Why create accessible pdfs

Adobe Acrobat User Guide. Select an article: Select an article:. Workflow for creating accessible PDFs. At a high level, the process of creating accessible PDFs consists of a few basic stages:.

Consider accessibility before you convert a document to PDF. As needed, add fillable form fields and descriptions, and set the tab order. Add other accessibility features to the PDF. Tag the PDF. Evaluate the PDF and repair tagging problems. Additional resources.

For more information about creating accessible PDFs, see these resources:. Add fillable form fields and descriptions, and set the tab order. About watermarks and screen readers. Create a tagged PDF from a web page. Do one of the following:. Specify any other options as appropriate, and then click Create. Creating a tagged PDF from an authoring application. For more information, see the documentation for your authoring application.

About tags in combined PDFs. When you delete pages from a PDF, Acrobat retains the tags if any of the deleted pages. About tools for creating accessible PDF forms. Adobe offers several tools for the creation of accessible PDF forms:. Acrobat Pro, Acrobat Standard. Authoring applications. Workflow for creating accessible PDF forms.

Design the form for accessibility. Set and test the tab order of a form. Tag the PDF form and correct tagging issues. Use web forms or Word Documents instead, unless absolutely necessary. Frequently updated information. A web page with well-formatted HTML is accessible and easier to update. Do use a PDF for: Text-heavy documents that your users will download. Using Microsoft Word: For more detailed instructions, search support. Highlight your text and choose the appropriate heading level. Open the Styles Pane to view more options.

For each heading level in your document, create a new paragraph style with your desired look, and save it with a descriptive name ex.

Heading 1, Heading 2 , for your own reference. Make sure PDF is selected, then match your style values with the appropriate header level in the tags column. Creating accessible documents and GOV. WALES standards and guidance. Improving the accessibility of a new PDF file. You should maximise the accessibility in the source document before outputting as a PDF file. Then add the necessary accessibility components prior to distributing the PDF file.

For more help see improving the accessibility of an existing PDF file if you intend to use the PDF as an interactive document or form, add form fields and other controls with appropriate short descriptions If you're using Adobe InDesign follow creating accessible PDFs on adobe.

Improving the accessibility of an existing PDF file. PDFs created by scanning a printed page Perform optical character recognition OCR on documents that were created as a result of scanning a document Interactive documents or forms Add form fields and other controls with appropriate short descriptions for the form elements and controls.

Graphics When the PDF file has been tagged, add alternative text to graphics in the document. Check your PDF file. If you find color contrast issues in a PDF, and re-export the PDF, you will need to re-do all the tagging and reading order work from the above tips. Color Contrast Analyser. Skip to main content. These helpful tips on creating accessible documents in Microsoft Word come from the Disabled Students' Program. To ensure best practices for accessibility in documents created in Google Docs bDrive , a tool called Grackle Docs is available.

Run the Make Accessible Action Wizard Add text to your document Use a document title Set the document language Add alternative text for images Add a tag structure Recognize form fields, add tooltips to form fields, and add tags to form fields Use table headers Check the reading order Check for appropriate color contrast 1.

Adobe Acrobat Pro Action Wizard 2. Use a Document Title The document title is important so that users of assistive technology can hear the name of the document when opening the file and when switching between multiple tabs within a PDF program. Set the Document Language The document language determines which speech synthesizer is used by assistive technology programs.