1. Self-Paced Learning
  2. PDFs

PDFs

When creating an accessible PDF, it’s important to include a document title and follow best practices regarding accessible fonts, headings, and color contrast. Details on color contrast/accessibility can be found on the Self-Paced Learning for Colors. Additionally, PDFs rely heavily on a hidden structural layer called tags to communicate with screen readers and assistive technologies. This page will consist of key requirements for making PDFs accessible and how to do so.

  1. Overview
  2. Setting up Acrobat Pro
  3. Document Title & Author
  4. Tags in PDF Documents
  5. Descriptive Tagged Hyperlinks
  6. True Tables
  7. PDF Accessibility Checklist
  8. External Resources

Overview

The following serves as an overview of the main considerations and actions to take to improve the accessibility of your PDFs:

  • Add accessibility tools to Acrobat Pro.
  • Include a document title.
  • Use accessible fonts and ensure sufficient color contrast.
  • Images should have alt text unless marked as decorative.
  • Describe hyperlinks appropriately with text display.
  • Tables must be easily navigable using correct tags.
  • Tag Tree should include headers, tables, lists, etc.
  • Reading Order needs to be logical for screen readers and tabbing.

Setting up Acrobat Pro

Steps to add the accessibility tools:

  1. Open Tools Search: Launch Acrobat Pro, click the Tools tab at the top left, and locate the search bar.
  2. Add the Accessibility Tool: Type “Accessibility” into the search bar. Under the Accessibility icon, click Add to pin it to your right-hand shortcut menu.
  3. Add the Action Wizard: Clear the search bar, type “Action Wizard”, and click Add to pin it right alongside your accessibility tools.
  4. Launch “Make Accessible”: Click Action Wizard from your new right-hand menu, then select Make Accessible from the Actions List.
  5. Run on Untagged PDF: Click Start. The wizard will automatically prompt you to add descriptions, set the language, and Autotag your untagged PDF before running a Full Check.
Screenshot of Acrobat Pro Menu with Tools highlighted
Accessibility Tool link in Acrobat Pro
Action Wizard Tool link in Acrobat Pro

Steps to add the accessibility icons:

  • Content Panel
    • View > Show Hide > Navigation Panes > Content
  • Order Panel
    • View > Show Hide > Navigation Panes > Order (turn off Display like elements in a single block)
  • Tag Tree
    • View > Show Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags
Screenshot of Acrobat Pro Menu with View - Show/Hide - Navigation highlighted and Accessibility tags, Content, and Order selected.

Document Title & Author

To add a document title and author, navigate to the following:

  • File > Properties > Initial View > Show > Document Title
  • Set Initial View to “Document Title” in Document Properties.
Screenshot of Acrobat Pro Menu - File - Properties
Screenshot of Acrobat Pro Menu Document Properties including Title and Author.
Screenshot of Acrobat Pro Menu Document Properties with Initial View highlighted and Show is set to Document Title

Tags in PDF Documents

Tags Overview

Tags store metadata

  • Tags contain information on objects and their relation to one another.

Tags organize information

  • Allows screen readers and similar to interpret and parse information.

There are many options with PDF tagging

  • Websites have over 100 types of tags, while PDFs have about 40 types.

Tags can be grouped and organized

  • Container tags like Document help to organize child tags such as Paragraph.

More useful information about tags

  • Document, Section, Part, Article are container tags that screen readers ignore
    • However, these are often used by remediators.
  • <Document> is always the root tag.
  • InDesign gives more Article tags while PowerPoint gives more Section tags.

  • Document (as root tag)
  • Headings (1-6) for navigation with screen readers
  • Paragraph
  • Figure
  • Link
  • Nested Tags
  • List (L, LI, Lbl, Lbody)
  • Table (THead, TR, TH, TD, TBody)
Sample screenshot of a common accessibility tags hierarchy in a PDF

Header Tags

  • Headers should follow H1-H6 nesting structure.
  • Titles for headers need to be distinct.
  • Only one <H1> is permitted within a document.
Screenshot of headers found on a website highlighting headers with the same name: Homemade pizza.

Figure Tags

Figure tags are for tagging example images. Tag example images with <Figure>.

Screenshot of figure tag in PDF with alt text present

List Tags

List tags are for tagging lists. Use the following tag structure:

  • L (List)
    • LI (List Item)
      • Lbl (Label – bullet, number, etc.)
      • Lbody (text of the list item)
    • LI
      • Lbl
      • Lbody
Screenshot of PDF tag tree with List tag, list item, list label, and list body.
  • Screen reader users navigate websites tabbing link to link.
  • Write text display to indicate link page.
    • Do not use “click here,” “learn more,” “read more” as text display.
  • Example: BlackBoard Ally
Screenshot of link tag in PDF with alt text present
  • Don’t underline text that isn’t a link.
    • Keyboard only users may think it’s a link and can’t access it by tabbing.

True Tables

  • Use only data for tables.
  • Designate top row as the header for each column and/or row
  • Table must start with a <Table> tag.
    • One table row () tag per row, including header row(s).
    • All headers should be retagged as <TH>, whether a row or column.

Select the <Table> tag to expand a list of table rows (<TR>). You should have one <TR> tag for each row in the table including the header row(s).

If the first row of the table is a header row, double click on each column (<TD>) to rename the element as a <TH>

The first column of the table may also be used as a header. If so, expand each of the remaining Table Rows (<TR>). In each table row, change the first <TD> tag to a <TH> tag to mark it as a table header.

  • First tagged row contains tags for headers.
  • Remaining <TR> tags include data tagged as <TD> with first column all marked as <TH>.
Screenshot of a proper true table with appropriate headers and column titles
Screenshot of the respective tags in a PDF for a properly made true table

PDF Accessibility Checklist

Use this checklist to make sure that you’re meeting the accessibility requirements for PDFs:

  • Add accessibility tools to Acrobat Pro.
  • Presence of a document title.
  • Alt text for images (verify auto generated alt text).
  • Descriptive hyperlinks with correct tagging.
  • True tables with correct tagging.
  • Adequate color contrast (Acrobat Pro does not check for color contrast)
  • Proper Tag Tree (Headers, Figures, Paragraphs, Links, Tables, Lists).
  • Logical Reading Order for screen readers and tabbing.

External Resources

  • PDF Accessibility Checker 2024 (free) for Windows only
  • Blackboard Ally (HuskyCT)
    • Can upload files into HuskyCT with course or organization access.
    • Email karen.skudlarek@uconn.edu for course access, if necessary.
    • Ally will assign an accessibility score to any uploaded file.
    • Scans PDF, DOCx, and PPTx.
  • Acrobat Pro
    • Doesn’t check reading order or color contrast.
    • Has an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) option to extract text.
    • Very technical.