PDF guidelines and tools

Familiarize yourself with the accessibility basics to ensure your PDF meets accessibility standards.

Key accessibility elements include

• A designated language
• Alternative/descriptive text for images
• Structured content (headings, lists and tags)
• Readable, selectable text
• Accessible forms, tables and hyperlinks
• Compatibility with screen readers and text-to-speech software
• Proper contrast and color usage

Creating new content

1. Use Microsoft’s built-in Accessibility Assistant in your source file (Word, PowerPoint or Excel) to format and structure your document for accessibility. 
2. Use Microsoft’s free Accessibility Checker to review your document before converting it to a PDF file. The checker is available in Word, Excel, Outlook, OneNote and PowerPoint on Windows and in Office for the web or Mac.

Fixing accessibility issues in existing PDFs

1. Run the PDF file through an accessibility checker. Users with access to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can do this directly in the PDF. If Acrobat Pro software is unavailable, free online accessibility checkers are available (see list below). 
2. Review accessibility issues and fix them in the source document if it is still available before converting the file back to a PDF. 
3. In cases where a source file is not available and/or a user does not have the knowledge or software to fix accessibility issues, consider using an online remediation service. There are several available, and they generally charge per project at a rate of $5 per page (see list below). The service corrects all issues found and delivers an accessible PDF. 

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (paid subscription required) is the most commonly used tool and the simplest option for users with access to an Adobe Acrobat Pro DC account. 

Use the PDF accessibility tool under Tools → Accessibility Check → Full Check.

PDFix

PDFix (free and paid options) offers several free online PDF tools, including: 

• Make PDF Accessible
• Add Tags to PDF
• PDF Validation
• PDF Data Extraction
• PDF to HTML
• PDFix Desktop Lite: This free desktop application lets you view PDF files and navigate through tags, content, annotations and bookmarks. As a PDF validator, it verifies and checks your PDF documents for conformity with accessibility standards.

PAC 2024 (for Windows only)

PAC 2024 (free download) is a free PDF/UA accessibility checker.

• Its validator allows you to check your PDFs for compliance with PDF/UA and WCAG standards.
• It provides a summary report, a view of the tag tree with all properties and attributes and information about the document structure.

AccessiBE

AccessiBE ($5-25 per page) checks and delivers accessibility-compliant files 

• Pay on a project basis—no monthly or annual subscription

• How it works: create an account and upload files. They go through a remediation and review process to fix any issues. The accessible files are then available to download. 

CommonLook PDF (Windows only)

CommonLook PDF is a suite of PDF and web accessibility software options.

• CommonLook PDF Validator is a free PDF accessibility checker that works as a plugin within Adobe Acrobat. It is a good option for users who want to check their documents' accessibility but do not have Acrobat Pro DC. 

• It tests and validates documents against the leading accessibility standards and provides users with a certification report for each tested document.

• They also offer paid remediation services. 

UserWay

• UserWay (PDF remediation $5/per page) is an accessibility wizard plugin for Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) that fixes accessibility violations in the source document.

• UserWay also remediates published and archived PDFs for $5 per page.

If you decide a PDF merits posting, ensure it meets accessibility standards by using the resources below.