Making accessible PDFs: a practical checklist

Screen readers read a PDF through its structure, not its appearance. If the file has no structure, a blind reader may hear the page as a jumble, hear nothing at all, or have to listen to every header and footer on every page. Accessibility isn't a niche concern either: in the EU, the European Accessibility Act has applied since June 2025 to many products and services, and public bodies in many countries already have rules for documents they publish.

The checklist

1. Real text, not images of text. Scanned pages are pictures. Without OCR, a screen reader has nothing to read. A quick test: try to select a word. If you can't, run the file through OCR PDF.
2. Tags. A tagged PDF contains a hidden structure tree that says "this is a heading, this is a paragraph, this is a list". Export from Word, Google Docs or InDesign with "tagged PDF" or "accessibility" enabled; printing to PDF usually drops tags.
3. Real headings. Use the heading styles in your editor (Heading 1, Heading 2) rather than bold, larger text. Headings become navigation points.
4. Reading order. Columns, sidebars and text boxes should be read in a sensible order. Check it in an accessibility checker.
5. Alternative text for images. Every meaningful image needs a short description. Decorative images should be marked as decorative so they're skipped.
6. A document title. Set the title in the file's properties and ask the viewer to display it instead of the file name. You can check and set the title with Edit metadata.
7. The document language. So screen readers use the right pronunciation.
8. Tables with header rows. Mark the header row as headers, avoid merged cells where you can, and don't use tables for layout.
9. Meaningful links. "Download the 2026 price list" rather than "click here".
10. Contrast and colour. Text should stand out from the background, and information shouldn't rely on colour alone, for example red and green in a chart.

Tools that remove accessibility

Many PDF operations, including some of ours such as converting to black and white or flattening, redraw content in a way that can lose tags. Treat accessibility as part of the final export: merge, reorder and annotate first, then produce the accessible version from the source.

Checking

Adobe Acrobat's accessibility checker and the free PAC checker from the PDF/UA community are the usual tools. And nothing replaces trying it: turn on the screen reader built into your computer or phone and listen to the first page.