Accessible PDF

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Accessible PDFs
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Adobe, Acrobat, PDF

• Adobe is a company they are the creators of
  Acrobat.
• Acrobat is a tool for creating, editing and
  viewing PDF files.
• PDF is a format or type of document. It stands
  for Portable Document Format. The PDF format was
  created by Adobe.
• The terms Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF are related in
  the same way as Microsoft, Word, and doc.

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Accessibility Features in Acrobat and Reader

• Accessibility features in Acrobat and Reader fall
  into two broad categories features to make the
  reading of PDF documents more accessible and
  features to create accessible PDF documents. To
  create accessible PDF documents, you must use
  Acrobat, not Reader.

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Accessible PDFs have the following characteristics

• . Searchable text
• A document that consists of scanned images of
  text is inherently inaccessible because the
  content of the document is images, not searchable
  text.
• Assistive software cannot read or extract the
  words, users cannot select or edit the text, and
  you cannot manipulate the PDF for accessibility.
  You must convert the scanned images of text to
  searchable text using optical character
  recognition (OCR) before you can use other
  accessibility features with the document.

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• Alternative text descriptions
• Document features such as images and interactive
  form fields cant be read by a screen reader
  unless they have associated alternative text.
• Though web links are read by screen readers, you
  can provide more meaningful descriptions as
  alternative text. Alternative text and tool tips
  can aid many users, including those with learning
  disabilities.

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More

• Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to
  text
• The fonts in an accessible PDF must contain
  enough information for Acrobat to correctly
  extract all of the characters to text for
  purposes other than displaying text on the
  screen.
• Acrobat extracts characters to Unicode text when
  you read a PDF with a screen reader or the Read
  Out Loud tool, or when you save as text for a
  braille printer. This extraction fails if Acrobat
  cannot determine how to map the font to Unicode
  characters.

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Reading order and document structure tags

• To read a documents text and present it in a way
  that makes sense to the user, a screen reader or
  other text-to-speech tool requires that the
  document be structured. Document structure tags
  in a PDF define the reading order and identify
  headings, paragraphs, sections, tables, and other
  page elements.

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Interactive form fields

• Some PDFs contain forms that a person is to fill
  out using a computer. To be accessible, form
  fields must be interactivemeaning that a user
  must be able to enter values into the form fields.

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Navigational aids

• Navigational aids in a PDFsuch as links,
  bookmarks, headings, a table of contents, and a
  preset tab order for form fieldsassist all users
  in using the document without having to read
  through the entire document, word by word.
  Bookmarks are especially useful and can be
  created from document headings.

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Document language

• Specifying the document language in a PDF enables
  some screen readers to switch to the appropriate
  language.

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Security that doesnt interfere with assistive
software

• Some authors of PDFs restrict users from
  printing, copying, extracting, adding comments
  to, or editing text.
• The text of an accessible PDF must be available
  to a screen reader. You can use Acrobat to ensure
  that security settings dont interfere with a
  screen readers ability to convert the on-screen
  text to speech.

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Related Information

• Check and correct reading order
• Workflow for creating accessible PDF forms
• Add alternative text and supplementary
  information to tags
• Set the document language
• Prevent security settings from interfering with
  screen readers
• Check accessibility with Full Check

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PDF Tags

• When people talk about "accessible" PDF files,
  they usually are referring to "tagged" PDF files,
  even though there is more to an accessible PDF
  than tags.
• PDF tags provide a hidden structured, textual
  representation of the PDF content that is
  presented to screen readers.
• They exist for accessibility purposes only and
  have no visible effect on the PDF file.

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HTML and PDF Tags

• HTML tags and PDF tags often use similar tag
  names (e.g., both have tags named h1) and
  organization structures, but they really are
  quite different.
• If you are comfortable with HTML, you will
  probably have an easier time creating and editing
  tagged PDF files.

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About tags, accessibility, reading order, and
reflow

• PDF tags are similar in many ways to XML tags.
  PDF tags indicate document structure which text
  is a heading, which content makes up a section,
  which text is a bookmark, and so on.
• A logical structure tree of tags represents the
  organizational structure of the document.
• Thus tags can indicate the precise reading order
  and improve navigationparticularly for longer,
  more complex documentswithout changing the
  appearance of the PDF.

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Tags Continued

• For people who are unable to see or interpret the
  visual appearance of a document, assistive
  software can determine how to present and
  interpret the content of the document by using
  the logical structure tree.
• Most assistive software depends on document
  structure tags to determine the appropriate
  reading order of text and to convey the meaning
  of images and other content in an alternative
  format, such as sound.

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Untagged Documents

• In an untagged document, there is no such
  structure information, and Acrobat must infer a
  structure based on the Reading Order preference
  setting, which often results in page items being
  read in the wrong order or not at all.

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Reflow

• Reflowing a document for viewing on the small
  screen of a mobile device relies on these same
  document structure tags.

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Does the Document Contain Tags?

• Often, Acrobat tags PDFs when you create them.
• To determine whether a PDF contains tags, choose
  File gt Properties, and look at the Tagged PDF
  value in the Advanced pane of the Description
  tab.
• The logical structure tree appears on the Tags
  tab and shows document content as page elements
  nested at various levels.

