Making Your PDF Content Accessible

By Brad Walker \ April 14, 2025

Just like websites, PDFs must be built with accessibility in mind, allowing all users and assistive technologies to access the document’s content.

Industry estimates suggest trillions of PDF documents are now posted to the web. The fact that hundreds of millions fail accessibility standards leaves institutions vulnerable to losing accreditation, grants, and funding. Inadequately formatted PDFs also chip away at the offending institution’s brand equity because some of their visitors cannot access the needed information. 

More importantly, accessibility is just the right thing to do, period. 

There is no reason why digital content can’t be made accessible to all users. Despite any document’s origin or inadequacies, it can and should be fixed. We can rebuild them. We have the technology… Cue music. Zoom in, red tracksuit, highway mirage effect, California desert…

Six Million Dollar Man references aside, getting ahead of accessibility will save time and money and serve your audiences responsibly. Here are some tips to make sure your online PDFs are what they should be.

Ensure Your Text is Readable and Searchable 

Avoid scanning and saving documents as PDFs. This creates an image-only document with text that is not searchable or readable by an audible screen reader. Also, avoid “print as pdf” as an option. This creates accessibility issues as it alters the document structure. Use “save as” or “export to pdf” when possible.

Be Attentive to Fonts and Color Contrast

Choose fonts and text sizes that are easy to read, especially for those with visual impairments. Avoid relying solely on text color to convey meaning, as this could be missed by users with vision impairments. Also, ensure there’s sufficient contrast between text and background colors. You can check this with tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker. This applies to both text and meaningful images (not decorative ones). 

Use Alt Text for Images 

To help screen readers, always provide accurate and descriptive alt text for images that convey meaning. If an image includes text, ensure the alt text includes that information. For more complex images, like graphs or charts, offer a detailed description in the alt text. Decorative images, such as borders or design elements that don’t carry meaning, will not need alt text. In Adobe Acrobat, you can mark these as “artifacts” or leave the alt text empty in programs like Google Slides or PowerPoint.

Tag Your Structure

Like HTML files, tag your PDFs to reflect the document’s structure, assigning tags for headings, tables, paragraphs, lists, and more. A clear and logical structure (think traditional outline—Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) enhances accessibility and allows keyboard users to navigate the document using the “tab” key. For longer documents, consider adding bookmarks to make navigation easier. You can create and correct tags using Acrobat Pro. 

Define the Language

Set the correct language for your PDF so screen readers can correctly interpret the text. If sections of your document are in a different language, those parts should be tagged accordingly. You can adjust language settings in Acrobat Pro.

Make Sure Forms Are Accessible

To make forms interactive, PDF forms should be as accessible as web-based forms, with proper labels for fields like text inputs, radio buttons, and checkboxes. Ensure the form follows the correct tab order for keyboard navigation. Adobe Acrobat Pro is the best tool for making forms accessible, as other programs may have limitations.

Caption Your Videos

If your PDF includes videos, provide closed captioning that syncs with the content. Captions should be active by default. Also, ensure there’s enough contrast in the captions for easy readability.

Make Links Descriptive

When adding links, use descriptive text that’s meaningful when read aloud by a screen reader. Avoid generic link text like “read more” or “click here.” Instead, provide context so users know where the link leads. Also, avoid using raw URLs as link text since screen readers may struggle to convey them clearly.

Use Tables for Data

Tables should be used only for tabular data, not layout. Ensure that tables include proper headings for both rows and columns. Avoid using very long tables, as they can become difficult to navigate. If necessary, break them into smaller, more manageable tables.

Adobe Acrobat

Acrobat is the preferred and most common tool for creating, testing, and correcting PDF accessibility. Although there are ways to improve documents created outside of Acrobat, this is the most robust program for making the most accessible document possible.

Accessible PDFs From Powerpoint 

If you’re working in PowerPoint, start with an official accessible template. Microsoft offers a range of templates designed with accessibility in mind—just look for the phrase “This is an accessible template” in the description. You can explore Microsoft’s accessible PowerPoint templates. If your presentation was made without an accessible template, consider exporting it into one using these instructions.

Accessible PDFs From Google Slides

Google has guidelines for creating accessible PDFs from Google Slides, Sheets, and Docs. You can review their guidelines here. Additionally, Google Slides allows you to publish presentations as HTML pages, making them more accessible and easier to navigate.

 

Sources

Accessible Documents [University of Washington]
https://www.washington.edu/accesstech/documents/

PDF Accessibility [WebAIM]
https://webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/acrobat

The complete checklist to PDF accessibility [Adobe]
https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2022/11/29/the-complete-checklist-to-pdf-accessibility

PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0 [W3C]
https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/pdf.html

Three Steps to Creating an Accessible PDF (without Adobe Acrobat) [California Department of Rehabilitation]
https://www.framingham.edu/Assets/uploads/about-fsu/accessibility/_documents/3-steps-accessible-pdf.pdf

How to make PDFs accessible [UC Berkeley]
https://dap.berkeley.edu/learn/techniques/how-make-pdfs-accessible

Make your document, presentation, and sheets more accessible [Google]:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/6199477?hl=en

Make your PowerPoint presentations accessible to people with disabilities [Microsoft]:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/make-your-powerpoint-presentations-accessible-to-people-with-disabilities-6f7772b2-2f33-4bd2-8ca7-dae3b2b3ef25#bkmk_savewin

Accessible Documents – PowerPoint presentations [University of Washington]
https://www.washington.edu/accesstech/documents/powerpoint/

Accessible PowerPoint Presentations [Stanford University IT]
https://uit.stanford.edu/accessibility/guides/microsoft-powerpoint

Accessible Google Slides Presentations [Stanford University IT]
https://uit.stanford.edu/accessibility/guides/google-slides

How to Make Your Google Slides Presentation More Accessible [Envato Tuts+]
https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/make-google-slides-presentation-accessible–cms-107146