Make PDFs Accessible

Fix PDFs so screen readers can read them.

1 have proper structure, reading order, and 1—not just visual formatting.

Your downloadable brochures are “inaccessible.” What does that even mean? When a screen reader opens your PDF, it will read text out of order, skip graphics entirely, or announce “image image image” with no context. PDFs need internal structure, not just good looks.

Document accessibility lawsuits are surging. In 2023, inaccessible PDFs became a major target—if your downloadable content can’t be read by screen readers, you’re exposed. Universities, government agencies, and businesses have all been sued over PDFs. The fix isn’t hard, but ignoring it is expensive.

What Makes a PDF Accessible

• Tagged: Has internal structure (headings, paragraphs, lists)
• Ordered: Reading order matches visual layout
• Alt text: Images have descriptions
• Searchable: Text is actual text, not images of text
• Navigable: Has bookmarks for long documents

Creating Accessible PDFs

From Microsoft Word

1. Use Word’s built-in Heading styles (Heading 1, 2, 3)
2. Add alt text to images (right-click ? Edit Alt Text)
3. Use real lists, not manually typed bullets
4. Run Accessibility Checker (Review ? Check Accessibility)
5. Export as PDF (File ? Save As ? PDF)
6. Check “Document structure tags for accessibility”

From Adobe InDesign

1. Use paragraph styles mapped to PDF tags
2. Set reading order in Articles panel
3. Add alt text via Object Export Options
4. Export as PDF/UA (universal accessibility)

Fixing Existing PDFs (Acrobat Pro)

1. Open in Acrobat Pro
2. Tools ? Accessibility ? Full Check
3. Fix issues in the Accessibility Report
4. Tools ? Reading Order to fix structure
5. Add tags if missing (Autotag Document)

Reading Order

Multi-column layouts are tricky. A two-column brochure will read:

” Our we offer the best Company services in the…”

Instead of left column then right column.

Fix in Acrobat: Tools ? Reading Order ? drag to reorder content blocks.

Quick Accessibility Check

Verify these items are working correctly.

• File ? Properties ? Description ? “Tagged PDF: Yes” ?
• Can you select and copy all text? ?
• View ? Read Out Loud ? reads in correct order? ?
• Every image has alt text? ?

When to Use HTML Instead

PDFs are harder to make accessible than web pages. Consider:

• Is this content that changes frequently? ? Web page
• Does it need to be printed exactly as designed? ? PDF
• Is it a form people fill out? ? Web form (way more accessible)

Form Fields in Accessible PDFs

PDF forms are a frequent accessibility failure. If your PDF contains fillable fields, each field needs a tooltip label that screen readers can announce. In Acrobat Pro, open Forms > Edit, select each field, and add a Tooltip matching the visible label. Without this, a screen reader user hears “text field” with no indication of what to enter. Radio buttons and checkboxes need group labels. Tab order must follow the visual layout—test by pressing Tab through every field with your eyes closed.

Scanned PDFs and OCR

A scanned PDF is just a photograph of a page. Screen readers see nothing. Run OCR in Acrobat Pro (Scan & OCR > Recognize Text) or use the free Tesseract engine for batch processing. OCR accuracy depends on scan quality—300 DPI minimum, clean originals, no skew. After OCR, you still need to add tags, reading order, and alt text. For documents with complex layouts, handwriting, or low-contrast text, OCR will produce errors. Proofread the output. If the original source file exists, recreate the PDF from that instead—it will always be more accurate than OCR.

Color Contrast in PDFs

PDF accessibility is not just about structure. Text must meet a 4.5:1 contrast ratio against its background (WCAG AA). Light gray text on white, or colored text on busy backgrounds, fails. Use the Colour Contrast Analyser (free, from TPGi) to check. Charts and infographics need patterns or labels in addition to color—never rely on color alone to convey meaning.

The PDF Accessibility Checklist

• PDFs have proper heading structure
• Images in PDFs have alt text
• Reading order is logical (test with screen reader)
• PDFs are tagged for accessibility

Sources

• W3C – PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0
• Adobe – Creating Accessible PDFs
• Section508.gov – Accessible PDF Authoring