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Checking the accessibility of PDFs

• About accessibility checkers
• Check accessibility with Quick Check
• Check accessibility with Full Check
• View Full Check results

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About accessibility checkers

• You can still use any of several methods provided
  by Acrobat for checking the accessibility of a
  PDF.
• Use Quick Check to check for document structure
  tags, searchable text, and appropriate security
  settings for accessibility. This method is often
  the best way to check for accessibility before
  attempting to use a PDF.
• Use Full Check to perform a more thorough check
  for many characteristics of accessible PDFs, such
  as the use of fonts that can be mapped reliably
  to Unicode text.

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Reflow

• Use Reflow view to quickly check reading order.
• Use Read Out Loud to experience the document as
  it will be experienced by readers who use this
  text-to-speech conversion tool.
• Save the document as accessible text and then
  read the saved text file in a word-processing
  application to experience the document as it will
  be experienced by readers who use a braille
  printer.
• Use the TouchUp Reading Order tool, Tags tab, and
  Content tab to examine the structure, reading
  order, and contents of a PDF in detail.

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Note

• The accessibility checker tools (Quick Check and
  Full Check) can help to identify areas of
  documents that may be in conflict with Adobe's
  interpretations of the accessibility guidelines
  referenced in the application and its
  documentation.
• However, these tools dont check documents
  against all accessibility criteria, including
  those in such referenced guidelines, and Adobe
  doesnt warrant that documents comply with any
  specific guidelines or regulations

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Check accessibility with Quick Check

• Use Quick Check to examine a PDF to see if it has
  searchable text, document structure tags, and
  appropriate security settings to make it
  accessible.
•  Press ShiftCtrl6 (Windows) or ShiftCommand6
  (Mac OS).
• If the document is unstructured, a message may
  appear, suggesting that you change reading order
  preferences.

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Check accessibility with Full Check

• Use Full Check to check a PDF for many of the
  characteristics of accessible PDFs.
• You can choose which kinds of accessibility
  problems to look for and how you want to view the
  results.
• Choose Advanced gt Accessibility gt Full Check.
• Select options for how you want to view the
  results, the page range to check, and which types
  of accessibility problems to check for.

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More

• Click Start Checking. Note A full accessibility
  check can be time-consuming. You can stop the
  process by pressing the Esc key.
• Consider choosing a smaller page range.You can
  choose to view the results of a full
  accessibility check as an HTML file or as
  comments that are placed throughout the document
  where the accessibility problems are detected.
• Because the Full Check feature is unable to
  distinguish between essential and nonessential
  content types, it may report issues that dont
  affect readability. Its a good idea to review
  all issues to determine which ones require
  correction.

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View Full Check results

• If you choose Create Accessibility Report in the
  Accessibility Full Check dialog box, you can
  specify a folder where you want the report to be
  saved. When the full check is complete, the
  accessibility report appears in the navigation
  pane and is also saved in the folder indicated.
  The name of the report file is the same as that
  of the source PDF, except that .pdf is replaced
  by PDF.html.
• Choose Advanced gt Accessibility gt Open
  Accessibility Report.
• Select the HTML file, and then click OK. The
  report appears in the navigation pane.
• Links in the accessibility report take you to the
  location of inaccessible elements in the document
  pane or to procedures that briefly explain how to
  fix accessibility problems.

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Note

• Note If you want to reopen the accessibility
  report with the associated PDF, dont move or
  rename either file after running the full check.
  The HTML file refers to the PDF file with a
  relative path.

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• Create Accessibility Report
• Creates an HTML report of accessibility issues,
  which is opened in the navigation pane and saved
  in the location indicated by the Folder field.
• Include Repair Hints In Accessibility Report
• Adds suggestions for fixing accessibility
  problems to HTML report or comments.
• Create Comments In Document
• Adds comments to the document that indicate
  accessibility problems.
• Delete all accessibility comments from the PDF
  after you repair the accessibility issues.
• Page Range
• The range of pages to check.
• Name
• The set of accessibility criteria to check. For
  the Section 508 and W3C guidelines, the options
  area includes a Browse button that links to the
  website for the respective guidelines. Select
  Adobe PDF to choose from options for the Adobe
  PDF accessibility standard
• Alternative Descriptions Are Provided
• Checks for tagged figures that are missing
  alternative text.
• Text Language Is Specified

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Features for accessible reading of PDFs

• Preferences and commands to optimize output for
  assistive software and devices, such as saving as
  accessible text for a braille printer
• Preferences and commands to make navigation of
  PDFs more accessible, such as automatic scrolling
  and opening PDFs to the last page read
• Accessibility Setup Assistant for easy setting of
  most preferences related to accessibility
• Keyboard alternatives to mouse actions
• Reflow capability to temporarily present the text
  of a PDF in a single easy-to-read column
• Read Out Loud text-to-speech conversion
• Support for screen readers and screen magnifiers

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Features for creating accessible PDFs

• Creation of tagged PDFs from authoring
  applications
• Conversion of untagged PDFs to tagged PDFs
• Security setting that allows screen readers to
  access text while preventing users from copying,
  printing, editing, and extracting text
• Ability to add text to scanned pages to improve
  accessibility

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More features

• Tools for editing reading order and document
  structure (Acrobat Professional only)
• Tools for creating accessible PDF forms (Acrobat
  Professional only)
• Though Acrobat Standard provides some
  functionality for making existing PDFs
  accessible, you must use Acrobat Professional to
  perform certain taskssuch as editing reading
  order or editing document structure tagsthat may
  be necessary to make some PDF documents and forms
  accessible.

