Northeast State Community College - We're here to get you there

For creating an accessible form in Adobe Acrobat Pro, follow the steps below:

  1. Automatically detect & markup form fields (Tools > Prepare a Form)
  2. Manually add/edit and form fields that weren’t correctly detected
  3. Check tab order; repair if needed
  4. Check all labels (tooltips); repair if needed
  5. Check group labels and options for radio buttons; repair if needed
  6. Check labels for checkboxes; repair if needed

Below are some tips to remediate existing forms:

  1. Are all text fields appropriately labeled? How to tell:
    1. Tools > Forms > Edit; look in Properties for ToolTip of each field, or
    2. Tab through form using Read Out Loud (View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud)
  2. To fix labels on text fields:
    1. Right click on field; select Properties
    2. Enter a detailed, easy-to-understand prompt as Tooltip
  3. Are radio buttons appropriately grouped and labeled?
    1. All radio buttons in a set should have the same name
    2. Tooltip is the overall prompt for the set (similar to legend in HTML)
    3. Labels for individual radio buttons within the set are defined using the Button Value field in the Options tab
  4. Are checkboxes appropriately labeled?
    1. Checkboxes can’t be grouped like radio buttons. The workaround is to be sure the prompt for the overall set of checkboxes is clear within the tooltip for each option (for example, “Favorite Food: Tacos”, “Favorite Food: Veggies”, “Favorite Food: Pizza”, etc.)
  5. Finishing touches
    1. Tools > Document Processing > Create Links from URLs
    2. Tools > Accessibility > Add Tags To Document
    3. Repair tags as needed
    4. Tools > Accessibility > Full Check

Connect with Northeast State

Northeast State Community College, a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. For questions or concerns, please contact the Affirmative Action Officer.