Producing Accessible PDFs

PDF documents can be created in a variety of ways for different purposes and each will have its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of accessibility. This section looks at some of the most common ways in which PDFs are created and provides guidance on ensuring they are accessible.

• Creating a PDF by Scanning a Document - Scanning materials essentially creates an image of that material which may result in a less accessible document. This section suggests some simple techniques that may be used to improve the accessibility of these documents.
• Creating a PDF from a Word Processed Document - Creating a properly structured document using a word processor often results in accessibility benefits when the document is converted. This section covers techniques that can be used before and after conversion to PDF to increase the accessibility of the document.
• Creating a PDF from Professional Graphics Packages - Where a document has been created by a third party, such as a graphic designer, accessibility is often given a low priority. This section provides some suggestions to consider if these documents are to be made publicly available.

This section looks at techniques for ensuring that existing PDF documents are as accessible as possible. N.B. These functions are available in Adobe® Acrobat Professional but may not be available in Adobe® software.

• The Accessibility Check - Adobe® Acrobat has an accessibility checking function that will highlight any major accessibility issues along with hints on how to address these issues.
• Adding Tags and Structure to PDFs - This section covers using Adobe® Acrobat to add the structure and reading order to a document.
• PDFs and Bookmarks - This section covers inserting, deleting and renaming bookmarks as well as using bookmarks to navigate through a document.
• PDFs and Images - Incorrectly tagged images and those without alternative text can cause problems for screen reader users and the 'Read Out Loud' and 'Reflow' functions. This section covers tagging images appropriately and the use of alternative text.
• PDFs and Tables - This section covers tagging tables correctly and suggests strategies that may be useful when including tables in your document.