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Setting accessibility preferences

• Acrobat provides several preferences that help
  make the reading of PDFs more accessible for
  visually impaired and motion-impaired users,
  including preferences that control how PDFs
  appear on the screen and are read by a screen
  reader.
• Most preferences related to accessibility are
  available through the Accessibility Setup
  Assistant, which provides on-screen instructions
  for setting these preferences. Some preferences
  that affect accessibility arent available
  through the Accessibility Setup Assistant these
  include preferences in the Reading, Forms, and
  Multimedia categories. You can set all
  preferences in the Preferences dialog box.

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Names for Preferences

• The names shown for some preferences in the
  Accessibility Setup Assistant are different from
  the names for the same preferences shown in the
  Preferences dialog box. Acrobat Help uses the
  names shown in the Preferences dialog box.
• For more information about accessibility features
  in Acrobat and PDF, visit the accessibility page
  of the Adobe website.

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Navigate and control the application with the
keyboard

• You can navigate by using the keyboard instead of
  the mouse. Several keyboard access features are
  available on Mac OS see the documentation for
  your operating system for details. On Windows,
  some of the keyboard shortcuts used to navigate
  in Acrobat may differ from those used in other
  Windows applications.
• When you open Acrobat within a web browser,
  keyboard commands are mapped to the web browser
  first. Consequently, some keyboard shortcuts may
  not be available for Acrobat or may be available
  only after you shift the focus to the PDF.
• For information on accessibility features for
  navigating Acrobat and PDF documents with the
  keyboard, visit the accessibility page of the
  Adobe website.

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Scroll automatically

• The automatic scrolling feature makes it easier
  to scan through long PDFs, especially reflowed
  documents. You can scroll through pages without
  using keystrokes or mouse actions.
• Choose View gt Automatically Scroll.
• Do any of the following
• To change the scrolling speed to a specific
  speed, press a number key (9 for fastest, 0 for
  slowest).
• To increase or decrease the scrolling speed,
  press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow key, depending
  on the direction of scrolling.
• To reverse the direction of scrolling, press the
  hyphen or minus sign key.
• To jump to the next or previous page, press the
  Left Arrow or Right Arrow key.
• To stop automatic scrolling, press Esc or choose
  View gt Automatically Scroll again.

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Save as accessible text for a braille printer

• Note This document uses the term braille
  printer to refer to any device that is used to
  convert accessible text to a form that can be
  used by a person with blindness or low vision.
• You can save a PDF as accessible text to print on
  a braille printer. Accessible text can be
  imported and printed out as formatted grade 1 or
  2 braille documents by using a braille
  translation application. See the documentation
  included with the braille translator for more
  information.
• A text version of a PDF contains no images or
  multimedia objects, although the text version of
  an accessible PDF contains alternative text
  descriptions for such objects.
• Choose File gt Save As.
• Choose Text (Accessible) from the Save As Type
  (Windows) or Format (Mac OS) menu.

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Reflow a PDF

• You can reflow a PDF to temporarily present it as
  a single column that is the width of the document
  pane. This reflow view can make the document
  easier to read on the small screen of a mobile
  device or on a standard monitor at a large
  magnification, without the need to scroll
  horizontally to read each line of text.
• You cannot save, edit, or print a document while
  it is in Reflow view.
• In most cases, only readable text appears in the
  reflow view. Text that doesnt reflow includes
  forms, comments, digital signature fields, and
  page artifacts, such as page numbers, headers,
  and footers. Pages that contain both readable
  text and form or digital signature fields dont
  reflow. Vertical text reflows horizontally.

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Reflowing an Untagged Document

• Acrobat temporarily tags an untagged document
  before reflowing it. As an author, you can
  optimize your PDFs for reflow by tagging them
  yourself. Tagging ensures that text blocks reflow
  and that content follows the appropriate
  sequences, so readers can follow a story that
  spans different pages and columns without other
  stories interrupting the flow.
• A quick way to check the reading order of a
  document is to view it in Reflow view.
• If the tagged PDF doesnt reflow the way you
  want, the content order or reading order of the
  PDF file may contain inconsistencies, or the
  tagging process itself may be the cause. You can
  use the Content tab or TouchUp Reading Order tool
  to resolve reflow problems.
• If the problem is simply that words dont
  hyphenate the way you expect them to, then you
  can insert special characters to resolve the
  problem.

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Reading a PDF with a screen reader

• Acrobat supports assistive software and
  devicessuch as screen readers and screen
  magnifiersthat enable visually impaired users to
  interact with computer applications. When
  assistive software and devices are in use,
  Acrobat may add temporary tags to open PDFs to
  improve their readability. Use the Accessibility
  Setup Assistant to improve how Acrobat interacts
  with the types of assistive software and devices
  that you use. When using a screen reader, you can
  change your reading settings for the current
  document by pressing ShiftCtrl5 (Windows) or
  ShiftCommand5 (Mac OS).
• See the documentation for your assistive software
  or device, or contact the vendor for more
  information about system requirements,
  compatibility requirements, and instructions for
  using this software or device with Acrobat.

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Read a PDF with Read Out Loud

• The Read Out Loud feature reads aloud the text in
  a PDF, including the text in comments and
  alternative text descriptions for images and
  fillable fields. In tagged PDFs, content is read
  in the order in which it appears in the
  documents logical structure tree. In untagged
  documents, the reading order is inferred, unless
  a reading order has been specified in the Reading
  preferences.
• Read Out Loud uses the available voices installed
  on your system. If you have SAPI 4 or SAPI 5
  voices installed from text-to-speech or language
  applications, you can choose them to read your
  PDFs.
• Note Read Out Loud isnt a screen reader, and
  some operating systems may not support it.

