A vendor's Word report arrived with assay tables and I need the data in our tracking spreadsheet before Friday's meeti…
Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Add the Accessibility tools to your Tools pane if not already present.
Best practiceYou can add the Accessibility tools by selecting the Tools tab, then finding Accessibility and clicking Add.
Open the Tags panel by clicking on it in the left navigation pane or by selecting it from the View menu.
NoteThis panel was formerly called the Tags panel.
Expand the tag tree in the Tags panel to review the document's structure.
Identify any missing or incorrect semantic tags for headings, lists, or tables.
Best practiceUse the Reading Order tool for a visual overview of tag application and reading order.
To add a missing tag, right-click the parent tag where it belongs, select Create Tag, and choose the appropriate type (such as H1 for a heading, L for a list, or Table for a table).
To change an incorrect tag, right-click the tag, choose Properties, and select the correct tag type from the Type dropdown.
Drag tags within the tag tree to correct their order or nesting as needed.
Save your document after making all necessary tag corrections.
Run Full Check from the Accessibility tools to verify that headings, lists, and tables are correctly tagged.
Best practiceIf the Full Check reports issues, revisit the tag tree and adjust as needed.
You can right-click tags in the Accessibility tags panel to quickly add, rename, or change their type for better document structure.
This runs in the Acrobat app - there is no separate API for this task.
PDF/UA is a specific standard for PDF documents, focusing on how a PDF's internal structure supports accessibility. WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a broader, technology-agnostic standard for all web content. Many regulated tasks require both, as PDF/UA ensures the PDF itself is built correctly, while WCAG provides general guidelines for accessible content regardless of format. Understanding both helps you meet all requirements.
Fixing accessibility in the source document, such as Microsoft Word, is more efficient because it creates an accessible PDF from the start. If you fix it in Acrobat, you are remediating a document that was not designed for accessibility. This can be very time-consuming, especially for existing untagged PDFs. Starting with an accessible source saves a lot of effort and ensures consistency.
Yes, Acrobat's API-based auto-tagging can work with scanned PDFs. It uses AI to identify elements like headings and paragraphs, even if the scan is not perfect. However, very blurry text might still need manual review and correction to ensure accuracy and full accessibility.
The 'Accessibility Checker' in Acrobat is a tool that scans your PDF for common accessibility problems. It flags issues like missing alt text, incorrect reading order, or problems with headings. It is important because it helps you find and fix these issues, ensuring your PDF meets accessibility standards and can be used by people with disabilities, especially those using screen readers.