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Make PDF Documents Accessible

Learn how to create or remediate PDFs for accessibility. Includes tagging, OCR, and tools.

6 min read
serious severityWCAG Level AWCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 4.1.2Auto-detectable

What Is It?

Accessible PDFs have: proper heading structure, tagged images with alt text, form fields with labels, proper language declaration, readable text (not just scanned images), and proper reading order.

Affected users: Blind and low vision users, screen reader users, users with motor disabilities, cognitive disability users

Why It Matters

Many important documents (contracts, reports, tax forms) are PDFs. Inaccessible PDFs completely block screen reader users. Organizations using inaccessible PDFs face legal risk under ADA.

Good news: OCR (Optical Character Recognition) can scan images. Adobe Acrobat Pro can auto-tag PDFs. But manual review and correction is often needed for complex documents.

How to Detect This Issue

Test PDF with screen reader (NVDA, JAWS). Check if content is readable and in logical order. Run accessibility checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Convert scanned PDFs with OCR.

Automated detection: Run a free SiteArmor scan to automatically detect this issue across your entire website. Check your site →

Code Examples & Fixes

HTML / CSS

Before (inaccessible)
<a href="report.pdf">Report</a>
After (accessible)
<a href="report.pdf">Q4 Financial Report (PDF, 2MB, accessible)</a>

Link text should indicate it's a PDF and ideally file size. In the PDF itself, ensure proper tagging and structure.

React / Next.js

Before
const reports = [{pdf: "file.pdf"}]; reports.map(r => <a href={r.pdf}>Download</a>)
After
const reports = [{pdf: "file.pdf", title: "2024 Annual Report", size: "5MB"}]; reports.map(r => <a href={r.pdf}>{r.title} (PDF, {r.size})</a>)

Include PDF metadata in links. Use descriptive link text. Ensure PDFs themselves are accessible.

WordPress

Before
PDF uploaded, embedded without any accessibility metadata
After
PDF uploaded to media library, link includes filename and size, PDF is tagged for accessibility in Adobe Acrobat

WordPress: always link to PDFs descriptively. Use plugins like PDF Accessibility to help remediate PDFs.

Shopify Liquid

Before
Product manuals as PDFs without structure or OCR
After
Product manuals as OCR-scanned, tagged PDFs with alt text for images, proper heading structure, form fields labeled

Shopify: ensure all downloadable PDFs (manuals, terms, privacy) are accessible. Use Adobe Acrobat Pro to tag and remediate.

Common Mistakes

✗

Uploading scanned images as PDFs (text is just an image, not readable)

✗

Images in PDFs without alt text

✗

No heading structure, just formatted text that looks like headings

✗

Form fields in PDFs that aren't properly tagged as form fields

✗

Language not declared in PDF metadata

✗

Incorrect reading order (content tagged in wrong sequence)

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I make a PDF accessible?
In Adobe Acrobat Pro: File > Properties > Accessibility. Run auto-tagging, then manually review. Add alt text to images. Tag form fields. Set reading order. Or use PDF accessibility tools.
What if my PDF is just a scanned image?
Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to convert image to searchable text. Adobe Acrobat Pro has built-in OCR. Then tag headings, images, etc.
Do I need to provide HTML versions of PDFs?
Ideally yes for important documents (terms, reports). At minimum, ensure PDFs are accessible. HTML is easier to make accessible than PDFs.
What's a 'tagged PDF'?
Tagging adds structural information to PDFs. Tags identify headings, paragraphs, images, lists, form fields. Tagged PDFs are readable by screen readers.

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