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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.
• Add fillable form fields and descriptions, and
  set the tab order.
• Tag the PDF.
• Add other accessibility features to the PDF.
• Evaluate the PDF and repair tagging problems.

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N.B.

• Though these stages are presented in an order
  that suits most needs, you may perform tasks in
  these stages in a different order or iterate
  between some of the stages. In all cases, you
  should first examine the document, determine its
  intended purpose, and use that analysis to
  determine the workflow that you apply.
• Consider accessibility before you convert a
  document to PDF.
• Whenever possible, think about accessibility when
  you create the source files in an authoring
  application, such as a word-processing or
  page-layout application.

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Authoring Application

• Typical tasks to do in the authoring application
  include adding alternative text to graphics,
  optimizing tables, and applying paragraph styles
  or other document-structure features that can be
  converted to tags. For more information, see
  Creating a tagged PDF from an authoring
  application.
• Note If you intend to design PDF forms, Adobe
  recommends using LiveCycle Designer, which is
  dedicated to the design of interactive and static
  forms. LiveCycle Designer adds structure tags to
  forms, improving accessibility.

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Add fillable form fields and descriptions, and
set the tab order

• If your document includes form fields, you must
  make form fields interactive (fillable) and
  include descriptions for the form fields. Use
  Forms gt Run Form Fields Recognition to
  automatically detect form fields and make them
  fillable.
• Acrobat Professional has a Forms toolbar that
  provides numerous tools for creating fillable
  form fields, such as buttons, check boxes, list
  boxes, and text boxes. When you create a field,
  you can type a description for it in the Tooltip
  box in the General tab of the fields Properties
  dialog box. Screen readers will read this text
  aloud to the user. You can also use the TouchUp
  Reading Order tool to add descriptions to form
  fields.

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Tagging the PDF

• Improve the accessibility of PDFs by adding and
  editing tags in Acrobat Professional. If a PDF
  doesnt contain tags, Acrobat may attempt to tag
  it automatically when users read or reflow it,
  and the results may be disappointing. If you
  provide users with a tagged PDF, the logical
  structure tree sends the contents to a screen
  reader or other assistive software or hardware in
  an appropriate order.
• For best results, tag a document when converting
  it to PDF from an authoring application.
  Alternatively, you can tag a PDF any time in
  Acrobat Professional.
• Tagging during conversion to PDF requires an
  authoring application that supports tagging in
  PDF. Tagging during conversion enables the
  authoring application to draw from the source
  documents paragraph styles or other structural
  information to produce a logical structure tree
  that reflects an accurate reading order and
  appropriate levels of tags. This tagging can more
  readily interpret the structure of complex
  layouts, such as embedded sidebars, closely
  spaced columns, irregular text alignment, and
  tables. Tagging during conversion can also
  properly tag the links, cross-references,
  bookmarks, and alternative text (when available)
  that are in the file.

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Tagging

• To tag a PDF in Acrobat Professional, use the Add
  Tags To Document command. This command works on
  any untagged PDF, such as one created with Adobe
  PDF Printer. Acrobat Professional analyzes the
  content of the PDF to interpret the individual
  page elements, their hierarchical structure, and
  the intended reading order of each page, and then
  builds a tag tree that reflects that information.
  It also creates tags for any links,
  cross-references, and bookmarks that you added to
  the document in Acrobat.
• Though the Add Tags To Document command
  adequately tags most standard layouts, it cannot
  always correctly interpret the structure and
  reading order of complex page elements, such as
  closely spaced columns, irregular text alignment,
  nonfillable form fields, and tables that dont
  have borders. Tagging these pages by using the
  Add Tags To Document command can result in
  improperly combined elements or out-of-sequence
  tags that cause reading order problems in the
  PDF.

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Tags Panel

• The Tags panel allows you to view, reorder,
  rename, modify, delete, and create tags.
• To view the Tags panel, select View gt Show/Hide gt
  Navigation Panes gt Tags.
• After expanding ltTagsgt and ltSectgt, a long list of
  tags should be visible.
• The list can be navigated, expanded, and
  collapsed using a mouse or keyboard.

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Many of the tags are similar, if not identical to
HTML

• below
• Tag Stands for
• ltH1gt to ltH6gt Heading 
• ltPgt Paragraph 
• ltLgt List
• Description/Note
• Similar to ltulgt or ltolgt in HTML
• ltLIgt List Item
• Should be nested just as in HTML, which can get
  very confusing.

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• Tag Stands for
• ltTablegt, ltTHgt, Table, Table Row
• ltTRgt, and ltTDgt, Table Header, Table Data 
• ltFiguregt Figure
• Description/Note
• Similar to ltimggt tag in HTML

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Highlight content

• One of the first things you should do in the tags
  panel is to select the Highlight Content in the
  Options ( ) menu. When this option is checked,
  selecting a tag should highlight the
  corresponding text, image, or other element in
  the PDF file.

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Find Tag From Selection

• Just as selecting a tag highlights the content in
  the body of the PDF file, there is a way to
  accomplish the opposite effect of highlighting
  the tag that corresponds to selected content.
• First, click on the Select Tool .
• Next, select a portion of text, an image, or a
  table.
• Finally, select the Options menu at the top of
  the Tags panel and then select Find Tag From
  Selection. This will highlight the tag or tags
  that contain the content you previously selected.

