The areas to keep in mind in making a portable document format (PDF) document accessible include: design and layout, structure, figures and media, contrast and colour, content, tables, and saving and printing.
Verify that the items noted below are utilized to increase the accessibility of your files. This page can act as one big checklist, or you can choose a specific area below and focus on one aspect of your file at a time.
Design and Layout
Verify that:
- the document is free from content that flashes more than three times per second
- text can be resized and remains readable when magnified to 200%
- optical character recognition was successfully performed on a scanned image document
- the language is appropriately set for all foreign words or phrases
- paragraph tags accurately reflect visual paragraphs
- all internal links and TOC entries are functioning correctly (if linked)
- heading text accurately describes the sectional content
Content
Verify that:
- the document is free from review-related content carried over from Microsoft Office or other editing tools (e.g., comments, track changes, embedded Speaker Notes)
- all link text can be understood out of context, and if generic links have sufficient context
Figures and Media
Verify that:
- all images conveying information are tagged as figures and included in the tag structure
- all images conveying information have Alt text that provides the same level of understanding as a visual user would gain
- all decorative images are tagged as artifact/background
- complex images have an alternate accessible means of understanding
- the document is free from images of text (e.g., pictures of informational tables, screenshots of text from another source)
Tables
Verify that:
- table tags are used only for data tables
- the table structure in the tag tree matches the visual table layout
- all header cells are tagged with the TH tag and if all data cells are tagged with the TD tag
- all header cells contain text
- merged cells are correctly spanned with Colspan and/or Rowspan
- data tables with one set of both column and row headers appropriately use scope to associate with data cells
- data tables with more than one set of columns and/or row headers appropriately use id/headers to associate with data cells
- all visual lists are tagged correctly with the List, List Item (LI), and LBody tags
- the number of items in the tag structure matches the number of items in the visual list
Contrast and Colour
Verify that:
- information is conveyed by methods other than colour alone
- all text (excluding logos) has a contrast ratio of 4.5:1 or greater, regardless of the size
- links are distinguished by a method other than colour (e.g., underline)
Structure
Verify that:
- nested lists are appropriately nested in the tag structure
- text that intended to act as a visual heading is tagged with the heading tags (H1 through H6)
- heading tags follow a logical hierarchical progression without skipping heading levels
- heading tags are used only on text that defines a section of content
- nonstandard text (glyph) is tagged in an accessible manner
- accurate bookmarks for documents greater than nine pages are provided
- the order in the tag structure is accurate and logical, and if the tags match the order in which they should be read
- all informational content is contained in the tag structure
- all non-standard tags are appropriately mapped to standard Adobe tags
- the table of contents is tagged with appropriate tags (TOC, TOC Item (TOCI))
- citations, footnotes, and endnotes are tagged with appropriate tags (Reference, Note)
Forms
Verify that:
- all form fields are correctly tagged
- all form fields contain understandable labels and tooltips
- tooltips contain all formatting requirements that will be automatically flagged as an error
- required form fields are programmatically set
- the tab order of the form fields is logical
Saving and Printing
Verify that:
- the PDF is tagged to assist users of screen reader technology
- the Document Title is filled out in the Document Properties
- Windows: Go to File tab, then Title
- Mac: Go to File, then Properties, then Summary tab, and check the Title
- the correct language of the document is set
- Go to Review, then Editor, and Set Proofing Language
- the PDF fully passed the Adobe Accessibility Checker
Originally Published: October 25, 2023
Last Updated: September 6, 2024
