I've been signing off informal norms for years and now want them formalized so new supervisors don't inherit ad-hoc pr…
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.
Tagging is the most important step for PDF accessibility because it creates a hidden structure for the document. This structure tells screen readers and other assistive technologies what each part of the content is, like headings, paragraphs, and lists. Without tags, a screen reader cannot understand the document's layout or meaning.
Yes, even scanned PDFs can be made accessible. Acrobat's 'Automatically tag PDF' tool uses smart technology to identify and tag elements like headings, tables, and paragraphs in both native and scanned PDFs. After auto-tagging, you will still need to manually check and fix the reading order and add alt text for images to ensure full accessibility.
| Standard | Focus | Applicability |
|---|---|---|
| PDF/UA | Specific to PDF documents, ensuring technical accessibility. | Often required for highly regulated PDF content. |
| WCAG | General guidelines for web content accessibility, technology-agnostic. | Widely used for all digital content, including websites and documents. |
It is much better to fix accessibility issues in the original document, like a Word file, before converting it to PDF. When you create an accessible source document, the exported PDF will often retain those accessibility features, saving a lot of time. Remediating an untagged PDF after it's created can be very time-consuming and complex, especially for large or complex documents.