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Change tags

• At times, you will encounter a PDF file that
  contains incorrect tags.
• You can modify these by right-clicking the tag
  you want to change by selecting Properties, then
  the Tag tab, and then selecting the appropriate
  new tag type from the dropdown list labeled Type.
  
• For example, to change a tag from ltNormalgt to
  ltH1gt, select the ltNormalgt tag you want to change
  and do the following
• Right click the tag and select Properties and
  select Heading Level 1 from the list labeled Type.

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Add tags to an untagged document

• If you do not see any tags in the tags panel,
  your document is untagged, and you will need to
  tag the file.
• To add tags to an untagged document, choose Tools
  from the right-hand menu, then select
  Accessibility gt Add Tags to Document.
• This process can sometimes be extremely
  time-consuming, and you will almost certainly
  have to edit some of the tags.
• Still, it is a start and will probably be faster
  than doing all the work manually. This is
  especially true if the document contains tables.

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Evaluate the PDF and repair tagging problems.

• Once you have a tagged PDF, you must evaluate the
  document for reading order problems, tagging
  errors, and accessibility errors, and then repair
  them as needed.
• No matter which method you use to tag the PDF,
  youll probably need to use Acrobat Professional
  to touch up the tagging and reading order for
  complex page layouts or unusual page elements.

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• For example, the Add Tags To Document feature
  cant always distinguish between instructive
  figures and decorative page elements such as
  borders, lines, or background elements. It may
  incorrectly tag all of these as figures.
  Similarly, the Add Tags To Document feature may
  erroneously tag graphical characters within
  textsuch as drop capsas figures instead of
  including them in the tag that represents the
  rest of the text block. Such errors can clutter
  the tag tree and complicate the reading order
  that assistive technology relies on.
• If you tag a document from within Acrobat
  Professional, the application generates an error
  report after it completes the tagging process.
  You can use this report to guide you as you
  repair tagging problems. You can identify other
  tagging, reading order, and accessibility
  problems for any PDF in Acrobat Professional by
  using the Full Check tool or the TouchUp Reading
  Order tool.

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Create a tagged PDF from a web page

• A PDF that you create from a web page is only as
  accessible as the HTML source that it is based
  on. For example, if the web page relies on tables
  for its layout design (as many web pages do), the
  HTML code for the table may not flow in the same
  logical reading order as a tagged PDF would
  require, even though the HTML code is
  sufficiently structured to display all the
  elements correctly in a browser.
• Depending on the complexity of the web page, you
  may need to do extensive repairs by using the
  TouchUp Reading Order tool or editing the tag
  tree in Acrobat Professional.
• To produce the most accessible PDFs from web
  pages you create, first establish a logical
  reading order in their HTML code. For best
  results, employ the Web Content Accessibility
  Guidelines that are published by the World Wide
  Web Consortium (W3C). The guidelines are
  available on the W3C website at www.w3.org.

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Choose File

• Choose File gt Create PDF gt From Web Page.
• For URL, type the address of the web page, or
  navigate to the web page location.
• Click Settings.
• In the General tab, select Create PDF Tags, and
  then click OK.
• Select any other options as appropriate, and then
  click Create.

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• Creating a tagged PDF from an authoring
  application
• In most cases, you create tagged PDFs from within
  an authoring application, such as Adobe
  FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, or Microsoft Word.
  Creating tags in the authoring application
  generally provides better results than adding
  tags in Acrobat.
• PDFMaker provides conversion settings that let
  you create tagged PDFs in Microsoft Excel,
  PowerPoint, and Word.
• For an in-depth guide to creating accessible
  PDFs, visit the accessibility page of the Adobe
  website.
• For more information, see the documentation for
  your authoring application.

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About tags in combined PDFs

• You can combine multiple files from different
  applications in one operation to create a single
  PDF. For example, you can combine word-processing
  files with slide presentations, spreadsheets, and
  web pages.
• During conversion, Acrobat opens each authoring
  application, creates a tagged PDF, and assembles
  these PDFs into a single tagged PDF.
• The conversion process doesnt always correctly
  interpret the document structure for the combined
  PDF, because the files being assembled often use
  different formats. Because you may need to modify
  the reading order and tag tree of the combined
  document, you may need to use Acrobat
  Professional to create an accessible PDF from
  multiple documents.
• When you combine multiple PDFs into one tagged
  PDF, start with all untagged PDFs or all tagged
  PDFs. Combining tagged and untagged PDFs results
  in a partially tagged PDF that isnt accessible
  to people with disabilities some userssuch as
  those using screen readerswill be completely
  unaware of the pages that dont have tags. If you
  start with a mix of tagged and untagged PDFs, tag
  the untagged files before proceeding. If the PDFs
  are all untagged, add tags to the combined PDF
  after you finish inserting, replacing, and
  deleting pages.
• Keep in mind that when you insert, replace, or
  delete pages, Acrobat accepts existing tags into
  the tag tree of the consolidated PDF in the
  following manner
• When you insert pages into a PDF, Acrobat adds
  the tags (if any) for the new pages to the end of
  the tag tree, even if you insert the new pages at
  the beginning or the middle of the document.
• When you replace pages in a PDF, Acrobat adds the
  tags (if any) from the incoming pages to the end
  of the tag tree, even if you replace pages at the
  beginning or the middle of the document. Acrobat
  retains the tags (if any) for the replaced pages.
  
