Use Acrobat Pro DC
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is the application commonly used to check the accessibility of PDF files. All faculty and staff have a license for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC on their managed machines.
A first step is to determine if your PDF file is “tagged.” A tagged PDF file contains programmatic structure types that allow the content to be read by screen reader technology. Follow the below steps to check if your PDF file is tagged and readable by users of assistive technology.
5 Steps to Check if Your PDF File is Accessible
Step 1: Open your PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
Ensure you open your PDF file with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, not Acrobat Reader.
Step 2: Add the Accessibility Tool.
From the toolbar, locate and select the “More Tools” icon.
Under “Protect and Standardize,” select “Accessibility” to add it to your toolbar.
Step 3: Run Accessibility Check.
With the Accessibility tool selected, choose “Accessibility Check” from the menu. The Accessibility Checker panel will display as a separate window over your file. Select “Start Checking.”
Step 4: Review Results.
Review Accessibility Checker results to determine if tagged content passed or failed.
Step 5: Review Tags.
With the Accessibility tool selected, choose “Reading Order” from the menu. If the document is tagged, shaded boxes will be present around each element on the page. Refer to Figure 1.
If the document is untagged, no shaded boxes will appear around page elements. Refer to Figure 2.
Figure 1: Tagged PDF
Figure 2: Untagged PDF
Next Steps
If you find that your PDF is untagged, you have a few options:
- Visit Creating Accessible PDF Files and learn how to tag and remediate your document yourself.
- Use SensusAccess to convert the document to a more accessible format, such as MS Word.
- Submit your document to Allyant Remediation Services for professional accessibility remediation.
For additional support, contact the ITS Digital Accessibility Services team at accessibleIT@syr.edu, or visit our Digital Accessibility Office Hours.