Creating Accessible PDFs (an Intro)

Overview

On this page, you will explore how to determine if PDFs are accessible and how to create accessible PDFs.

You have a choice as to how to engage with the material in this lesson. Remember, the key concepts are always addressed in the text. If you need more info or learn by watching, the videos and resources are great supplements.

Read: Types of PDFs

Scanned PDFs

PDFs that are made by scanning a document with an office copier or scanner are not accessible unless you take a few extra steps beyond scanning. A scanned PDF is usually a picture of text. As such, a screen reader is not going to be able to read the text and the text in the image is much too long to enter as alt text.

OCR - Optical Character Recognition

In order to make a scanned PDF accessible, the first step is to use OCR to convert the image into text.

To see if a PDF has already been converted and is readable by a screen reader, try to use your mouse to highlight the text. If you can highlight pieces of text, OCR has been used. If you cannot highlight lines of text, then you are looking at an image. 

To test the accuracy of the OCR conversion, copy and paste the highlighted text into a document and check to see if the text/characters were accurately converted. 

There are now a variety of apps and software that you can use to convert a scanned PDF to text. Once you convert the text, be sure to go through it and fix any errors that came through in the conversion. UW uses SensusAccess as  File Conversion Tool Links to an external site.. You can use this tool to upload the PDF and then select accessibility conversion. If you not have or know how to use Adobe Acrobat Pro or DC, request the output file in MS Word (.docx) format. This will provide and editable version that you can check and fix inaccuracies.

If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro or DC, you can request a Tagged PDF as the output file format to then edit the file in Adobe Acrobat.

UW SensusAccess Video tutorial

Tagged PDFs

Once a PDF has been converted, the next task is to add tags. Tags allow the author to identify headings, alt text, lists, etc. They essentially give the document structure and allow the reader to more easily navigate the document. 

To determine whether a particular PDF is tagged, open it in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader and go to Document Properties (Ctrl + D in Windows; Command + D in Mac OS X). In the lower left corner of the Document Properties dialog, “Tagged” is either “Yes” or “No.” (Choosing and Using Accessible Textbooks Links to an external site." by Terrill Thompson from Open Washington Links to an external site., SBCTC Links to an external site., CC BY 4.0) Links to an external site.

To add tags to a PDF, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat Pro. Review these instructions for Fixing Inaccessible PDFs Using Adobe Acrobat Pro Links to an external site..

Converting to PDF from Word

The easiest and best way to create an accessible PDF is to use MS Word.  If you format your document following the accessibility standards and practices discussed previously in Creating Accessible Word Documents Links to an external site., your PDF will be off to a good start.

The following resource gives step by step instructions based on the version of Word you are using: WebAIM Converting Documents to PDF Links to an external site..

One last note...

Many people opt to use PDFs because this format saves the formatting of the document or it makes it static. One thing I'd like all of you to keep in mind: format follows function. You want to prioritize students' ability to access and use the document over the look of the document. If you are saving documents as PDF files to simply maintain formatting, I suggest you stop and give students a .docx, (Word),  .pptx PowerPoint), or .xlsx (Excel) version instead. Note that the listed extensions correlate with Office versions 2013 or newer instead of the old .doc, .ppt or .xls. Remember to update your document version to the make editing/viewing options available.

From my own experience, many folks have said that avoiding PDFs entirely is often the best approach to ensuring PDF accessibility.

"Before creating another PDF, ask yourself... Does this document really need to be a PDF?"

--Ana Thompson   
2016-Present PDF Accessibility Training Sessions   
UW Bothell   

Watch: Creating, Converting, and Checking PDFs

Creating Accessible Microsoft Word Documents: Converting Word 2013 and 2016 to PDF (10:00)

This video will review making an accessible Word document and how to convert the document to PDF.

Making a PDF Accessible with Acrobat Pro DC (3:12)

Quick overview of the Action Wizard > Make Accessible option in Acrobat Pro DC to quickly convert a scanned document image to a text version document.

Note: This process will produce a text-based PDF from a scanned PDF.  The resulting document will be mostly accessible but not 100% accessible. For 100% accessibility, further remediation is required.

Free Lynda.com Accessible PDFs Training

Anyone with a King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties as well as Seattle Public library card can get access to Lynda.com training lessons for Acrobat DC: Creating Accessible PDFs (2018) Links to an external site. - Basic PDF remediation and Advanced Accessible PDFs Links to an external site. - Tables, InDesign,  forms, etc.

Instructions to get free access to Lynda.com Links to an external site.

Explore: PDF Resources on the Web