• When you delete pages from a PDF, Acrobat retains
  the tags (if any) of the deleted pages.
• Pages whose tags are out of order in the logical
  structure tree can cause problems for screen
  readers. Screen readers read tags in sequence
  down the tree, and therefore they might not reach
  the tags for an inserted page until the end of
  the tree. To fix this problem, youd use Acrobat
  Professional to rearrange the tag tree to put
  large groups of tags in the same reading order as
  the pages themselves. To avoid the need for this
  advanced step, plan so that you always insert
  pages to the end of a PDF, building the document
  from front to back in sequence. For example, if
  you create a title page PDF separately from the
  PDF that contains the body of the text, add the
  body PDF to the title page PDF, even though the
  body document is much larger to process. This
  approach puts the tags for the body of the text
  after the tags for the title page, and eliminates
  the need for you to rearrange the tags later in
  Acrobat Professional.
• The tags that remain from a deleted or replaced
  page dont connect to any content in the
  document. Essentially, they are large pieces of
  empty tag tree sections. These unneeded tags
  increase the file size of the document, slow down
  screen readers, and can make screen readers
  present confusing results. You should use Acrobat
  Professional to delete the tags of deleted pages
  from the tag tree.
• For more information, see Create merged PDFs and
  PDF packages.

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TouchUp Reading Order

• The TouchUp Reading Order tool allows a user to
  quickly add and edit PDF tags and view the
  reading order of elements on the page.
• Although it can speed up the tagging process, it
  does not take the place of the other tools
  mentioned previously.
• To use the TouchUp Reading Order tool, select
  Tools from the right-hand menu, then select
  Accessibility gt TouchUp Reading Order.
• When this feature is selected, the view on the
  screen changes. All of the content is enclosed in
  numbered boxes.
• Each of these boxes represent a tag and the
  number corresponds with the tag number in the
  Order panel. The TouchUp Reading Order window
  will also open.

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Note

• You will notice a group of buttons with the names
  of several common tags. You can use these buttons
  to assign tags to a selected block of text or an
  object.
• TouchUp Reading Order is not perfect. Selecting
  text is difficult and many tags are not
  supported. It is also somewhat difficult to
  assign alternate text to images. Still, it is
  easier to mark up a PDF file using this feature
  than any other way

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Adding/Changing tags

• There are two ways to select an area of text,
  image, table, or other element using TouchUp
  Reading Order.
• Drag a box around an element using the crosshairs
  that have replaced the default pointer.
• It is sometimes difficult to select exactly the
  right area, but it is a little easier if you try
  drawing a box that is slightly larger than the
  element.
• Once you have selected a new element, you can
  assign some of the most common tags to that
  element by clicking on one of the several
  buttons.

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Also

• You can also select everything within a box by
  clicking on the number in the top-left corner.
• Now that you have selected the text, you can
  assign a tag by clicking on the corresponding
  button.
• Once you select a button, Acrobat will place the
  selected content in the appropriate tag. If you
  have the Tags panel open, you can view these
  changes instantly.
• While in TouchUp Reading Order, you can also
  assign alternate text to images by Right-clicking
  on the image and choosing Edit Alternate Text.

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Button Adobe Tag Additional Information
Text ltPgt  
Form Field ltFormgt  
Heading 1 ltH1gt  
Heading 2 ltH2gt  
Heading 3 ltH3gt  
Figure ltFiguregt  
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Button Adobe Tag Additional Information
Figure/Caption ltFiguregt ltCaptiongt If you select the image and the nearby caption image will be tagged as a figure and the text will be tagged as its caption.
Table ltTablegt, ltTRgt, ltTHgt, and ltTDgt Acrobat attempts to assign rows, columns, and headings. Sometimes it does this correctly, but this should still be checked with the table inspector.
Cell ltTDgt Can be used to merge cells if they are incorrectly split.
Formula ltFormulagt  
Background none Also called an artifact, this will hide an item completely from a screen reader.
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Add other accessibility features to the PDF.

• This stage includes setting the document
  language, making sure that security settings
  dont interfere with screen readers, creating
  accessible links, and adding bookmarks.

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The Creation of PDFs

• PDF files are not typically created in Acrobat.
  They are usually created in another program and
  converted to PDF.
• There are dozens or probably hundreds of programs
  that can create PDF files, but very few of them
  produce tagged PDF files.

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Applications to Create Accessible PDFs

• If you are using Microsoft Word or PowerPoint,
  OpenOffice.org Writer, or Adobe tools such as
  InDesign, you can often create accessible, tagged
  PDF files without opening Acrobat.
• Of course, the accessibility of the PDF depends
  on the accessibility of the original document.

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MS Word

• The majority of the PDF files on the web were
  probably created in Microsoft Word. The good news
  is that it is possible to create accessible PDF
  files in Office, as long as the following
  requirements are met
• The file must be accessible. That includes
  providing alternative text for images, proper
  headings, appropriate link text, etc. For more
  information, read our tutorial on Microsoft Word.

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• Office 2000-2003 users must have Acrobat
  installed, as well as the add-in. Office 2007
  users must have either Acrobat or the Microsoft
  PDF add-in installed. Office 2010 users can
  create tagged PDF files natively or with the
  Adobe add-in.
• The file must be exported correctly. If a file is
  created by printing to PDF, it will not be
  correctly tagged.

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In MS-Word 2007

• Before you save the file, select Options and
  ensure that the Document structure tags for
  accessibility option is selected.

