I have participant feedback and numeric scores from five classes run this quarter, each in a different format. Build o…
Open the PDF document you want to check for accessibility.
Click the Tools tab at the top of the Acrobat window.
Scroll through the list and select Accessibility to add the Accessibility tools to your workspace if they are not already visible.
Best practiceIf you do not see the Accessibility tools, you may need to add them from the Tools pane as they are not shown by default.
In the Accessibility tools pane, click Full Check.
In the Accessibility Checker Options dialog, review the settings and click Start Checking.
Best practiceFor a thorough check, ensure all checkboxes are selected before starting the check.
Review the results displayed in the Accessibility Checker panel on the left side of the screen.
You can right-click in the Navigation Pane to show the Accessibility tags panel for more detailed tag inspection.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
PDF/UA is a specific standard just for PDF documents, making sure they are accessible. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a broader set of rules for all types of digital content, not just PDFs. Many regulated documents, like a 'Canonical Committee Report' for government use, need to meet both PDF/UA and WCAG standards to be fully compliant. PDF/UA focuses on the technical structure within the PDF itself, while WCAG covers the overall user experience.
Tagging is the most important step for PDF accessibility because it adds a hidden structure to your document. This structure tells screen readers and other assistive technologies what each part of the PDF is (like a heading, a paragraph, or a list). Without tags, a screen reader cannot understand the order or meaning of the content, making the 'Canonical Committee Report' unreadable for someone who relies on it. It's like giving a book without a table of contents or page numbers.
Yes, you can still make a scanned, untagged 'Canonical Committee Report' accessible, but it will take a lot of time. You will need to use the 'Automatically tag PDF' feature, which works even for scanned documents. However, you will then need to manually check and fix many things, especially the reading order, alt text for images, and complex tables. It's much easier to create an accessible PDF from the start, ideally by fixing the original source document (like a Word file) before converting it.
'Alt text' is a short, descriptive text that explains what an image shows. It is very important for your 'Canonical Committee Report' because people who cannot see the images (for example, those using a screen reader) will hear the alt text instead. Without alt text, they would miss important information or context that the image provides. Good alt text helps everyone understand the full content of your report.