Creating Accessible PDFs with Adobe

Creating Accessible PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Professional miraimages.com

Acrobat Accessible PDFs Cover...................................1 What is Acrobat....................................... 1 What is PDF..........................................1 Create PDF Files Anyone Can Open Welcome to Adobe Acrobat................................ 2 Acrobat s Three Primary Views.............................. 3 Acrobat Professional Interface.............................. 4 Methods to Create a PDF................................. 5 PDF Document Version.................................. 7 ISO and the PDF Extension................................ 8 Document Properties Interface.............................. 9 Page Display Preferences................................. 10 Acrobat Tools........................................ 11 Tool Tips PDF Font Embed Status.................................. 12 Font Embed Status Acrobat & Adobe Reader Font Substitution....................... 13 Loading PDF Settings Direct Export to PDF.................................... 14 Forms, Buttons, and Richly Interactive PDFs Preset Adobe PDF Settings General PDF Settings................................... 16 Compression Settings Marks & Bleeds Output Advanced PDF Security PDF Summary Save Preset Print Driver Settings....................................23 PDFMaker for Microsoft Office..............................24 PDF Conversion Settings & Preferences Printing a PDF....................................... 25 Keeping Color Consistent Advanced Print Settings 2018 Kelly McCathran Table of Contents Page i

Acrobat Printing & Transparency..................................26 Printing Tip.........................................27 To Print A PDF As An Image PDF Print Controls.....................................28 Acrobat DC Professional Accessibility Checker.................... 29 Acrobat Accessibility Info Tagging to Add Structure.................................30 Simple Accessibility Test Read Out Loud.......................30 Prepare for Accessibility Full Check........................... 31 Acrobat Full Check.....................................33 Unicode Text Accessibility Results....................................35 Checking & Repairing Accessibility...........................35 Fixing Accessibility Issues.................................37 Accessibility issues.................................... 37 Document Security Image Only PDF Tagged PDF Logical Reading Order Document Language Title Bookmarks.........................................40 Tagged Annotations (Comments)............................ 40 Color Contrast Page Content........................................ 41 Tagged content Tab order Character encoding Tagged multimedia Screen Flicker Acrobat vs HTML Forms..................................43 Field Naming........................................44 Parent/Child Naming Creating a Fillable PDF Form...............................45 Forms Tools........................................ 46 2018 Kelly McCathran Table of Contents Page ii

Creating Text Fields.................................... 47 Setting the Defaults....................................48 Text Field Options.....................................49 Align, Distribute, and Fields Panel........................... 50 Alignment Options..................................... 51 Distribute Horizontally or Vertically........................... 52 Zip Code Format......................................53 Phone Number Format.................................. 54 Date Formatting...................................... 54 Lists.............................................55 Radio Buttons....................................... 56 Check Boxes........................................57 Buttons...........................................58 Submitting a Form.....................................59 Submit Via email Form Submit Details....................................59 Create a Submit Button................................. 60 FDF Custom Icons........................................ 61 Unlock Save Form Feature for Users of Free Reader................. 62 End User Submit......................................63 Collecting Data.......................................64 Security Settings in a PDF Form.............................65 Resources for Forms & Acrobat Inserting the System Date................................ 66 Creating the Text Field Recognize Text Using OCR................................67 To convert scanned pages to searchable text: Correcting Captured Pages Web Capture Comment with Free Reader................................69 Commenting........................................ 71 Commenting Toolbar....................................71 Table of Contents Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page iii

Commenting Preferences.................................72 Creating a Note......................................73 Advanced Commenting Toolbar............................. 74 To Delete a Note...................................... 74 Indicating Text Edits....................................75 Markup Instructions Markup Tips Adding Stamps.......................................77 Stamp Properties Creating Custom Stamps.................................79 Highlight, Cross-Out and Underline...........................79 Deleting a Highlight, Cross-Out or Underline Exporting Comments................................... 80 Summarizing Comments..................................81 Table of Contents Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page iv

What is Acrobat Adobe first introduced Acrobat in 1993 creating the PDF (Portable Document Format) open-source file format. Acrobat is the application that is used to open, edit, view, print, and enrich PDF files. Acrobat Introduction What is PDF PDF is the worldwide standard for secure and reliable electronic document distribution. Regardless of the program and platform (Windows, Mac OS, UNIX, Palm OS or Pocket PC ) used to create them, the beauty of PDF documents is that they preserve the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of the original, when created properly. PDF files are compact and can be shared, printed, viewed and searched by anyone using the free Adobe Reader application. Typically, PDF documents originate in programs other than Adobe Acrobat but direct PDF creation is possible using JavaScript or some Third-Party applications and plug-ins. The PDF specification is available to anyone wanting to develop tools for creating, viewing, or manipulating PDF documents. There is no universal way to communicate and view this printed information electronically What industries badly need is a universal way to communicate documents across a wide variety of machine configurations, operating systems, and communication networks. John Warnock, Co-founder of Adobe, 1992 Create PDF Files Anyone Can Open There are many different ways to create an Adobe PDF document from a variety of applications. It s important to remember you may not know what platform the receiver is on, or which version of Reader is installed. For this reason, we will cover the Distiller preferences and give recommendations for settings to make your PDF file as compatible and readable as possible. Page 1

Welcome to Adobe Acrobat On first launch, you will see a tips screen. You can hit the X in the upper right corner to close Acrobat Introduction Close Page 2

Acrobat s Three Primary Views Acrobat has three views located at the top left corner of your window: Home, Tools, and Document. Acrobat Introduction Home Tools Document Page 3

Acrobat Professional Interface Acrobat Introduction Save Files to Adobe Document Cloud Search PDF Navigate Pages Zoom Percentage Add a Pop-up Comment Tools Pane (editing, preflight, forms, etc.) Security Pages Bookmarks Attachments Page 4

