PDF documents are produced in a variety of ways. Steps described here are intended to remediate the most critical accessibility issues in your PDF document but may not be effective in every case. 

This guide describes common remediation techniques for issues identified in the Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Checker. To perform the tasks listed here, you will need a full license for Adobe Acrobat. 

Note: Whenever possible, consider recreating your PDF from a more accessible source document or reproduce the content in a more accessible format like Word or HTML.

Check PDF for critical issues

Summary: Scanned/image-only and untagged documents are not suitable for sharing. 

  • Open your document in the full version of Adobe Acrobat.
  • From the All Tools menu, select Prepare for Accessibility, and then Check for Accessibility
    • If Image-Only PDF fails, proceed to Fix Image Only Failure
    • If Tagged PDF fails, proceed to Autotag PDF
    • If none of these issues are present, proceed to Manual Checks

Fix Image-Only Failure

  • In the Accessibility Checker results, open the Document section
  • Perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
    • Right-click on Image-only PDF-Failed and select Fix
    • From the Output drop-down, select Editable Text and Images; select OK
  • When the OCR is complete, re-run the Acrobat Accessibility Checker

Autotag a PDF

  • In Accessibility Checker, right-click on Tagged PDF-Failed and select Fix
  • View the Tag Tree (Optional)
  • Run the Acrobat Accessibility Checker

Complete Manual Checks

Summary: Manual checks are needed for issues that cannot be checked automatically.

Logical Reading Order

  • Open Prepare for Accessibility and select Fix Reading Order
  • In the Reading Order panel, select Page Content Order to view the reading order
  • Use the Order side panel to drag content into the correct reading order as needed

Color Contrast

  • Check any contrast issues using a color contrast tool like Colour Contrast Analyser
  • Correct contrast issues in source document

Set Document Properties

Summary: Document properties provide important information to users and to assistive technology.

Primary Language

  • In Accessibility Checker, right click on Primary Language - Failed and select Fix
  • Select English or the primary language of your document

Title

  • In Accessibility Checker, right-click on Title and select Fix
  • Enter the title of your document in the provided text field

Note: these and other properties can also be set in the tabbed Document Properties sheet in Acrobat (CTRL+D)

Common Remediation Tasks

Summary: Remediation needs will vary depending on the nature of the PDF, how it was constructed, and other factors.

Alternate Text [VIDEO: Fixing ALT Text in Acrobat]

  • In Accessibility Checker, right-click on Figure Alternate Text—Fail and select Fix
  • The Set Alternate Text tool lets you add or edit ALT text for the images in your PDF

Tables [VIDEO: Fixing Headers in Acrobat]

  • With the table visible on the screen, open Prepare for Accessibility and select Fix Reading Order
  • Select the TABLE overlay; in the Reading Order panel, select Table Editor
  • With a mouse, select any TD cells that should be TH cells
  • For each cell:
    • Right-click on each cell and select Table Cell Properties
    • Set the cell type to Header and the scope to Row, Column, or Both
  • Note: Consider remediating data tables in an accessible source document and reexporting to PDF.

Forms

  • Tagged Form Fields – Failed
    • Open the Accessibility Tags Tree
    • From the Options menu (three dots), select Find
    • In the Find Element dialog, select Unmarked Annotations
    • Select Search Document
    • Select Find and then Tag Element
    • Repeat until all Untagged Elements are found
  • Field Descriptions – Failed
    • With the PDF form open, open the Prepare a Form toolset
    • Open the field properties (right-click OR open in Fields panel)
    • Enter accessible description in Tooltip field
    • Repeat until all Field Description issues are corrected

Note: Consider alternate formats for generating forms and collecting data.

Lists

  • List items – Failed
    • Locate the failed list item (right-click on issue, select Show in Tags Panel)
    • Ensure that <LI> is child to a parent <L> tag
      • If necessary, right-click, select New Tag, select List
      • Drag <L> tag into correct position
      • Drag <LI> tag under <L> tag
  • Lbl and LBody – Failed
    • Locate the failed element (right-click on issue, select Show in Tags Panel)
    • Ensure that <LBody>is child to a parent <LI> tag
      • If necessary, right-click, select New Tag, select List Item
      • Drag <LI> tag into correct position
      • Drag <LBody> tag under <LI> tag

Headings

  • Appropriate Nesting – Failed
    • Locate the failed element (right-click on issue, select Show in Tags Panel)
    • Change the heading tag to reflect the correct level:
      • In the tag tree, right-click on the tag, select Properties, and select the correct heading level OR
      • Open Fix Reading Order, select the incorrect heading overlay, and select the correct heading level from the Reading Order panel

Note: Properly nested headings allow users to more effectively navigate your content.