PDF Accessibility Tools & Resources Roundup

Apart from web content, PDF documents create significant barriers to accessing information. For a long time, PDF remediation services worldwide have been manually handled by many accessibility vendors. However, the scale of PDF documents being created surpasses the capacity of manual remediation, causing inefficiencies. The industry is innovating to address this challenge by automating aspects of the PDF remediation process. With automation, the manual remediation is becoming faster, more efficient, and responsive to the growing demands.

Some resources to help you get started with PDF Accessibility. Please use the comments to alert us to any resources that need adding to the list.

PDF Accessibility Resources

• PDF Accessibility Series Practice Files
• PDF/UA Reference Suite
  To serve as a reference for software developers and practitioners interested in best-practices for creating tagged and accessible PDF files, the PDF Association’s PDF/UA Competence Center has posted a set of 10 PDF documents conforming to PDF/UA-1.
  Ranging from publications to transactional records, the collection represents a cross-section of documents reflecting the wide variety of uses for PDF technology.
  The set includes the latest 1.02 release of the Matterhorn Protocol, the PDF Association’s definitive algorithm for PDF/UA conformance.
  The PDF/UA Reference collection demonstrates correct tagging in a number of sophisticated cases, including:
  • Complex table structures
  • Content spanning multiple pages
  • Interactive forms and JavaScript Links targeting structure elements
  • Multiple languages within a single document
    
    While each file in the collection complies with PDF/UA-1 many also comply with PDF/A-2, the archival standard for PDF. Note that PDF supports the use of additional structure elements that can be present but do not impact the content or logical stream interpretation or representation.
• Specifications & Standards – PDF Association
  This resource provides authoritative answers to common questions about Tagged PDF, the basis for reuse and accessibility in PDF, and is maintained by the PDF Association’s PDF/UA TWG and PDF Reuse TWG.
• Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide: Syntax
  A publication of the PDF/UA Technical Working Group, this document is intended for developers implementing tagged PDF and PDF/UA. Others (including authors with some technical knowledge of PDF’s accessibility mechanisms) may also benefit from this document.
  
  This guide is also intended to be useful for those performing detailed accessibility testing on PDF documents claiming conformance with PDF/UA, or on PDF documents claiming to be accessible according to some other specification.
  
  Keep in mind that as of today most PDF documents do not follow these recommendations.The latest update to the original Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide includes detailed guidance for all structure element types and attributes, and provides guidance for PDF 2.0.
• The Matterhorn Protocol 1.02
  To promote adoption of PDF/UA by software developers and document testers alike, the PDF Association’s PDF/UA Competence Center developed the Matterhorn Protocol, a list of all the possible ways to fail PDF/UA.Following the requirements of PDF/UA, the document consists of 31 Checkpoints comprised of 136 Failure Conditions.The 1.02 release of the Matterhorn Protocol, dated April 30, 2014, provides minor editorial corrections. One checkpoint – 08-003 – is now designated 01-007.NOTE: The Matterhorn Protocol 1.02 (PDF, 339kB, 2014-06-26) is delivered as a PDF file conforming to PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1) and to PDF/A-2a (ISO 19005-2). It is a reference-quality PDF/UA file.

Free PDF Accessibility Tools

• PAVE – Validate and Fix PDF Accessibility
  You can use PAVE to make your PDF documents accessible and to interpret conventional reader programs correctly. It does not change the visual layout of your PDF. The ICT Accessibility Lab of the ZHAW School of Engineering which developed PAVE, is making it available free of charge for personal use.
• PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) Free PDF/UA checker
  The PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) 3 is a freeware of the Swiss foundation “Access for all” for PDF accessibility testing.

  The features:

  • a PDF/UA-check with all machine-testable checkpoints of the matterhorn protocol
  • a screenreader preview for evaluating the logical document structure visually
  • a view of the tag tree with all properties and attributes
  • statistics concerning the document structure

    With PAC 3 – the worldwide first ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA) validator – it is possible to evaluate the PDF/UA compliance of your accessible PDFs.Download PAC 3
    Download the newest version (only for Windows):