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Note
78
Or you can select Create PDF from the Acrobat
ribbon.
The program should create a tagged PDF file by
default. If this is not the case select Adobe PDF
conversion options and ensure that Create
Accessible (Tagged) PDF file is selected
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Word 2000-2003

• When you install Adobe Acrobat, an add-in for
  Microsoft Office is installed by default. The
  add-in allows you to convert Office files to PDF
  without opening Acrobat. This add-in also
  installs an Adobe PDF menu, which should appear
  in the Menu bar.
• To convert a Word Document to PDF, Select Adobe
  PDF gt Convert to Adobe PDF.
• If your document is correctly structured, this
  should automatically create a tagged PDF. To
  ensure that files are being converted correctly,
  go to Adobe PDF gt Change Conversion Settings and
  ensure Enable Accessibility and Reflow with
  tagged Adobe PDF is selected.

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Convert to PDF in Acrobat

• If you are having trouble converting a document
  to tagged PDF in Office, or if you want to merge
  multiple documents into one tagged PDF file, you
  can convert a file to PDF in Acrobat.
• There are several ways to do this one of the
  easiest is to select File gt Create PDF gt From
  File (in Acrobat X, File gt Create gt PDF From
  File).
• If the file format is supported (i.e. the file is
  created in a Microsoft or Adobe product), the
  file should be tagged as it is converted.
• If no tags are present, select Edit gt Preferences
  gt Convert to PDF, choose the correct format,
  select Conversions Settings, and ensure that
  Enable accessibility and reflow is selected.

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Order Panel

• The order panel allows you to change the reading
  order of the content on the page so it matches
  the visual reading order. To open the Order
  panel, select or View gt Show/Hide gt Navigation
  Panes gtOrder or select Show Order Panel in the
  TouchUp Reading Order tool.

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• At first glance, it resembles the Tags panel, but
  there are a few differences.
• The document is divided into pages.
• Each element is numbered, and the numbers start
  over on each page.
• There is no hierarchy of elements everything is
  on the same level.
• These differences help make the Order panel a
  much easier way to reorder tags. To change the
  reading order of an element, just click and drag
  the tag to the location that reflects the correct
  reading order. This new order will be reflected
  in the Tags panel and when the document is viewed
  in Reflow mode.

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Alternative text

• The easiest way to add alternative text is with
  the TouchUp Reading Order tool. When an image is
  tagged as an image (or figure), the alternative
  text will appear next to the image. If it has no
  alternative text, the caption will read "Figure -
  No alternate text exists."

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• To add alternative text, Right click on the image
  and select Edit Alternate Text. Enter the
  appropriate alternative text in the dialog box.

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Table Inspector

• The Table Inspector allows you to easily identify
  and assign scope to table headers.
• With the TouchUp Reading Order tool open, select
  a table and then select Table Inspector. You can
  now select table cells that should be headers.
  Right click on a selected cell or cells and
  choose Table Cell Properties. A dialog box will
  appear.

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• If the selected cell(s) needs to be tagged as a
  header, select the Header Cell option and assign
  a scope of either Row or Column. After selecting
  OK, you will notice that the table header cells
  will be highlighted in red and the data cells
  will be highlighted in gray.

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Artifacts

• Artifacts are elements that are ignored by a
  screen reader, much like an image with empty
  alternative text in HTML is ignored. Important
  text should never be labeled as an artifact. As
  with alternative text, the easiest way to change
  an element to or from an artifact is with the
  TouchUp Reading Order tool. Select the element
  and press the Background button to make it an
  artifact.
• To search for artifacts, go to the Tags panel and
  select Options gt Find. A window will appear with
  several search options. Artifact is the default
  search, so click Find. If there are any
  artifacts, the search will identify them and
  allow you to change them to other elements.
• To change a tag to an artifact in the tags panel,
  right click on the item and select Change Tag to
  Artifact.

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Some of the main requirements for preparing
accessible PDFs

• When a paper document is scanned to create a PDF
  the resulting file is a PDF Image Only file -
  that is, bitmap pictures of the pages. Although
  the page can be viewed with Acrobat, the content
  cannot be recognised by screen readers and so is
  not accessible.
• To make a PDF Image Only file accessible the
  document needs to be "captured" using Adobe
  Acrobat Capture 3 or the paper capture facility
  provided with Acrobat 6 and a tagged PDF file
  created http//www.adobe.com/products/acrcapture/
  main.html
• Text files such as documents generated by word
  processing or desktop publishing software are the
  most suitable for making accessible PDFs.

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Tagged Documents

• Accessible documents must be in the tagged PDF
  format and this is easiest to do with documents
  generated with Microsoft Office 2000 or higher.
• If you are not using Microsoft Office it may be
  necessary to download the 'Make Accessible
  Plug-in' from the Adobe website for Acrobat 5,
  use the automatic tagging facility in Acrobat 6
  and perhaps create some of the tags by hand.
• Word 2000 lets you create tagged Adobe PDF files.
  However the Word document must be well marked up
  and use styles to format text such as headings
  and paragraphs. That is, not by highlighting a
  piece of text and using the font and bold options
  to change its look.

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More

• Also, use styles to provide structure to the
  document. Use the "spacing before" and "spacing
  after" paragraph properties rather than the enter
  (return) key to add space between paragraphs.
• Use the Column command in Word to create columns
  and the Insert Table or Draw Table tool to create
  tables.
• Add alternative text to all images. In Word you
  can add descriptive text via the Web tab of the
  pictures Properties dialogue box within the
  Format menu.
• All the parts of a composite image should be
  grouped using the Group command.
• Use the Acrobat Tags palette and the forms tool
  to create accessible electronic PDF forms.