Methods to Create a PDF There are a variety of methods for creating PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, some of which are notably better than others. Once the PDF has been generated, users will have a file that is viewable, searchable, printable on over 13 platforms. In addition, this file will have all fonts and images used embedded (stored) in the document, not linked to the original. PDF Creation Methods 1. PDFMaker PDFMaker is available on either PC or Mac, but is only fully functional on the PC. Users press one button in Microsoft Office applications. This feature writes PostScript, Distills and creates Bookmarks, Links and Tags. 2. Print to Adobe PDF Printer (non-adobe & non-microsoft method) With this method, from any application, users can print to the Distiller printer driver. This will create a PostScript file (behind the scenes) and generate a PDF based on the selected set of Job Options. Distiller installs automatically when users purchase the full version of Acrobat. 3. Print to PostScript and Distill This is the longest lasting and typically preferred method for Press Ready PDFs. On the Windows platform, some PostScript files may have the extension.prn instead of.ps. 4. Save As... Programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop offer a native Save As PDF, which is another native Adobe method to create a PDF. 5. Native Export to PDF... Programs such as InDesign offer a native Export to PDF. Check with your print shop to see if they have recommended settings. Recommended Method Page 5

6. PDFWriter PDFWriter is a quick and dirty non-postscript printer driver that converts files directly to Adobe PDF from any application. It is designed for documents that contain only text. PDFWriter installed automatically with Acrobat 4, but is only available as a custom install with Acrobat 5. This method should never be used, there may be a lot of printing related issues with files created with PDFWriter. This driver was designed for applications that can not write PostScript, or with documents that don t contain complex graphics. 7. OS 10 on the Mac Mac OS 10 (X) now offers creation of PDF directly through the print dialog. This saves the PDF with the images at actual resolution, but only includes the characters used, or a Subset, of the fonts. 8. Screen Shot PDF OS 10 on the Mac also allows the capture of a screen shot (picture of the screen) as a native PDF, through Command Shift 3 or Command Shift 4. They appear on the Desktop as Picture 1.pdf (Picture 2, 3, etc.). In Windows users can hit Alt Print Screen and choose in Adobe Acrobat File > Create > PDF From Clipboard Image. 9. Third Party There are many Third party products which offer a very inexpensive, if not free creation of PDF files. Check with your Print Service Provider to see if the one you are choosing will be building printable PDFs. 10. JavaScript For the programmers out there, users can create a blank PDF file via a JavaScript command: PDF Creation Methods app.new Doc (); 11. Web Capture. File > Create > PDF From Web Page (Command Shift O or Ctrl Shift O) NEW In Acrobat choose File > Create Page 6

PDF Document Version Acrobat Version PDF # PDF Version Features 1.0 1.0 November 1992 (announced to the public in June 1993) only supports RGB images 2 1.1 November 1994 support for: links to external documents or URLs, article threads, password security features, device independent color 3 1.2 November 1996 forms, unicode (use extended character sets), multimedia features, interactive page elements like as mouse events and support for additional multimedia types, support for OPI 1.3 specifications, CMYK and some spot color support, embedded halftone functions and overprint instructions, 40 Bit Encryption 4 1.3 April 1999 double-byte CID fonts supported (Asian characters), support for OPI 2.0, additional color spaces, ICC support, new color space called DeviceN which improves support for spot colors, smooth shading added (efficient and very smooth blends), annotations & comments, digital signatures, JavaScript actions, 128 Bit RC4 encryption, ICC Color Management, NO Transparency, NO Layers 5 1.4 May 2001 native transparency support, improved support for JavaScript (1.5), better integration with databases, PDF tagging (meta-information such as titles, read order for blocks of text and more), JBIG2 compression, 128-bit RC4 encryption 6 1.5 April 2003 improved compression techniques (object streams & JPEG 2000), enhanced XRef table, layers, improved support for tagged PDFs, XFA support (abbreviation to XML forms architecture), 12 additional page transitions 7 1.6 January 2005 NChannel added (an extension of the DeviceN for spot colors) AES encryption, minor enhancements to annotations and tagging, direct embedding of OpenType fonts, embedding 3D data (U3D), XML forms 8 1.7 October 2006 iimproved support for commenting and security, add comments to 3D-objects, more control over 3D animations, embed default printer settings (like paper selection, of copies, and scaling) Portable Collections The intent of portable collections is to present, sort, and search collections of related documents, such as email archives, photo collections, and engineering bid sets. PDF Document Version Adobe Passes Upgrades to the ISO Page 7

ISO and the PDF Extension On January 29, 2007, Adobe announced its intent to release the Portable Document Format (PDF) 1.7 specification to AIIM (the Enterprise Content Management Association), for the purpose of publication by the International Organization for Standardization. The ISO published the approved ISO 32000-1 standard for PDF 1.7 in July 2008. ISO 32000 is equal to Adobe s PDF 1.7. Since Adobe handed over the PDF standard to the ISO organization, they can no longer release new versions of the PDF document format. In order for Adobe to still have the ability to extend the PDF Version, they now add custom features that only Adobe software supports. PDF Document Version Acrobat Version PDF Extension Level PDF Features 9 Level 3 June 2008 256-bit AES encryption 9.1 Level 5 June 2009 XFA 3.0 (an update for the XML Forms architecture), PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000-2) 10 & DC PDF 2.0 August 2017 Each page in a PDF 2.0 file can have a separate output intent (helpful when a single PDF contains all the pages of a magazine, and the cover may be run on a different press and handy when you merge two PDF files that each have a different output intent), more freedom to define halftone screening, transparency is handled more consistently, especially when combining multiple PDF files, improved tagging which allows applications to better define the structure of the data such as the text flow, spot colors can be specified using spectral data, better control over ink print order and black point compensation, support for secure AES-256-bit encryption, additional 3D capabilities, such as embedding 3D measurements or cross-section data Page 8

