Accessible Portable Document Format (PDF) 

It is as easy to create a PDF document as it is to print. If you are only printing, the how the document looks is your only concern.

But if you send that PDF document via email or put it on a website, it becomes a digital document. That PDF is now subject to the same accessibility standards as all digital documents at UCSF.

PDF documents are accessible if:

• The information can be read by an assistive device such as screen reader
• Has hierarchy of headings – for clarity and understanding
• Lists, tables, and paragraphs marked – so visual information is pragmatically available
• Important images have informative Alt tags – so they are understandable when not seen
• Unimportant images and graphics have empty Alt tags – so they can be skipped
• Correct Tab order – keyboard-only user can follow the correct order
• Meta Data - Title, author, keywords etc. for discoverability

Accessible PDF benefits

Don’t hide your information or make it only consumable to some. By increasing accessibility, you reach a wider audience. Everything you do to help a screen-reader: Alt tags, headings, order, and metadata gives you a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) boost and many other benefits.

UCSF policy on PDF follows WCAG 2.0 AA

PDF’s used in any UCSF digital communications (the web, email etc.) must meet the guidelines of W3C WCAG 2.0 for PDF documents.

WCAG 2.0 success criteria that most affect PDF documents

There are four Principals and 12 guidelines to WCAG 2.0 and AA standard has a few more. All apply to any digital document and it is up to you to check that any that apply to your document. But here are the ones you are most likely to need to know. The guidelines have numbers and subsections so you can associate them with criteria. These numbers you will see in any automated testing you do.

Create accessible PDFs when you create the original document

The best practice for accessible documents it to make it accessible as you make it. Many document creation tools have Accessibility tools and checkers built in. Use them from the start and avoid correcting later.

Documents with a true heading structure (H1-H6)

• Retains this structure when correctly exported to HTML or PDF
• Readability is increased for all users

Alt attributes – alternative information to an image, graphic etc.

• Important images have informative Alt tags – so they are understandable when not seen
• Unimportant images and graphics have empty Alt tags – so they can be skipped
• More details on alt attributes

Table and lists

• Should be created using the built-in tools and identify column and row headers
• Do not use visuals like styling, tab-spacing, single spaces, bold, dashes etc. only
• This provides semantic markup assistive devices use to convey the context of the information

Use software or a tool to correct a PDF

If you are already familiar with Adobe Acrobat, it can be used to correct PDF document. Or you may find the free online tool P.A.V.E. gives you what you need in an easy to use interface – no software to purchase or download.

Choices for inaccessible PDFs

• Ask for a corrected version
• Correct it yourself
• Offer an alternative
• Don’t use it

Resources

• New bite-sized accessibility LinkedIn learning path for PDF creators (internal to UCSF only)
• CDSS Accessibility Training Videos (California Department of Social Services)
• Converting Documents to PDF (WebAIM Training)
• PDF Accessibility provided by WebAIM
• PDF Accessibility: Testing and Verification (CommonLook)
• Siteimprove Training. Includes the courses on making accessible documents and PDFs. These courses cover applying accessibility principles to your documents and how to perform automatic and manual checks for accessibility in source files such Word, InDesign and then in Adobe Acrobat Pro once it's converted to a PDF. How to get a free UCSF Siteimprove account. 
• A list of PDF remediation vendors is available upon request.