{"id":3677,"date":"2022-03-02T22:14:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T22:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/?p=3677"},"modified":"2023-04-26T20:14:02","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T20:14:02","slug":"understanding-pdf-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/understanding-pdf-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Are your PDF Scans Accessible?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"3677\" class=\"elementor elementor-3677\" data-elementor-settings=\"[]\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-section-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4af1a51 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4af1a51\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b20bc82\" data-id=\"b20bc82\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0930afc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"0930afc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p>This page is intended to be an introduction to PDF Accessibility for faculty. Learning more about creating accessible content is a journey and this is a great place to start!\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-625b573 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"625b573\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Understanding PDF Accessibility <\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-aa60d6f elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"aa60d6f\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-56d9a53\" data-id=\"56d9a53\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f2d8b81 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f2d8b81\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p class=\"xmsonormal\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">PDFs are usually created from a source document such as a Microsoft Word, Adobe InDesign, or Microsoft PowerPoint, and then are exported to a PDF format. Alternatively, many PDF files are simply images of text that were created by scanning hard copy documents. Unfortunately, image-based PDFs are completely inaccessible if they are just scanned images. In order to make an image-based PDF accessible, the content creator should convert the text using optical character recognition (OCR) software (such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or ABBYY Fine Reader).&nbsp;<\/span><br><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a262ea0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a262ea0\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3050eec\" data-id=\"3050eec\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4cfb17b elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"4cfb17b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"wp-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"688\" src=\"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-1024x719.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"Inaccessible scanned pages\" srcset=\"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-1024x719.png 1024w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-300x211.png 300w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-768x539.png 768w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-1536x1078.png 1536w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-60x42.png 60w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example-150x105.png 150w, https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/02\/Inaccessible-Scan-Example.png 1713w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figcaption class=\"widget-image-caption wp-caption-text\">Example of an inaccessible image-based PDF<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a98465a elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a98465a\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c1e2544\" data-id=\"c1e2544\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f2e2813 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"f2e2813\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p>It is important to follow two key steps in creating accessible PDFs. First, in order to have the best source document, accessibility best practices should be followed when creating the document in the original software. Secondly, the process of exporting to PDF must be done in a way that preserves the accessibility features of the original file. If either step is missed, the resulting PDF will not be accessible.<\/p><p>If you have an existing inaccessible PDF file and no longer have access to the source file, it can be remediated for accessibility directly within Acrobat Pro, but it is not always simple task depending on the quality of the source document (other OCR software may be needed for poor quality scans). Remediating a PDF file created from an inaccessible Word file, for example, takes much more time than creating an accessible Word file and then saving it as a PDF (do not use print as PDF as this will take away all style settings in the PDF). \u00a0<\/p><p>Adobe Acrobat Pro is\u00a0available through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.du.edu\/it\/services\/software\/adobe-creative-cloud\">Adobe Creative Cloud Suite<\/a>. The Adobe Cloud Suite is available for download\u00a0for DU faculty, students, and staff at no cost\u00a0and is required for certain processes to assess\u00a0or improve\u00a0the accessibility of PDFs.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b15a417 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b15a417\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8f0a1c1\" data-id=\"8f0a1c1\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5e90dd3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"5e90dd3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Why are accessible PDFs important?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a4223b3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a4223b3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p><span style=\"color: var( --e-global-color-text ); font-family: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-text-font-weight );\">Accessible PDFs benefit all students in a Universal Design (UD) perspective. PDFs that have been accessible are easier to navigate, are searchable, and can be accessed by text to speech (TTS) or screen reader software.<\/span><\/p><p>Have you had a student enrolled with the Disability Services Program (DSP) who was approved for the Alternate Format Text (AFT) accommodation in your course? Did you know that these students typically rely on a text to speech (TTS) or screen reading software to access their course readings? By creating accessible course content, students using assistive technologies such as Kurzweil3000, NVDA, or JAWS can listen to their course readings.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-cff3f7b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"cff3f7b\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-bb7d1a0\" data-id=\"bb7d1a0\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-8688b34 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"8688b34\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">A PDF would be considered inaccessible if...<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4804f87 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4804f87\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><ul><li><strong>It is an image of text.<\/strong>\u00a0This can be tested by trying to select text within the PDF. If the entire page highlights when you click on it, that means the text is not selectable and your PDF is an image. To remediate this, you will need to run the PDF through an optical character recognition (OCR). Adobe Acrobat Pro has an OCR component for high quality source documents. Low quality source documents may need to be run through a program like ABBYY Fine Reader. (Please note that OCR programs like\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pdf.abbyy.com\/\">ABBYY FineReader<\/a>\u00a0can only conduct automated conversions, and the PDF created will most likely require further editing in Acrobat Pro to ensure 100% accuracy). Please reach out to the OTL if you need your document to go through OCR in ABBYY Fine Reader.\u00a0<\/li><li><strong>It doesn\u2019t have any tags<\/strong>.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/accessibility\/products\/acrobat\/pdf-repair-add-tags.html\">PDF tag structure<\/a>\u00a0can be assessed within Adobe Acrobat Pro via Document Properties or the Tag panel in the Navigation Pane.\u00a0A tag allows assistive technology to identify the type of content contained in a PDF, such as paragraphs, images, or tables. Proper conversion processes from programs such as Word will get most elements properly tagged and in the appropriate reading order. If you encounter the text &#8220;No Tags available&#8221; when you open the Tag pane, then your document is not accessible.<\/li><\/ul><p>If your PDF fails either of the two tests above, you will need to remediate it. If it passes both, then you may or may not have an accessible document, and more assessment is needed.<\/p><p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/accessibility\/products\/acrobat\/using-acrobat-pro-accessibility-checker.html\">Accessibility Checker in Acrobat Pro<\/a>\u00a0is a good next step in assessing your document. However, it will only alert you to errors detectable by a computer, like missing alt-text, and is not able to accurately assess things like the accuracy or usability of the alt-text or errors in the page reading order. To determine if your PDF is fully accessible, you will need to consult with an expert or start to develop your own PDF accessibility.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-78905aa elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"78905aa\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-b99060c\" data-id=\"b99060c\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-52eea12 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"52eea12\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">How can you check if your PDF is accessible?<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6802a50 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6802a50\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3b3c340\" data-id=\"3b3c340\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c702672 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c702672\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p>Accessibility is considered a continuum; as in, the more accessible you want a document to be for all users, the more time and tools you will need for testing, the more knowledge you will need to understand and fix the problems, and the more expert help and training you will need to achieve complete remediation. Learning to achieve basic levels of PDF accessibility is possible without much specialized training; however, complete remediation of a document for accessibility is likely to require expert help or additional training. There are two standards generally used to assess PDF accessibility: WCAG and PDF\/UA. Read more in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/accessibility\/pdf\/pdf-accessibility-overview.html\">Adobe\u2019s overview of PDF accessibility<\/a>.<\/p><p>Visit the Top 8 Characteristics of an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/top-8-characteristics-of-an-accessible-pdf\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Accessible PDF Knowledge Base Article<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about accessible PDFs!\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This page is intended to be an introduction to PDF Accessibility for faculty. Learning more about creating accessible content is a journey and this is a great place to start! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165,184],"tags":[144],"class_list":["post-3677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adobe-acrobat-pro","category-document-accessibility","tag-accessibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/otl.du.edu\/knowledgebase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}