Document Properties Interface No PDF file should leave your system without first inspecting it s Document Properties by choosing File > Properties (Command D or Ctrl D). This will tell you something about how the file was created. The Version of the PDF file Font embed status: Fully Embedded, Embedded Subset, or not embedded at all Security settings Initial View/Open Options Document Properties Page 9

Page Display Preferences If you have files with Flattened Transparency (Acrobat 4 or older), you should disable the Smooth line art and Smooth images in the Page Display preferences Acrobat > Preferences (Mac) Edit > Preferences (PC). This will prevent the White or Black data lines that are caused by Anti Aliasing. Several other preferences I recommend changing here are: Single Page view, so you don t split part of one page and part of another on the screen as you scroll down Zoom to Fit the Page in window when you open a PDF, so you don t have to hit Fit in Window all the time Always Show the Document Page Size in the lower left corner of your screen Preferences Page 10

Acrobat Tools Acrobat has changed how tools are accessed. The quick or most popular tools are located on the right side of the document window. If you don t see the tool you re looking for there, click Tools near the top left side of your screen. Acrobat Tools Tool Tips Choose View > Tools to quickly see all categories of tools and Open a tool mode. When you are finished with that group of tools, click the X at the top right corner to get out of that tool mode. Shortcut tools can be added to the toolbar along the top by Right-clicking (Windows) or Control-clicking (Mac) on the toolbar area along the top of your screen. Hitting F8 will hide or show the toolbar area. Page 11

PDF Font Embed Status The advantage of a PDF (Portable Document Format) is that you can embed the fonts that you use in your layouts, so you don t have to use Arial or Times, or be dependent on the fonts the end user has loaded on their machine. Once a PDF has been created, it is important to check that the fonts made it into the document, fully. To do this, open the PDF and choose File > Properties (Command D or Ctrl D) then click the Fonts section at the top. Ideally it should say (Embedded Subset) or for high-end print (Embedded) next to every font in the list. In many cases, because of licensing restrictions, TrueType fonts may not fully embed (more often on a Windows machine than a Macintosh ). If you don t see either. The font didn t make it in. The Standard settings from Adobe don t embed ANY Microsoft Fonts. PDF & Fonts Font Embed Status Embedded Subset FULLY Embedded Fonts Missing PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 12

Acrobat & Adobe Reader Font Substitution In some cases, fonts may not be able to be embedded because of licensing restrictions. In this case, the person receiving the PDF will need to have the font installed on their machine for it to display properly. The text below can only be viewed on a PC with the TrueType Font loaded. The Mac and Unix users are out of luck, it is simply not available. Here is the example: PDF & Fonts American Dream PDF on a Machine with the Font Loaded Same PDF file on a Macintosh When a font is not fully embedded or subset, Acrobat or Adobe Reader will substitute Adobe Sans MM or Adobe Serif MM. They are loaded from a resource folder inside Acrobat and will not show up as a selection in any other application. Loading PDF Settings You can use the PDF settings on our class files page under PDF Settings (.joboptions): onlineinstruct.com/class_files.html Download the file, de-compress the zip and double click the.joboptions file to load (it will launch Distiller and put the file in the proper place). Once you de-compress the zip file (from above), I recommend using the Proof_UnFlattened.joboptions as a good laser printer or email proof quality default PDF settings file. You might have to click Save As, then OK if you are on a PC (don t change the location where it is saving). PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 13

Direct Export to PDF One of the primary ways to create a PDF is from Adobe InDesign using File > Export. In the Export dialog you choose Adobe PDF (Print). Always check with the Print provider for recommended PDF settings. Over the next few pages you will get a breakdown of the recommended settings for particular types of PDF files. PDF Settings.joboptions Forms, Buttons, and Richly Interactive PDFs Bookmarks and interactive buttons can now be created that playback movies and sounds, turn pages and more. To include all these Rich Media assets, select Adobe PDF (Interactive) from the export dialog. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 14

Preset Adobe PDF Settings There are 6 sets of predefined Adobe PDF Settings available to the user. Each Distiller settings file controls compression, font embedding, color management and PDF/X-compliance as well as other settings for all PDF files that Distiller creates. PDF Settings.joboptions Standard The Standard set is the default. It is designed to create PDF files for common office printing. This is the default set for all versions of Acrobat and it should NEVER be used. It doesn t embed any Microsoft fonts, it changes the color and may make your images low resolution. This set was designed for on-screen and low-end office printing. High Quality When in doubt, this is my preferred PDF setting for most PDFs (unless you are going to a printing press). This set is designed for devices that may have higher resolution capabilities than the standard office devices. Press Quality This set is built for high quality pre-press devices such as an imagesetters or platesetters. This is the preferred PDF setting for press-ready PDFs. Smallest File Size This set is designed for Web-based PDFs. PDF/X-1a PDF/X-1a is a standard developed in 2001 which ensures that the file is Acrobat 4 compatible and only CMYK or Spot colors are included. PDF/X-3 This format was developed in 2002 and allows for the same Acrobat 4 compatibility, CMYK and Spot colors, but it also supports RGB color space for clients using color management. This set is rarely used. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 15

General PDF Settings In the General tab, PDF authors can select version Compatibility with Acrobat 4, through 8/9. The current recommended setting is Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) or newer. Acrobat 4 compatibility forces the Transparency to be Flattened, if you choose Acrobat 5 or newer, your transparency is un-flattened (check with your print shop to see which they prefer. When in doubt about which PDF settings file to use, select [High Quality Print] from the top of the list. PDF Settings.joboptions When you check Create Tagged PDF this enables the application to draw from paragraph styles or other structural information of the source document to produce a logical structure tree. A logical structure tree produces an accurate reading order. Automatic tagging interprets the structure of complex layouts, such as embedded sidebars, closely spaced columns, irregular text alignment, and tables. Tagging during conversion also properly tags links, cross-references, bookmarks, and alternate text (when set in the file). PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 16

