Using Adobe Acrobat Pro to make PDF output from design software accessible

Various design software applications today offer amazing design features but sometimes fall short in supporting document accessibility in not producing tagged PDFs. Fortunately, we can use Adobe Acrobat Pro to check our PDFs for accessibility and remediate problems.

Here are some steps to take in Adobe Acrobat Pro after exporting a PDF from your design software:

  • First, run the accessibility checker in Acrobat Pro by clicking ‘Prepare for accessibility’ and then ‘Check for accessibility’. A list of issues comes up in the accessibility panel on the right.
    Screenshot of the accessibility checker settings in Adobe Acrobat
  • Some design applications don't produce tagged PDFs so in Acrobat Pro you'll need to right-click on the 'tagged PDF failed' issue and choose 'Fix'. After the tagging process, you'll notice other issues in the PDF.
    Screenshot of where to launch the checker in Adobe Acrobat and the checker settings
  • For missing alt text issues, you can right-click on the issue and choose 'Fix'. A box pops up allowing you to add alt text to each figure that is missing it. The alt text should relate to the purpose of the image rather than be a complete description of everything in the photo. Try to keep the alt text brief to around 125 characters. If the image is just a decoration instead of meaningful content, check the ‘Decorative figure’ box.
    Screenshot of fixing a missing alt text issue in the Acorbat accessibility panel results.
  • While a lot of issues have an easy 'Fix' option, for some more complex you'll need to do some research about how to fix and may need to modify things in the tags panel. For example, you may see a ‘heading nesting failed error’ that will require finding headings in the tags panel and updating them to the appropriate heading level to fit the document structure. If a heading skipped levels to be an <H3>, you could change it to be an <H2> in the tags panel, fixing the issues.
  • If you encounter a PDF with a lot of complex tag structure issues, be sure to save a copy of your original document so if the tag structure gets broken you have a backup to start over with.
  • Save your remediated PDF.

You can learn more about PDF document accessibility and remediating PDFs in the PDF accessibility BuckeyeLearn courses. While you can remediate accessibility issues in Acrobat Pro, it’s best to fix issues in the original source document created by your design software if it supports correcting the issues. Companies are adding new features supporting accessibility in new versions of their software. Check with your software vendor to see if they are planning to release new features supporting document accessibility.

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