Adobe PDF Resource for Accessibility

Documents that are saved as PDF files will need to be checked for accessibility, even if it was checked before saving them as a PDF. Run the Accessibility Checker in Adobe Pro to fix common accessibility issues. It is always easier to fix issues before saving as a PDF. However, if you do not have the original document, you can still make PDFs accessible.

Below are the steps on how to use the Accessibility Checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Accessibility Checker

1. Open the PDF that you want to check for accessibility.
2. Go to the Tools pane on the left-hand side and click on “Prepare for accessibility” to expand the accessibility tools.
3. Click on the “Accessibility Checker” to scan the document for accessibility issues. Click “Start Checking” when dialog box opens.
4. After the scan is complete, the Accessibility Checker panel will display a report, listing any issues found, on the right side of the document.
5. Click on any category to expand and view the specific issues.
6. Some issues can be automatically fixed, such as the Tagged PDF, Language, Title, and Tab Order. Just right-click and select “Fix”. 
7. You can right-click on any issue and select “Explain” and it will open a webpage with how to fix the issue.

Other Common Issues

From the Accessibility Checker dialog box:

Alternate Text: Right-click on the issue and select “Fix”. A dialog box will open, and you can add alternate text to each image in document.

Headings: Must be done in Tag Tree. Go to “Tags” icon and select tag that needs to be changed to a heading. Type in H1 for Heading 1, H2 for Heading 2, etc.

Table Headers: Must be done in Tag Tree. Go to “Tags” icon and select tag that needs to be changed to a header row tag (TH).

Scanned Documents: Right-click on “Image Only PDF”.  Click on “Fix”. Once the dialog box opens, click on “Yes, Recognize Text”. Click on OK. If there are annotations on the PDF, make sure they are tagged appropriately as images with alternate text.