Compression Settings For most office printers, a resolution of 150 225 ppi (pixels per inch) is sufficient for color or grayscale photos. Line Art (Monochrome or Bitmap meaning no shades of gray) is typically acceptable between 300 450 ppi. For high end printing, 2 x lpi (lines per inch) is the best resolution for color and grayscale, typically 600 1200 ppi is recommended for Line Art, always check with your print shop for recommended settings. For Web based PDFs 72 to 144 ppi is standard and 600 900 ppi is sufficient for Line Art. For Image quality in Color and Grayscale images, a setting of High or Maximum is recommended, so that too much data is not thrown away. PDF Settings.joboptions PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 17

Marks & Bleeds If the print shop requests that marks & bleeds be included in the document, you can turn them on here. Be aware that including Slug Area may cause some problems with electronic imposition programs. For some reason Adobe keeps getting the offset value for marks wrong. Be sure if you include any marks they are offset at least p9 or 0.125. PDF Settings.joboptions PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 18

Output The Output tab was added to InDesign to enable you to select Color Management Policies. Color Management is on by default. If you are not familiar with the settings, it is safest to select Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers) and select Don t Include Profiles. In the shot below, I chose No Color Conversion, because I m doing Print on Demand (POD) and the images do not need to be CMYK. PDF Settings.joboptions PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 19

Advanced InDesign has an RGB to CMYK conversion engine built in, so in the Advanced section of you select CMYK all RGB images will be converted to CMYK in the final PDF file. Subset % refers to the maximum percentage of characters (glyphs) in a font that can be used before the entire font is Embedded instead of Subset. The range is 1 through 100. For example, a value of 50 means that a font will be embedded in full (not subset) if more than 50% of characters are used; a value of 100 means all fonts will be subset no matter how many characters are used (because more than 100% of characters can t be used). For Web based PDFs, embedding all the fonts causes the file to become to large, therefore Subset at 100% is recommended. This means that InDesign will Subset all fonts (write in the unique characters used) and not fully Embed all characters in the font. This will keep the file size down. PDF Settings.joboptions The value for Subset should be 0% to ensure that all fonts are fully embedded, not Subset. This means Subset 0% of the time. Transparency Flattening also occurs here, High Resolution is recommended for all non webbased PDFs. If Acrobat 5, 6 or 7 is selected in general this option will not be available. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 20

PDF Security To prevent content copying or extraction, users may want to enable PDF security. Security can not be saved in a set, it must be enabled every time you Export the PDF. PDF Settings.joboptions PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 21

PDF Summary Finally, InDesign provides a summary of all the selected PDF options. PDF Settings.joboptions Save Preset For frequent PDF exports, you may save all the selected PDF options for quick access. These will be available for future use under the Preset menu at the top of the export dialog box. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 22

Print Driver Settings After saving a customized set, it is important to change the print driver on the PC to use this set as the default. T 1. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel. Depending on the view you may want to switch to Large Icons. Windows Print Driver Switch to Large Icons 2. Double-click on Devices and Printers. 3. Then Right-click on Adobe PDF and choose Properties. 4. In the properties dialog, click Printing Preferences and change these two settings: De-select the box that says do not send fonts to Adobe PDF (distiller needs the fonts to ensure that the necessary fonts are properly included in the PDF) Change your Default Settings to High Quality Print. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 23

PDFMaker for Microsoft Office PDFMaker is a PC based macro for users of Microsoft Office. PDF Maker installs with Acrobat Professional. This is the recommended method to create PDFs from office applications. PDF Maker provides some special features such as automatic Bookmarks, Hyperlinks, Comments, a nd Tags (for Accessibility) just to name a few. The button can either be clicked or users can select Adobe PDF tab on the Ribbon bar > Convert to Adobe PDF or Adobe PDF > Convert to Adobe PDF and email. Windows Print Driver PDF Conversion Settings & Preferences In addition to setting the default Job Options in the print driver, you should control the settings to be used in Microsoft Office. To do this, go to Adobe PDF tab on the Ribbon bar and choose > Change Conversion Settings. There are other settings that can be customized here as well. For example, if Custom Styles are used in Word, those can automatically be converted into Bookmarks. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 24

Printing a PDF PDF Print Settings Keeping Color Consistent If Acrobat isn t printing color consistently, you may need to turn off Printer/PostScript Color Management in the Advanced section of Acrobat s Print dialog. To do this, choose File > Print then click Advanced. Once that dialog appears, click Color Management on the top left side, then select Color Handling > Same as Source. Advanced Print Settings The Advanced section of the print dialog (show above) also allows you to add marks & bleed, select PostScript levels, and print separations. PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 25

Printing & Transparency Also, if you are printing documents with flattened transparency, you may need to go to Advanced again, and make sure Output is selected at the top left. Then check the box for Simulate Overprinting. PDF Print Settings PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 26

Printing Tip When All Else Fails Print The PDF File As An Image Printing the PDF file as an image may enable the file to print, but it doesn t identify the source of the problem, sometimes in the print world you just need to meet the deadline. Printing as an image will usually take longer, but it will get the file out. This is often a good technique for people with non PostScript printers or printers with little memory. PDF Print Settings To Print A PDF As An Image Acrobat 6 and newer... 1. Choose File > Print (Command P or Ctrl P) 2. Click Advanced 3. Select Print As Image 4. Click OK to close the Advanced Print Setup dialog box 5. Finally click Print PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 27

