Creating Accessible PDFs using Adobe
Acrobat XI Pro
The University of Manitoba is committed to providing an accessible learning and working environment1.
The University of Manitoba has designated Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to facilitate the
implementation of accommodations for students with documented disabilities.2 SAS has produced this
document to provide instructors and staff with information on how to create accessible PDF documents
Adobe PDF
PDF (Portable Document Format), developed by Adobe, is a file format that allows for the sharing of
static documents and images independent of application software, hardware, and operating system. The
PDF file format preserves the original style, formatting, and layout of a document.
Starting your PDF
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1
The easiest and most efficient way of making most PDF’s accessible is to start with an accessible
source document. Microsoft Word and Pages for Mac are usually the best for this3.
o The worst way to produce a PDF is by scanning a printed document – this is essentially a
picture with no text for a screen reader to read. A person can run an OCR (Optical
Character Recognition) but the quality of the scan needs to be incredibly high, there is
no formatting or structure, and it can mix up 1’s, L’s, and I’s.
Once you have an accessible source document you can “Save As” and change the format to PDF.
o Avoid “Print to PDF” as this will not carry over any formatting, structure, or Alt Text you
have included in your original document. It is better than scanning a printed document,
but not much…
When you switch the format to PDF, you can click on “Options” to make sure “Document
Structure Tags for Accessibilty” is checked off. It should be checked off by default but it is not a
bad idea to make sure.
o This will carry over most of the formatting you have done in the source document and
save you time making your PDF fully accessible.
In “Options” you can also select “Create Bookmarks Using Headings” if you want bookmarks in
your PDF for easier navigation.
http://umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/media/Accessibility_Policy_-_2015_01_01.pdf
http://umanitoba.ca/admin/governance/media/Student_Accessibility_Procedure_-_2015_01_01.pdf
3
http://umanitoba.ca/student/saa/accessibility/media/creating-accessible-doc-word-2016.docx
2
“Make Accessible” Function
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Acrobat has a “Make Accessible” function found under “Tools” then in the “Action Wizard”.
Once you select “Make Accessible” you can press “Start” and the action wizard will talk you
through step-by-step, informing you what information to include.
o Filling in a Title is important; Subject, Author, and Keywords are less important.
o Set the primary language to whatever language it is that you are using (most likely
English, but not necessarily) and leave the other defaults the same.
o If you are producing a fillable form allow it to “Detect Form Fields” and fill in whatever
information is required; if not, the skip this step. This will ensure each field is tagged and
labelled properly.
o Set the reading language.
o Set any Alt Text that may be required.
o Run the Accessibility Checker as prompted and improve any areas as required.
This function will walk you through each part of making your document accessible and is the
easiest way to ensure you don’t forget any steps. However, sometimes it will direct you to do
something without providing very good instructions so some more detail is provided further on
in this document.
Accessibility Checker
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Acrobat has a built-in accessibility checker that will let you know if there are any areas that need
to be improved. Find the Accessibility Checker in “Tools”, “Accessibility”, “Full Check”.
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Green checkmarks mean that the item has passed and is accessible; blue question marks require
manual confirmation; red x’s fail and require improvement.
o Any areas of concern will be highlighted as “Issues”, this will include everything that
requires manually checking and that has failed.
o There are a few items that will always receive a blue question mark – colour contrast
and reading order is something the checker requires human confirmation.
o To fix a failed issue, right-click and select “Fix”. Or, follow the steps below; if the
instructions below don’t cover what you need, you can right-click the issue and select
“Explain” to be directed to the Adobe Acrobat webpage for detailed instructions.
Images
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All images in PDF need to have Alternate Text (Alt Text) to ensure a screen reader user gets the
same information from reading the document as someone who is sighted. If you have created
your PDF from a source document as recommended above, nothing else is required for images.
To check your Alt Text or if you want to change, add, or update the Alt Text, go to “Tools” and
select “Accessibility”. There will then be an option to “Set Alternate Text”.
o This option will walk you through each image and will show the existing Alt Text and will
allow you to add or update as necessary.
o Alt Text is how a person using a screen reader will be able to get the same information a
sighted person is getting from the image.
o Alt Text should be concise and descriptive to get the image across.
o You should not start your alt text with “Image of…” – get right to the point, a screen
reader will let the person know it is an image.
Reading Order
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It is important to check the “tagging” in a PDF to ensure the reading order and structure makes
sense to a person using a screen reader.
To check your reading order, go to “Tools” and select “Accessibility”. There will then be an
option to “Touch up Reading Order”. Make sure “Show page content groups” is checked off and
select “Structure Types” to see how each section is tagged (represented).
Click on the “Show Order Panel” button as this will make editing much simpler.
o Within the Order Panel you can delete or move a tag to update its reading order.
o Each tag will likely be labelled “P” which means it is considered a generic paragraph. You
can right-click on each tag in the Order Panel and update headings to whatever is most
appropriate (heading 1, heading 2, etc.).
o Remove any unnecessary tags to make sure everything is neat and tidy.