The public comment period opens in five days and an accessibility advocate alerted me that our PDFs are not screen-rea…
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.
| Standard | Focus |
|---|---|
| PDF/UA | This standard is only for PDF documents. It makes sure the PDF itself is built correctly for accessibility. |
| WCAG | This standard is for all kinds of digital content, not just PDFs. It gives general rules for making content accessible on any platform. |
It is much easier and faster to make a document accessible from the start. If you create a Word document with correct headings and alt text, Acrobat can make an accessible PDF from it. Fixing an already-made PDF takes a lot more time and effort.
Reading order is the sequence in which a screen reader or other assistive technology reads the content on a page. If the reading order is wrong, a user might hear parts of a paragraph mixed up or jump to a different section too early. Correct reading order ensures the information flows logically, just like a person would read it visually.
Yes, Acrobat can help make scanned PDFs accessible. Its 'Automatically tag PDF' feature, powered by Sensei, works for both native and scanned documents. It can identify and tag headings, tables, lists, and paragraphs. However, you will still need to manually check and correct the reading order and add alt text for images, as automation might not be perfect for complex scanned layouts.