PDF Print Controls File > Print will allow you to control elements that print and if the document should be scaled when printed. PDF Print Settings PDF 2018 Kelly McCathran 28

Acrobat DC Professional Accessibility Checker The Accessibility tools in Acrobat DC Professional make it easy to identify areas of a document to be read out loud by screen reading programs. Controlling accessibility also lets you specify reading order, and what is to be spoken for images or graphics in a PDF. Once accessibility is added you will have a PDF that is Section 508, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.x, and PDF/UA (Universal Access, or ISO 14289) and compliant. Note: The tools in Acrobat DC don t check documents against all accessibility criteria, including specific referenced guidelines. Adobe does guarantee that your documents comply with guidelines or regulations specified by government agencies or other entities. Acrobat Accessibility Acrobat Accessibility Info adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat.html Page 29

Tagging to Add Structure Tags can be added to a PDF in order give it structure. Tags are a critical requirement for assistive technology (such as screen readers, specialist mice, and text-to-speech software). Not tagging your PDF document prevents access to a portion of the population. For schools and government agencies this breaks laws. Acrobat Accessibility Simple Accessibility Test Read Out Loud One way to check accessibility is to turn on the Read Out Loud feature. This will give you an audible overview of how the document is structured (if at all). Documents that haven t been tagged won t read in the proper order and may not read anything for the images or graphics. 1. Go to View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud. (Command Shift Y or Ctrl Shift Y) 2. Then go back to View > Read Out Loud > Read This Page Only. (Command Shift V or Ctrl Shift V) 3. To stop the reading go to View > Read Out Loud > Stop. (Command Shift E or Ctrl Shift E). Page 30

Prepare for Accessibility Full Check Before you run the Accessibility checker, it is helpful to check a four key areas. 1. Go to File > Properties (Command D or Ctrl D), click Description at the top left. Type in a document Description. Acrobat Accessibility 2. Also in File > Properties click Initial View at the top middle. Then choose Document Title from the Show drop-down list. Page 31

3. Still in the File > Properties dialog click Advanced at the top right. Be sure the proper language is selected at the bottom of the dialog. Acrobat Accessibility 4. Set the tab order to Use Document Structure. Page 32

Acrobat Full Check Adobe Acrobat has an automated way to check the accessibility in a PDF file Tools pane (at the top left on your screen) Accessibility > Full Check. Running this will check many accessible features of the open PDF, such as the use of fonts that can be mapped reliably to Unicode text. You can select which accessibility issues to look for and control how the results are reported. Instructions: 1. Click the Tools pane (at the top left on your screen) click the drop-down menu below Accessibility and choose Add Shortcut. Acrobat Accessibility Unicode Text Unicode is an industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text. For example: mapping one character on the Mac (like a bullet ) to the same character on Windows, or other platforms. When the encoding is wrong, a bullet may change to one of these two symbols: or Unicode Encoding formats: UTF-8, UTF-16, GB18030 2. You are now in Accessibility mode. Click Full Check. Page 33

3. The dialog below will appear, click Start Checking. Acrobat Accessibility 4. The results of the Accessibility Checker are displayed in a panel on the left side of your screen. This panel also contains helpful links and hints for repairing accessibility issues. If you selected Create accessibility report you should find those results in the same folder with the PDF file. Note: The Full Check feature can t distinguish between essential and nonessential content types, so some issues in the report can be ignored. Page 34

Accessibility Results Passed This item is accessible. Skipped By User A rule was not checked because it was deselected in the Accessibility Checker Options dialog. Needs Manual Check This item couldn t be checked automatically, you will need to check the item manually. Failed The item didn t pass the accessibility check. Acrobat Accessibility Checking & Repairing Accessibility 1. To add accessibility in an automated fashion, Click the Tools pane (at the top left on your screen).click the drop-down menu below Action Wizard and choose Add Shortcut. 2. An Actions List pane will appear on the right side of your screen click > Make Accessible. Page 35

Follow the instructions in the Prepare list before hitting Start. First we will add the Title Metadata. In the screen shot on the left, click where it says Add Document Description and un-check Leave as Is. Acrobat Accessibility Note: Even if you have typed the Description in the Metadata under File Properties, unchecking Leave As Is will prevent an error in Document Title. 3. Type the document title in the Title Field, you can add extra information if you d like. 4. Click Ok. Page 36

Fixing Accessibility Issues To fix a failed check after running Full Check, right-click on the item in the Accessibility Checker panel. These are your options: Fix Acrobat either fixes the item automatically, or displays a dialog prompting you to fix the item. Skip Rule Changes the item status to Skipped. (This also turns this item off for the next accessibility check.) Explain Opens online Help, where you can get more details about the issue. Check Again Runs the checker again, select this when you think you have finished fixing the accessibility. Show Report Displays the accessibility report with links and tips on how to repair failed checks. Options Accessibility Checker Options dialog, where you can select which checks are performed. Acrobat Accessibility Accessibility issues Document Security Security settings can interfere with screen reading applications. If you specify that a PDF is not be copied, printed, extracted, commented on, or edited this can interfere with a screen reader s ability to read the document. Many screen reading applications must be able to copy or extract the document s text to convert it to speech. To fix this rule automatically, choose Accessibility Permission Flag on the Accessibility Checker panel. Then, choose Fix from the Options. To see these settings choose File > Properties > Security. Or, fix accessibility permissions manually choose No Security from the Security Method drop-down list. Click OK and close the Document Properties dialog box. Note: If your assistive technology is registered with Adobe as a Trusted Agent, you can read PDFs that might be inaccessible to another assistive technology. Acrobat recognizes when a screen reader or other product is a Trusted Agent and overrides security settings that would typically limit access to the content for accessibility purposes. However, the security settings remain in effect for all other purposes, such as to prevent printing, copying, extracting, commenting, or editing text. Page 37

