PDF Accessibility

Purpose of this Training

This course exists as a follow up to the Word and PowerPoint courses in the document accessibility series. A properly formatted source document from Word or PowerPoint will create a mostly accessible PDF document with tags, correct reading order, and annotations. In this training, you will learn how to configure Adobe Acrobat and perform basic evaluation and remediation of your content.

Advanced topics help users understand how to tag a PDF without a source document.

macOS Users

The macOS version of Adobe Acrobat is designed to function identically to the Windows version, but some exceptions apply. Adobe created a support page that outlines the differences between the two versions.

All Users

In 2023, Adobe introduced a new user interface for Adobe Acrobat this is more intuitive and modern looking. My training will be updated to conform to this new look in the future, but for now it applies to the legacy user interface. If you're using this training, you should consider disabling the new acrobat experience in the menu options.

Topics in the Training

• Understand the PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) standards
• Review PDF conversion options when exporting your source document
• Understand how to enable the tag tree
• Use the Accessibility Checker to fix common issues in the tag tree including:
  • Adding a document title and language
  • Adding alt text to images
  • Fixing header hierarchy problems
  • Evaluating exported link tags
  • Evaluating exported list tags
  • Understanding the logical reading order warnings
  • Checking Color Contrast

Other Resources

Access Academy has a PDF training with embedded quiz material to help you master your knowledge. You may need to register, which is free and easy.

Please continue to the PDF Accessibility modules.