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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.
| Feature | PDF/UA | WCAG |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Specific to PDF documents | General guidelines for all web content and technology |
| Requirement | Often required for government or legal documents | Widely accepted international standard for digital accessibility |
| Goal | Ensures PDF structure and content are accessible | Makes digital content usable by people with disabilities |
It's much easier and saves time to fix accessibility issues in the original source file, like a Microsoft Word document. When you export an accessible Word file to PDF, many accessibility features, like tags and reading order, are kept. If you try to fix an already made PDF, it takes a lot more work and time to add those features back in.
Reading order is the sequence in which a screen reader or other assistive technology reads the content of a PDF. It's important because if the reading order is wrong, a user might hear text read out of sequence, making the document confusing or impossible to understand. Correct reading order ensures a logical flow of information.
The automatic tagging tool in Acrobat is very good, but it might not perfectly handle complex tables. While it can identify basic table structures, intricate tables with merged cells or specific headers often need human review. After auto-tagging, you should always check complex tables manually using the 'Reading Order' tool or 'Tags' panel to ensure they are correctly structured for accessibility.