Image Only PDF This setting reports whether the document contains an image or scan that is not accessible. To fix this rule check automatically, select Image-only PDF on the Accessibility Checker panel, and choose Fix from the Options menu. Tagged PDF If this rule check fails, the document isn t tagged to specify the correct reading order. Enable tagging in the application in which the PDF was authored, and re-create the PDF. Choose Tools > Accessibility > Autotag Document in Acrobat. The Add Tags Report appears in the navigation pane if there are any issues. The report lists potential problems by page, provides a navigational link to each problem, and provides suggestions for fixing them. Choose Tools > Accessibility > Reading Order in Acrobat, and create the tags tree. For more information, see Reading Order tool overview. Open the Tags panel and create the tags tree manually. To display the Tags panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags. For more information, see Edit document structure with the Content and Tags panel. Logical Reading Order Verify this rule check manually. Make sure that the reading order displayed in the Tags panel coincides with the logical reading order of the document. Acrobat Accessibility Page 38

Document Language It is important to set the document language in a PDF to enable some screen readers to switch to different languages. To set the language automatically, select Primary Language in the Accessibility Checker tab, and then choose Fix from the Options menu. Choose a language in the Set Reading Language dialog box, and then click OK. Acrobat Accessibility To set the language manually, do one of the following: Choose File > Properties > Advanced and then select a language from the drop-down list in the Reading Options section. (If the language doesn t appear in the drop-down list, you can enter the ISO 639 code for the language in the Language field.) This setting applies the primary language for the entire PDF. Set the language for all text in a subtree of the tags tree. Open the Tags panel. Expand the Tags root and select an element. Then choose Properties from the Options menu. Choose a language from the Language drop-down list. (To display the Tags panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.) Set the language for a block of text by selecting the text or container in the Content panel. Then, right-click the text and choose Properties from the context menu and choose a language from the Language drop-down list. (To display the Content panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Content.) Title Reports whether there is a title in the Acrobat application title bar, which is set in the Metadata. To fix the title automatically, select Title in the Accessibility Checker tab, and choose Fix from the Options menu. Enter the document title in the Description dialog box (deselect Leave As Is, if necessary). Or, fix the title manually: Choose File > Properties > Description. Enter a title in the Title text box. Click Initial View, and then choose Document Title from the Show drop-down list. Click OK to close the Description dialog box. Page 39

Bookmarks This check fails when the document has 21 or more pages, but doesn t have bookmarks that in the document. To add bookmarks to the document, select Bookmarks on the Accessibility Checker panel, and choose Fix from the Options menu. In the Structure Elements dialog box, select the elements that you want to use as bookmarks, and click OK. (You can also access the Structure Elements dialog box by clicking the Options menu on the Bookmark tab and selecting the New Bookmarks From Structure command.) Tagged Annotations (Comments) This rule checks whether all annotations are tagged. Make sure that annotations such as comments and editorial marks (such as insert and highlight) are either included in the Tags tree or marked as artifacts. Open the Content panel, and right-click the content that you want to mark as an artifact. Then, select Create Artifact from the context menu. (To display the Content panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Content.) Tag the content by choosing Tools > Accessibility > Reading Order. Select the content, and then apply tags as necessary. Assign tags using the Tags panel. (To display the Tags panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.) To have Acrobat assign tags automatically to annotations as they re created, choose Tag Annotations from the Options menu on the Tags panel. Acrobat Accessibility Color Contrast When this check fails, it s possible that the document contains content that isn t accessible to people who are color-blind. To fix this issue, make sure that the document s content adheres to the guidelines outlined in WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Or, include a recommendation that the PDF viewer use high-contrast colors: Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac). Click Accessibility. Select Replace Document Colors, and then select Use High-Contrast Colors. Choose the color combination that you want from the drop-down list, and then click OK. Page 40

Page Content Acrobat Accessibility Tagged content This check reports whether all content in the document is tagged. Make sure that all content in the document is either included in the Tags tree, or marked as an artifact. Do one of the following to fix this rule check: Open the Content panel and right-click the content that you want to mark as an artifact. Then, select Create Artifact from the context menu. (To display the Content tab, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Content.) Tag the content by choosing Tools > Accessibility > Reading Order. Select the content, and then apply tags as necessary. To Assign tags using the Tags panel right-click the element in the Tags tree, and choose Create Tag From Selection. Items such as comments, links, and annotations don t always appear in the Tags tree. To find these items, choose Find from the Options menu. (To display the Tags panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.) Tab order Because tabs are often used to navigate a PDF, it s necessary that the tab order parallels the document structure. To fix the tab order automatically, select Tab Order on the Accessibility Checker panel, and choose Fix from the Options menu. To manually fix the tab order for links, form fields, comments, and other annotations: Click the Page Thumbnails panel on the navigation pane. Click a page thumbnail, and then choose Page Properties from the Options menu. In the Page Properties dialog box, choose Tab Order. Then, select Use Document Structure, and click OK. Repeat these steps for all thumbnails in the document. Page 41

Character encoding Specifying the encoding helps PDF viewers present users with readable text. However, some character-encoding issues aren t repairable within Acrobat. To ensure proper encoding, do the following: Verify that the necessary fonts are installed on your system. Use a different font (preferably OpenType) in the original document, and then re-create the PDF. Re-create the PDF file with a newer version of Acrobat Distiller. Use the latest Adobe Postscript driver to create the PostScript file, and then re-create the PDF. Tagged multimedia This rule checks whether all multimedia objects are tagged. Make sure that content is either included in the Tags tree or marked as an artifact. Open the Content panel and right-click the content that you want to mark as an artifact. Then, select Create Artifact from the context menu. (To display the Content panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Content.) Tag the content by choosing Tools > Accessibility > Reading Order. Select the content, and then apply tags as necessary. Assign tags using the Tags panel right-click the element in the Tags tree, and choose Create Tag From Selection. (To display the Tags panel, choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.) Screen Flicker Elements that make the screen flicker, such as animations and scripts, can cause seizures in individuals who have photosensitive epilepsy. These elements can also be difficult to see when the screen is magnified. If the Screen Flicker rule fails, manually remove or modify the script or content that causes screen flicker. Acrobat Accessibility Page 42

