Collect this week's completed homework PDFs from [grade=9th]-grade English students into one combined file, ensure eac…
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 | Specific rules for how PDF files must be structured to be accessible. |
| WCAG | General guidelines for making all web content accessible, not just PDFs. Many laws require WCAG. |
It is much easier and saves time to make your original document (like a Word file) accessible from the start. When you export an accessible Word document to PDF, it often keeps its accessibility features. This means you will have less work to do in Acrobat later.
Yes, Acrobat's 'Automatically tag PDF' tool uses smart technology to tag both native and scanned PDFs. It tries to identify headings, tables, and paragraphs even in scanned documents.
'Alt text' is a short text description for images, charts, and other non-text content in a PDF. It is important because screen readers read this text aloud to visually impaired users, helping them understand what the image shows. Without alt text, they miss important information.