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Untagged PDF files

• Untagged PDF files such as those created with
  Acrobat 4 (and earlier) can be converted into
  accessible (tagged) PDF with the 'Make
  Accessible' plug-in developed for Acrobat 5 or
  from within Acrobat 6. Tagged files created in
  this way should always be checked with a screen
  reader for reading order and content sense as
  well as accessibility.
• Information about the 'Make Accessible' plug-in
  and download are available at http//www.adobe.co
  m/support/downloads/detail.jsp?hexID88de
• When information is provided via a PDF, the link
  to the document should include a short summary of
  the information it contains, an indication of the
  document size in KB file size and page number and
  an estimated download time at 56 kbps.

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Is PDF Accessibility Still An Issue?

• The short answer is YES
• The commitment Adobe has made to improving the
  accessibility of PDFs has been widely recognised
  by disability groups and accessibility advocates
  and has directly benefited many users of
  assistive technologies.
• The general opinion of the accessibility
  community world wide however, is that the use of
  PDFs on Websites still presents a significant
  barrier for people with disabilities, in
  particular for sight impaired Web users who rely
  on screen reader technology.
• In Australia, the Human Rights and Equal
  Opportunity Commission has indicated that the use
  of PDF documents on Websites is still a
  significant accessibility issue.

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Areas of Concern 1

• The use of PDF documents on Websites raise five
  possible areas of concern
• Legacy documents. PDF documents generated with
  early versions of Acrobat that are not accessible
  and have not been converted into more accessible
  PDFs. In cases where these legacy documents are
  no longer relevant the simplest solution to this
  problem is their removal from the site.
• Scanned documents. PDF Image Only files created
  by scanning an existing printed document are
  often very hard to make accessible.
• Unused accessibility enhancements. The enhanced
  accessibility of PDFs generated with recent
  versions of Adobe Acrobat is only achievable when
  the accessibility features are used
  appropriately.

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More areas of Concern 2

• Lack of accessible PDF support by all operating
  systems. Currently full accessibility support is
  only available for 32-bit Windows environments.
• Variable assistive technology support for PDFs.
  Accessibility of PDFs by assistive technologies
  depends on the manufacturers of those
  technologies incorporating PDF support into their
  products. Several manufacturers have done this
  with recent versions of their products, but for
  the many users of earlier versions of the
  technology PDFs will remain inaccessible.
• In 2004, the use of PDFs can still cause
  accessibility problems for some Web users.
  However over the next few years, the extent of
  this problem is likely to diminish as older PDFs
  are removed from Websites, more accessible PDFs
  are produced and an increasing number of
  assistive technology users upgrade their devices.

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Alternatives for PDF Content

• PDFs are a non-standard W3C format that requires
  the Acrobat browser plug-in to access the
  information contained in the document. Even
  though recent advances mean that it is now
  possible to create a PDF document that can be
  accessed by a greater number of people, PDFs
  should not be considered accessible in terms of
  the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
• Accessibility enhanced PDFs still can't be
  accessed by a range of web users including
• People who are unable to install the Acrobat
  reader software.
• People with slow connection speeds who are not
  willing to install Acrobat.
• People who use operating systems and browsers
  that do not support PDF.
• People with assistive technology versions that do
  not support PDF.

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If it cannot be done

• "If after best efforts, you cannot create an
  accessible page, provide a link to an alternative
  page that uses W3C technologies, is accessible,
  has equivalent information (or functionality),
  and is updated as often as the inaccessible
  (original) page."WCAG Checkpoint 11.4 In most
  cases, the text information contained in a PDF
  was originally generated in some other format,
  commonly MS Word or Excel. This original source
  material can be used (and where necessary
  modified) to create an equivalent alternative for
  the information provided in the PDF
• The ideal accessible alternative for content
  provided in a PDF file is an equivalent HTML page
  that is both valid and accessible.

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RTF

• Where a HTML alternative is not possible, the
  information should be provided in text format
  (RTF) and failing this as a Word or Excel
  document. In these cases, descriptions should be
  provided for information conveyed via charts,
  graphs and images.
• Where it is not possible to provide an accessible
  online alternative for some content, for example
  a complex form or detailed geographic map,
  contact details such as a phone number and/or
  email address should be provided so that someone
  who is unable to access the PDF can still obtain
  the information in contains.

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References and Additional Information

• Maximum Accessibility Making Your Web Site More
  Usable for Everyone. John Slatin and Sharron
  Rush, 2003. Addison-Wesley, Boston.
• Adobe Acrobat Solutions for Accessibility. Adobe
  
• How to Create Accessible Adobe PDF Files. Adobe
• Is PDF Accessible? AccessIT (National Center on
  Accessible Information Technology in Education,
  University of Washington)
• Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Techniques. WebAim
• Quick reference for Adobe Acrobat 5.0 and 6.0.
  University of Wisconsin-Madison
• Accessibility of PDF Documents. Jim Byrne, MCU
  Accessible web design consultancy.
• PDF and Public Documents A White Paper, Janina
  Sajka and Joe Roeder. American Foundation for the
  Blind
• World Wide Web Access Disability Discrimination
  Act Advisory Notes. Australian Human Rights and
  Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC)

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• http//www.w3.org/WAI/GL/WCAG-PDF-TECHS-20010913/
• http//macromedia.com/accessibility/products/acrob
  at/training.html