Acrobat vs HTML Forms Many companies are moving away from HTML forms in favor of Acrobat forms. HTML can not embed fonts, images or exactly control the form field width. Users often notice that on-line forms look different in Internet Explorer than Netscape, not to mention other browsers. Forms even appear different in the same browser on different platforms. For these reasons, a PDF (Portable Document Format) is a perfect solution. Acrobat forms can be spell-checked, calculated and validated (using JavaScript). The implementation of JavaScript is Adobe s own. For more information go to Help > Acrobat JavaScript Guide. In the Field Properties dialog box, enter a name in the Name text box, be sure that the naming convention is consistent with that of your database, if the data is being collected. For this field we will start with a Type of Text. There are seven possible field types. PDF Forms Page 43

Field Naming Field names are critical to good form design. The way you name a field can mean the difference between creating forms in a few short steps or spending a lot of time reorganizing the fields and extra time getting the behavior working properly when creating actions. PDF Forms Parent/Child Naming Parent/child naming convention cannot be overly stated and it will be important for all forms to make the best use of field names. This will enable you to better track your fields and choose to rename them globally. There are many more time-saving features you ll find when using parent/child names. For example, JavaScripts can be written with fewer lines of code and debugging scripts is much easier. The most common example is: name.first name.last If you create a table using the Create Multiple Copies command you should start with a field without a child name ending in a number. For example, you could use item.number as a name, but don t use item.number.1. When Acrobat creates the table, the child names, in digits (1, 2, 3, etc.) will be added automatically. When creating radio buttons and checkboxes, these kinds of fields should all have the same name, but different export values. Page 44

Creating a Fillable PDF Form To create a PDF form open the document that you would like to make fillable and: 1. Go to the Tools pane (on the right side of the screen) and click Prepare Form. PDF Forms 2. The Select a file dialog will appear, click Start. Note: Do NOT CLICK This document contains signatures this adds an extra level of security to the form and requires Adobe Sign technology: https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/sign.html 3. 4. Once the form Wizard has run, you will see the forms tools at the top of your screen. Page 45

Forms Tools PDF Forms Selection tool Selects form objects, double-click to bring up Properties. Text Box Creates a field for text, such as name, address, comments, and more. Check Box To create form choices that can have more than one item selected, use the check box tool. Radio Button Radio buttons are used when people can only select one choice. List Box Creates a list of choices, but this is not a drop down or pop-up list of choices. Combo Box This is the best choice for a drop down or pop-up list of choices. Button The button tool can be used to for everything from printing a document to submitting a form or playing a sound. Image Field This is a new tool for Acrobat Forms, but not a new option. The Image Field tool has a pre-built Javascript: event.target.buttonimporticon(). This button supports image file types of: png, gif, jpg, and tiff in Reader and Acrobat Professional. (Image fields created using this new button have _af_image appended to the field name.) Date Field Acrobat now allows Date field creation with a single click. This is also not a new field type, it is slimply a text field, with the format set to date. This name is appended to the Date field _af_date. Digital Signature This tool is used to create a spot to digitally sign the document for form validation or approval. This is NOT an actual signature field (to be signed on a tablet, or mobile device). The Acrobat digital signature feature uses a unique ID and Password to sign the form, or document. Barcode tool Add an automatic barcode. Keep tool Selected This option doesn t go back to the selection tool after creating a field, it leaves the last tool active until you click another tool. Preview Preview allows you to test the form, once you finish previewing click Edit to resume creating the form. To Exit Form editing mode click the X in the upper right corner. Page 46

Creating Text Fields 1. To create a text field, be sure you are in Prepare Form mode (button on the right side of the screen). Click the Text Field tool at the top of the screen, then click and drag on the document where you want to create the field. PDF Forms 2. When you release the mouse, name the field, then click All properties. 3. Type the name of the field, in this case we will name it name.first and check Required. If they forget to enter their name Acrobat will produce an error when they click Submit. Be sure to type information in Tooltip, this is used for Accessibility. This is what screen reading programs read out loud to the visually impaired. 4. Now click Appearance at the top of the dialog, make sure the Font size is not set to Auto, choose a size and click Close. Page 47

Setting the Defaults Once you get the fields looking the way you d like them, you don t want to have to change the settings every time you create a new field. Acrobat allows you to assign defaults to each different field type. To do this Right-click or Ctrl-click (Mac) on the formatted field and choose Use Current Properties as New Defaults. PDF Forms Page 48

Text Field Options Text entered in Default will already be in the field when the users fill out the form. In most cases, this box is empty. An example of when this could have data, if you work for a California university and the default state could be CA. PDF Forms Alignment controls the alignment of text within the text box. Choosing Multi-line allows the user to press return or enter in a form field so that their text can appear on more than one line. Limit of Characters restricts the number of characters that the user can enter in the field. The limits are from 1 to 32,000 characters. Often it is good to limit the first and last name fields, so they don t enter both in the same field. Password will cover the entered text with asterisks or bullets, so the text entry cannot be read when typed. Field is Used for File Selection allows a path to be the field s value. This will let users attach a file to the form and send it along with the data. Page 49