• Axes4
  axesPDF for Word empowers every Word user to create a top quality accessible PDF in seconds. Remediation is not needed anymore. Quality assurance becomes a no-brainer. The key is to use styles and templates that are optimized for accessibility. Everything else is done by axesPDF for Word.
• Grackle Suite End-To-End Accessibility for G Suite
  Walks user through accessibility fixes in Google Docs. Save as tagged PDF, rearrange structure.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES05L62exVQ
• pdfGoHTML
  pdfGoHTML is a free Acrobat Plug-in converting tagged PDF files into HTML supporting the ISO PDF/UA standard for universally accessible PDF documents and forms. One simple click on the plug-in button converts the tagged PDF into HTML that is opened in the default browser. In the resulting HTML different views can be selected to examine the tagging structure, have a more flexible reading experience or make the document accessible for people with visual disabilities or dyslexia.
  
  

  When opening a PDF file, pdfGoHTML immediately indicates whether or not the file is tagged and allows a one-button conversion into HTML in the default browser. Users can easily switch how the HTML is displayed to adjust it to their specific needs: browser default, structure tags, easy reader, inverted, low vision, and dyslexia.For those who need to evaluate the tagging quality of a PDF file, the ‘structure tags’ view in the exported HTML provides a very quick, intuitive quality analysis tool that shows where the tagging structure of a tagged PDF needs improvement. callas pdfGoHTML will substantially speed up the creation and evaluation of tagged PDFs, and ensures a much higher degree of usability of tagged PDF files.

• The Tingtun Checker
  The Tingtun Checker has been developed with support from PTS in the WTKollen project, and from H2020 in the EIII project and will provide services to web pages and PDF documents for accessibility.
  The page checker automatically detects barriers in Web documents (HTML and XHTML). It is intended to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG2.1). The PDF checker checks the accessibility of PDF documents.
• CommonLook PDF Validator
  A 100% FREE AND COMPLETE PLUGIN FOR TESTING PDF ACCESSIBILITY
  Our free PDF Validator combines CommonLooks’ proven PDF technology and feature set into the perfect tool for testing and validating documents.

Commercial PDF Accessibility Tools

• Abledocs
  Along with helping you create accessible documents from scratch, Abledocs can also be used to scan any existing PDFs to check for accessibility issues. You can even scan your entire website if there are multiple documents you want to check. 
• Acrobat Pro DC
  Adobe Acrobat Pro is well known among those who create and access PDFs regularly. When you create a PDF with this software it adds descriptions to form fields, tags content and sets the tab order – just some of what’s required to create an accessible document. 
• axesPDF QuickFix
  axesPDF QuickFix is your time-saving tool to check and remediate PDF documents during the process of making them fully accessible and compliant with PDF/UA, WCAG 2 and Section 508. Accessibility issues are easily found and most of them are fixed instantly with a single click.
• CommonLook – PDF Accessibility and Compliance
  CommonLook, a leader in PDF accessibility, provides software and professional services to help organizations achieve compliance with document accessibility standards, including WCAG, PDF/UA and Section 508.
• Equidox
  This user-friendly but advanced PDF accessibility software ensures your PDF content is ADA, 508, and WCAG compliant. Scan existing PDF documents or send your documents for remediation. Users can sign up for a free trial to decide whether the solution is right for them.
• Foxit
  Avoid compliance risks by setting up a live demo of Foxit. This PDF accessibility software is ideal for larger organizations that rely on PDF documents quite heavily. Panasonic, Intel, and Xerox are just a few of their clients.
• PDFix Desktop Pro
  PDFix Desktop Pro is a comprehensive PDF accessibility solution for businesses of all sizes, but larger organizations find it particularly useful. PDFix Desktop Pro uses an AI engine to audit and remediate PDFs, turning them into fully accessible documents. The batch processing feature is ideal for businesses that deal with higher volumes of PDF documents and would prefer to remediate in bulk.
• PREP:
  PREP is a sophisticated, AI-based PDF remediation software that enables businesses to create WCAG and ADA-compliant PDFs in minutes, by using its highly intuitive and accurate tagging system. The most complete document accessibility solution for a digital-first world
• Omnidocs With Accessibility Assistant by Omnidocs, you can create WCAG 2.2 compliant PDF/UA documents directly from Microsoft 365.

PDF Accessibility Communities

• PDF Accessibility for Documents and Forms on LinkedIn
• About PDF/UA (accessibility) on LinkedIn
• Accessible PDF on LinkedIn
• PDF Accessibility on Facebook