Creating accessible docs has been ad hoc; it costs time and sometimes fails compliance checks. Recommend a repeatable …
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 | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| PDF/UA | Specific to PDF documents, ensuring technical accessibility features are present. | Applies only to PDF files. |
| WCAG | General guidelines for web content accessibility, independent of technology. | Applies to all digital content, including PDFs, websites, and apps. |
It is always better to fix accessibility in the original source document, like a Word file, before converting it to PDF. This is because when you export an accessible source document, the PDF usually keeps most of its accessibility features. Fixing an already created PDF can take a lot of time and effort, as you might have to rebuild the structure manually.
Yes, Acrobat's 'Automatically tag PDF' feature can work with scanned PDFs. It uses smart technology to identify headings, tables, lists, and paragraphs, even in scanned documents. This helps to give the scanned PDF a basic structure for accessibility.
Reading order is the sequence in which a screen reader or other assistive technology reads the content on a page. It is very important because if the reading order is wrong, a user might hear parts of text, images, or tables in a confusing sequence. Fixing the reading order ensures that the document makes sense when read aloud, providing a logical flow for all users.