Creating Accessible PDF’s

Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF

It is important to distinguish between Adobe, Acrobat and PDF. These terms are

often used interchangeably, but they are not the same.

• Adobe is a company; they are the creators of Acrobat.

• Acrobat is a tool for creating, editing and viewing PDF files.

• PDF is a format or type of document. It stands for Portable Document

Format. The PDF format was created by Adobe.

that is presented to screen readers. They exist for accessibility purposes only

and have no visible effect on the PDF file.

HTML tags and PDF tags often use similar tag names (e.g., both have tags

named h1) and organization structures, but they really are quite different. If you

are comfortable with HTML, you will probably have an easier time creating and

editing tagged PDF files.

PDF files are not typically created in Acrobat. They are usually created in another

program and converted to PDF. There are dozens or probably hundreds of

programs that can create PDF files, but very few of them produce tagged PDF

files. If you are using Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, OpenOffice.org Writer, or

Note: The following instructions can also be used to convert PowerPoint files to

PDF.

The majority of the PDF files on the web were probably created in Microsoft

Word. The good news is that it is possible to create accessible PDF files in

Office, as long as the following requirements are met:

1. The file must be accessible. That includes providing alternative text for

images, proper headings, appropriate link text, etc. For more information,

it will not be correctly tagged.

Word 2010

The Acrobat add-in is only available to users who have Acrobat X installed and

are using the 32-bit version of Office 2010.

The Adobe Add-in, also called PDFMaker, is the best choice to create high-

quality tagged PDF files. With the Adobe add-in installed, you can export to PDF

one of two ways:

Either one of these options will open the same dialog box. The program should

create a tagged PDF file by default. If this is not the case, select Preferences

from the Acrobat ribbon and ensure that Enable Accessibility and Reflow with

tagged Adobe PDF is selected.

tagging process may not be quite as good as with the Adobe add-in, but most

content, such as heading levels, lists, and alternative text for images is exported.

To convert to PDF using the Microsoft add-in, Select File > Save As, and under

Word 2007

Adobe Add-in

With the Adobe add-in installed, you can export to PDF one of two ways:

Click on the Office Button, hover over Save As, and select Adobe PDF, or press

Or you can select Create PDF from the Acrobat ribbon.

Microsoft Add-in

There is a free Save as PDF Add-in for Word 2007 that allows you to create

tagged PDF files without installing Acrobat. If you want to verify the accessibility

of the PDF or edit the tags that are created, you will still need Acrobat

Professional.

There are several options that you may want to modify but the only one that

concerns accessibility is the check box labeled Tagged PDF. Although this option

Tip: There is an icon labeled PDF on the menu bar ( ) that will allow you to

For example, a document with complex tables or forms, or with a multi-column

layout, may need to have the tagging process completed in Acrobat Pro.

Convert to PDF in Acrobat

If you are having trouble converting a document to tagged PDF in Office, or if you

want to merge multiple documents into one tagged PDF file, you can convert a

file to PDF in Acrobat. There are several ways to do this; one of the easiest is to

select File > Create PDF > From File (in Acrobat X, File > Create > PDF From

File). If the file format is supported (i.e. the file is created in a Microsoft or Adobe

product), the file should be tagged as it is converted. If no tags are present,

selected.

From Multiple Files (in Acrobat X, File > Create > Combine Files into a Single

PDF). A dialog box will appear. Select Options and then select Always enable

accessibility and reflow.

Source: http://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/converting