Accessible PDFs

Accessible PDFs

People are sometimes reluctant to accept that PDFs are included in the scope of web accessibility requirements. Like CPABC, many organizations have hundreds of PDFs on their websites or to have multiple links directed to PDFs. Often, these PDF are not accessible.

An accessible PDF can be read and accessed by people with disabilities, primarily people who are vision-impaired that may use assistive technology to read the file through text-to-speech or a Braille printout. A PDF document is only considered accessible if it meets specific accessibility guidelines.

Tips for PDF Accessibility

Converting Static and Fillable PDFs

Decide whether the PDF should be:

  • Converted to an online HTML form (recommended); or
  • Made to be an accessible PDF

If you decide to convert it to an online HTML form:

  • Create an online HTML form based on the fields in the fillable PDF. If there are any fields that aren’t necessary, remove them; and
  • Test the form to make sure that it meets all WCAG Level A and AA standards.

If you decide to make it an accessible PDF:

  • Run the fillable PDF through the Acrobat accessibility checker tool;
  • Fix all accessibility issues noted by the Acrobat accessibility checker tool; and
  • Offer alternative formats on the webpage. 

Creating new documents

  • Always start from a source document (i.e. Word, Excel);
  • Make the source document accessible by using its accessibility checker tool;
  • Convert the source document to PDF format using the recommended steps;
  • Check the new PDF file with the accessibility checker tool; and
  • Address all accessibility issues using the Acrobat accessibility checker tool.

Consider the above guidelines to be a starting point, and most importantly, a reminder that document accessibility is not an option but a requirement.

For help or further guidance, contact the web team at webcontent@bccpa.ca.

Learning About Accessible PDFs
WCAG Guidelines - PDFs

Learning About Accessible PDFs

Accessible PDFs

PDF Accessibility Guidelines

  1. Is the PDF tagged? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.3.1
     
  2. Is the document free from review-related content carried over from Office or other editing tools such as comments, track changes, embedded speaker notes? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.3.1
  3. Is all informational content contained in the tag structure? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.3.1
     
  4. Do paragraph tags accurately represent visual paragraphs? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.3.1
     
  5. Is the order in the tag structure accurate and logical? Do the tags match the order they should be read in? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.3.2
     
  6. Can text be resized and considered readable when magnified to 200%? WCAG 2.0 criterion 1.4.4
     
  7. Is the document free from content that flashes more than 3 times per second? WCAG 2.0 criterion 2.3.1
     
  8. Is the Document Title filled out in the Document Properties? WCAG 2.0 criterion 2.4.2
     
  9. Are accurate bookmarks provided for documents greater than 9 pages? WCAG 2.0 criterion 2.4.5
     
  10. Is the correct language of the document set? WCAG 2.0 criterion 3.1.1
     
  11. Did the PDF fully pass the Office and Adobe Accessibility Checker? WCAG 2.0 criterion 4.1.1
     
  12. Is all the text within the tags correctly formatted? (Free from line breaks and split words) WCAG 2.0 criterion 4.1.1
     
  13. Are all non-standard tags appropriately mapped to standard Adobe tags? WCAG 2.0 criterion 4.1.2

Testing a Normal CPABC PDF for Accessibility

Using Adobe Pro, we are able to check our PDFs for accessibility. As you can see in the example below, the PDF document that I used has 16 elements that passed accessibility and 13 elements that failed. For each failed element, Adobe Pro will help us fix each rule through a step-by-step process. Ensuring that a PDF is accessible may be one of the hardest elements of accessibility because these types of files can contain so many different styles and designs. Therefore, it's very difficult to have one standard way of testing for PDF accessibility.