?

Before you create or upload a PDF, consider whether a more accessible and user-friendly format would be a better choice. PDFs often present accessibility challenges, requiring additional remediation to ensure they are usable for all audiences. Web pages (HTML) and properly formatted Word documents are often more accessible, easier to update, and mobile-friendly—reducing barriers for users with disabilities.

Consider the following: 

  • Not all applications are capable of creating accessible PDFs.
    • Before you create a digital document that will be shared or uploaded to a website, reference WebAIM’s Tags Structure Quality chart to determine which applications support good tag structures that enhance the accessibility and usability of digital documents.
  • Accessibility for PDFs begins with the creation of a new document or digital source file. If you are using Microsoft 365, you can improve accessibility by using the built-in Accessibility Checker.
  • Refer to WebAIM’s step-by-step PDF instructions for converting your source document to PDF using Adobe Acrobat Professional or the Microsoft PDF option.
    • If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat Pro, request a license from ITS. 
    • DO NOT use the Print to PDF or Scan to PDF options to convert files to PDF.
  • Before uploading a PDF file to your website, always check your final PDF document for accessibility to ensure it is properly tagged to support accessibility.
  • Older PDFs are often inaccessible and should be recreated to ensure accessibility. If you only have the PDF version, consider creating a new source document.

If a PDF is truly necessary, it must be created and remediated with accessibility in mind. Use the guidelines below to ensure your document meets accessibility standards.

Checking PDF Accessibility Yourself

Ensuring your PDFs are accessible to all users is easier than you might think! With Adobe Acrobat Pro and the right resources, you can check and remediate PDFs yourself. Our step-by-step guide walks you through the process of reviewing your documents for accessibility, from ensuring text is selectable to verifying that the document is properly tagged. You’ll also find useful tips for customizing your toolbar to streamline your workflow and best practices to minimize errors. With these tools and resources, you can confidently make your PDFs accessible and compliant with accessibility standards.

For more information see Remediating PDFs.

Tagged PDFs

One of the most important steps in making a PDF accessible is ensuring it is properly "tagged." A “tagged PDF” is a type of PDF that includes an underlying tag tree, similar to HTML, that defines the structure of the document. PDF tags make it possible to identify content as headings, lists, tables, etc., and to include alternate text for images. Without tags, none of these accessibility features are possible. Without tags, these key features are unavailable, making the document inaccessible to many users.

While tools like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe InDesign export tagged PDFs, many other authoring tools, including Google Docs, do not. Fortunately, you can add tags using Adobe Acrobat Pro. We provide resources to help you understand how to inspect and modify the tag tree, as well as use tools like auto-tagging and the Reading Order tool to improve your documents. Proper tagging ensures your PDFs meet accessibility standards, but it's important to follow best practices and save your work often to avoid errors.

For more information see Tagged PDF

Tab and Read Order

Ensuring the correct tab and read order in PDFs is essential for accessibility, as it allows screen readers to interpret the document in a logical flow, matching the visual layout. In Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can test and adjust the reading order using the Reading Order tool and the Tag Tree, ensuring content appears in a proper sequence. For forms, adjusting the tabbing order ensures users can navigate fields efficiently. Proper read and tab order makes documents easier to navigate for users with disabilities.

For more information see Tab and Read Order

Forms

For a form to be accessible, it must be carefully structured to ensure users can navigate and interact with it effectively, especially for those using assistive technologies. This includes associating labels with form fields, maintaining proper tab order, and ensuring all interactive elements like radio buttons and checkboxes are labeled correctly. In Adobe Acrobat Pro, you can create and fix accessible PDF forms by adding interactivity, correcting tab order, and ensuring appropriate field labeling.

For more information see Forms

Exporting Accessible PDFs

When exporting documents from tools like PowerPoint, Word, InDesign, or Adobe Express, it's essential to ensure the content is properly tagged and structured to support accessibility. Start by making sure the original document is accessible, then export to PDF using methods that preserve headings, alt text for images, table structures, and reading order. Avoid printing to PDF as it results in a file without tags. After exporting, you may need to review and modify tags or the reading order to ensure full accessibility.

For more information see Exporting Accessible PDFs

High Quality Scans

Sometimes it is necessary to scan a document for instructional purposes. Digital documents are easier to distribute and often more accessible than printed materials for students with disabilities. However, to ensure full accessibility, the scanned document must meet certain quality standards. Scanned documents can be converted into PDFs and made accessible, but the effectiveness of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) depends heavily on the scan's quality. Poor-quality scans—such as those with low resolution, skewed pages, or unclear text—may not convert accurately into accessible PDFs. 

For more information see High Quality Scans.

Outsourcing PDF Remediation

Crawford Technologies provides document remediation services at prices and turnaround times that seem to be a good match for higher education institutions.
Contact the vendor for a quote: das-quotes@crawfordtech.com

Questions about remediation orders:

Additional Resources

WCAG 2.1 Success Criteria

The issues described on this page, and associated Techniques pages, map to the following success criteria in the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1: