How Do I Make a PDF Accessible?

To make a PDF accessible, you need to ensure it has structure tags, alternative text for images, a correct reading order, proper headings, a document title, and a declared language. These elements allow screen readers and assistive technologies to interpret the document so that people with disabilities can access the content.

That's the short answer. The rest of this guide walks through each step in practical terms — what it means, why it matters, and how to actually do it.

Why PDF Accessibility Matters in Higher Education

If you work at a university, PDF accessibility isn't optional. In the US, the DOJ's ADA Title II rule requires state and local government entities — including public universities — to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards by April 2027 (extended from 2026 via the IFR). In Australia, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 impose similar obligations.

More importantly, inaccessible PDFs exclude students who rely on screen readers, magnification software, or other assistive tools. A syllabus that a sighted student reads in two minutes can be completely unusable for a blind student if the PDF lacks proper structure.

Step 1: Start From a Tagged Source Document

The single most important thing you can do is create your PDF from a properly structured source document — typically Microsoft Word.

When you use heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.), lists, and table formatting in Word, then export to PDF using "Save As PDF," Word transfers that structure into the PDF as tags. Tags are the internal markup that tells a screen reader what each element is: a heading, a paragraph, a list item, a table cell.

Common pitfall: If you use Google Docs, be aware that its PDF export has historically produced weaker tag structures than Microsoft Word. Word's "Save As PDF" is currently the most reliable way to generate a well-tagged PDF from a word processor.

Critical pitfall: Never use File → Print → Save as PDF (or "Print to PDF") in any application. This process treats the document as a flat image for printing and destroys all structure tags. The resulting PDF will have zero accessibility information, regardless of how well-structured your source document was.

Step 2: Use Real Headings, Not Bold Text

Screen readers let users navigate a document by jumping between headings — the same way a sighted reader scans bold, large text to find sections. But this only works if headings are tagged as actual headings, not just formatted to look like them.

In your source document:

• Use Heading 1 for the document title or main sections
• Use Heading 2 for subsections
• Use Heading 3 for sub-subsections
• Don't skip levels (e.g., don't jump from Heading 1 to Heading 3)

The mistake to avoid: Selecting text, making it bold, and increasing the font size. Visually it looks like a heading, but it's tagged as a regular paragraph. A screen reader user will have no way to distinguish it from body text.

Step 3: Add Alternative Text to Every Image

Every image in your PDF needs alt text — a brief text description that conveys the image's meaning to someone who can't see it.

Good alt text describes what the image communicates, not just what it depicts:

• Weak: "Bar chart"
• Better: "Bar chart showing enrolment increasing from 2,400 in 2022 to 3,100 in 2025"
• Decorative images (borders, spacers, purely visual elements) should be marked as artifacts so screen readers skip them entirely

In Word, right-click an image and select "Edit Alt Text." If the image is purely decorative, check the "Mark as decorative" box.

For existing PDFs that lack alt text, you can add it using Adobe Acrobat Pro's accessibility tools, or use an automated remediation tool that generates contextual alt text using AI.

Step 4: Set a Logical Reading Order

The reading order determines the sequence in which a screen reader speaks the content. In a simple single-column document, the reading order usually matches the visual flow. But in multi-column layouts, documents with sidebars, or pages with text boxes, the reading order can be completely wrong.

A screen reader might read a sidebar before the main content, jump between columns incorrectly, or read a footer in the middle of a page.

To check and fix reading order:

• In Adobe Acrobat Pro, use the Reading Order tool (Accessibility menu) to view and rearrange the content sequence
• In Word, keep layouts simple — single-column documents rarely have reading order problems
• Avoid text boxes when possible; they often end up at the wrong position in the reading order

Step 5: Set the Document Title and Language

Two small settings that make a big difference:

Document title: When a screen reader opens a PDF, it announces the document title. If no title is set, it reads the filename — often something like syllabus_final_v3_REVISED.pdf. Set a descriptive title in your document properties.

In Word: File → Info → Properties → Title. In Acrobat: File → Properties → Description → Title. Also ensure "Display Document Title" is selected under Initial View.

Document language: Screen readers use the language tag to select the correct pronunciation rules. An English document tagged as French will be read with French pronunciation — making it incomprehensible. Set the language in your document properties (e.g., en-AU for Australian English, en-US for American English).

Step 6: Format Tables Properly

Data tables need explicit structure so screen readers can associate each cell with its column and row headers. Without this, a screen reader reads cells sequentially with no context — "42… pass… biology" — leaving the listener unable to understand the data.

For accessible tables:

• Designate a header row (in Word: Table Properties → Row → "Repeat as header row")
• Avoid merged cells when possible — they create ambiguous relationships
• Don't use tables for visual layout; only use them for actual tabular data
• Keep tables simple; complex nested tables are difficult to make fully accessible

Step 7: Check Your Work

After creating your PDF, verify it:

• Adobe Acrobat Pro: Run the built-in Accessibility Check (Accessibility → Full Check)
• PAC 2024 (free): The PDF Accessibility Checker from the PDF/UA Foundation is the most thorough free tool available
• Screen reader testing: If possible, open the PDF in NVDA (free, Windows) or VoiceOver (built into macOS) and listen to how it reads

Be aware that automated checkers catch structural issues but can't evaluate whether your alt text is meaningful or whether the reading order makes sense in context. Some issues require human judgement. If you're evaluating tools, it's worth understanding why scanning alone isn't enough.

When You Have More Than a Few PDFs

These steps work well for new documents or a small number of existing files. But many university departments have hundreds or thousands of legacy PDFs — lecture notes, past exams, policy documents, forms — that were never created with accessibility in mind.

Manually remediating each one at 30-60 minutes per document isn't realistic when a compliance deadline is approaching. That's where automated remediation tools come in: they apply structure tagging, reading order correction, alt text generation, and other fixes programmatically, handling the bulk of the work so human reviewers can focus on the documents that need judgement.

If you have hundreds of PDFs to fix, Aelira can remediate them automatically — see how it works.