Before publishing the plan to the community portal, maximize usable feedback—produce an [accessibility‑verified PDF] w…
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 | WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) | PDF/UA (PDF Universal Accessibility) |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | General guidelines for all web content and technologies. | Specific standard for PDF documents only. |
| Scope | Technology-agnostic (applies to websites, apps, documents). | PDF-specific requirements for structure and content. |
| Purpose | Ensures content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. | Ensures PDF files are fully accessible to assistive technologies. |
It is much better to fix accessibility problems in the original document (like a Word file) before you make it a PDF. When you fix the source, the PDF you create will already be accessible. This saves a lot of time and effort compared to fixing an untagged PDF later, which can be a very long process.
Yes, Acrobat's accessibility tools, especially the cloud-based auto-tagging API, can help with scanned PDFs. This technology uses AI to tag headings, tables, lists, and paragraphs even in scanned documents. However, very blurry scans might still need manual review to ensure accuracy and readability.
Reading order is the sequence in which a screen reader or other assistive technology reads the content of a PDF. It is important because if the reading order is wrong, the document might not make sense to someone who cannot see it. You can adjust it with the Reading Order tool.