Creating Accessible PDFs

Best Practices for Creating Accessible PDFs

Create your original file (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) with accessibility in mind. Follow platform-specific accessibility guidelines to ensure proper structure, Alt Text, and formatting. Edits should be made to the source file, not the PDF. Do not use Acrobat’s editing tools to change text and images in the PDF.
Include proper heading structures, clear navigation, and descriptive Alt Text in the source file before converting to PDF.

Tags define the structure of a PDF, enabling screen readers to navigate the content effectively.
During conversion, ensure the "Document structure tags for accessibility" option is enabled.
Open the tags pane to edit the tags appropriately.

Images, Graphics, and Charts: Provide Alt Text for all visual elements. If the element is decorative, mark it as “decorative” or “artifact”. Screen readers cannot skip alt text so limiting non-substantive visual elements' alt text is more productive for users requiring screen readers.
Use Adobe Acrobat’s Tags pane or Accessibility Tools to add or edit Alt Text for any images missing descriptions.

Verify that the reading order is logical and flows naturally from top to bottom, left to right.
In Adobe Acrobat Pro, use the Reading Order tool to adjust the sequence of content if necessary.

Add descriptive metadata to your PDF:
- Go to File → Properties → Description.
- Include a clear title, author, subject, and keywords.
Specify the document language: Go to File → Properties → Advanced → Language.

Hyperlinks should have meaningful text (e.g., "Visit the Accessibility Guide" instead of "Click Here").
Ensure links are functional and easy to distinguish from the surrounding text.

Refer to the city’s Branding Guidelines for appropriate fonts.
Refer to the city’s Branding Guidelines for appropriate colors when your file will not be displayed in black and white.
Color cannot be used to convey meaning alone; use text labels as well.

Use your PDF reader’s built-in accessibility tools (e.g. Adobe Acrobat’s built-in Accessibility Checker):
- Example: Go to Tools → Accessibility and select Full Check.
Fix identified issues using the recommended tools within Acrobat.
Every time PDF is adjusted, in-app Accessibility check and fixes need to be repeated.

Unstructured Scans: Avoid creating PDFs from scanned images without Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Use OCR tools to convert scanned text into selectable and searchable content.
Flattened PDFs: Avoid flattening the document (e.g., saving as an image-only PDF), as it makes the text unreadable by assistive technologies.
Complex Layouts: Avoid irregular or complex layouts, such as multiple columns without clear headings or inconsistent formatting.
Breaking Tables Across Pages: Tables and sectioned content should not be broken across pages. It is identified as a separate tables or paragraph tags requiring more complex tagging if headers aren’t labeled properly.
Improperly Expressing Content: Reserve tables for presenting numerical data. Structure content in list format.
Do not present information in containers: They are visually unnecessary and are identified as figures by accessibility tools which requires manual correction.

Skipping Tags During Conversion: Ensure accessibility tags are enabled in the export settings of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint before saving as PDF.
Decorative Elements Without Marking Them: Don’t leave decorative images or visual elements unmarked. Indicate them as "decorative" in the tags to avoid confusion for screen readers.
Relying on Embedded Styles Alone: Ensure styles, such as headings, lists, and tables, are properly tagged after conversion.

Any image cannot have flat text to be accessible. If you are uploading an image into your PDF, do not have text overlayed on your image. Add text to alt text descriptions, as a caption, or in the main body of your PDF.