Align, Distribute, and Fields Panel Once a form is created you will see new panels on the right side of your screen for Align, Distribute, and Field names. The order the fields appear in the panel is the tab order. At the bottom of the panel is Distribute and Track used to send the form to recipients and launch the Forms Tracker to see responses (respectively). PDF Forms Page 50

Alignment Options Once you have created your form, you may want to size or align the fields. This can be done with a right-click or using the top right corner alignment options (when in Prepare Form mode). 1. To align the fields, marquee them with the Select Object Tool or use the Shift key to select multiple fields. 2. Right-click (Control-Click on the Mac) on the red field and choose Align, Distribute or Center > Align Bottom. PDF Forms Note: To select non-adjacent or non-touching fields, hold down Command (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) and click each field. The field that is a darker blue is called the anchor field which I like to call the key field. When you align or size objects they will conform to the red field s size or position. All other fields are cyan. To change which field is red (or the field master) hold down your Shift key and click on the field you d like to use as the anchor for alignment and sizing. You may need to Shift click twice to turn the field off and back on again. Page 51

Distribute Horizontally or Vertically Form fields may also be Distributed horizontally or vertically. To access these options, Right-click or Ctrl-click and choose: PDF Forms Align, Distribute or Center > Distribute Horizontally Align, Distribute or Center > Distribute Vertically Page 52

Zip Code Format In some cases users may need to be restricted, so that they don t enter incorrect information in a field. For example, a zip code field should not contain any information except numbers. To accomplish this, click on Format in the Field Properties dialog box, then click Special. On the right hand side will appear the option for Zip Code, this will prevent the person filling out the form from entering anything except numbers and a maximum of 5 characters. PDF Forms Page 53

Phone Number Format There are also many other custom formatting options under Special in the Format section of the Text Field Properties. Selecting Phone Number will convert text only characters to a pre-defined layout. Once the user presses the Tab key or clicks on another field, the formatting is applied. PDF Forms Original Entry Phone Number Format Date Formatting If a user is going to enter a date on a form, it can be pre-formatted, however this format can be fairly restrictive. When the date is formatted, as pictured below, and a user does not enter the full 4 digit year, an error may result. Unacceptable Format Correct Format Error Page 54

Lists In order to create an easy to use pop-up list, go to the Field Properties dialog box and choose Type Combo Box. Combo boxes allow only one item to be selected at a time. There is another form field choice for a list, the List Box. The List Box option does not create a pop-up menu, but displays the entire list at once. Then the user must scroll through that list and may have difficulty navigating to their choice. The size of the pop-up menu for these boxes is determined by the content. To create items in the list, type the value in Item and click Add. Note: The export value is optional and is used if the data is exported to a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) application. Export values only need to be defined if the data will be collected in a database over an intranet (or the web) or if the data is different from the item chosen in the form field. PDF Forms Combo Box List Box Page 55

Radio Buttons Radio buttons earned their name, because only one station can be on at a time. For example, only Yes or No can be selected, not both. In order for a Radio button to function properly, the field names must be the same, but the export values must be different. This ensures that the radio button is a toggle and that the correct value will be sent to the database. PDF Forms Note: The more check boxes or radio buttons a form has, the larger it s file size, so use them sparingly. Page 56

Check Boxes Check boxes can be used for items where more than one can be selected at a time. The checks are actually a font, Zapf Dingbats. In the case of check boxes, each field should have a unique name and an independent export value for CGI applications. PDF Forms Page 57

Buttons A button can have many different appearances. Most commonly, buttons are created to Submit and Reset the form. We will start with a Reset button. Go to the Form tool, then click and drag on the page. In the Field Properties dialog box choose Type Button. For buttons, the appearance should usually be set to Style Beveled or Inset, they look the most button-like. PDF Forms A trick for making a button look Beveled without the black frame as shown above is to: 1. Choose a border color of Black. 2. Set the Line Thickness to Medium (or Thick). 3. Choose a Line Style of Beveled. 4. Now set the Border Color to None and the Bevel will stay on. Button Options It is important to give the Reset button a name that will appear in the form. The Name area of Field Properties does not put the text Reset in the button. To give the button a display name that the users will see click on the Options tab and type Reset in Button Face Attributes. Page 58

Submitting a Form Reset and Submit are built into the default Acrobat actions. There are a few ways that forms can be submitted. Most often, if data is being collected through the internet or an intranet, form data should be sent to a URL (Uniform Resource Locator). PDF Forms Submit Via email If there is no URL to upload the data, it can be sent as an email attachment. In the example below, we have changed the description of the Form Field to Submit via email. It is important to add mailto:emailaddress@.com with NO SPACES. If you d like to set the subject of the email, so you can filter responses add?subject= after the email address. Form Submit Details FDF (Form Data Format) is explained on the following page. The Incremental Changes to the PDF option is used for exporting digital signatures in a way that is easily read and reconstructed by a server. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) exports as an HTML file. XML (Extensible Markup Language) exports as an XML file. The Complete Document exports the entire PDF form. This creates a larger file than the FDF option, but may be useful for saving digital signatures. Convert Dates to Standard Format option exports all form dates in a single format no matter how they are entered into the form. Page 59

Create a Submit Button 1. Click on the Actions tab in the Field Properties dialog. For Trigger, Mouse Up is the default selection and should be fine Note: It is best to set the action to be triggered by a mouse up, to be sure that the user meant to click that button. If the action was set on mouse down and the user slid away from the button, the action would already be triggered. PDF Forms FDF The primary format for saving PDF Form data is FDF (Forms Data Format). You can select that or to send the entire PDF of the form back. 2. In Select Action choose Submit a Form and click Add... Be sure you put a Label under the Options tab so the button has text, the field name does not appear on the button. Page 60

Custom Icons In the Field Properties Options tab, users can select a Layout that contains a custom button. The image to be used for the button needs to be saved as a PDF. In Layout, for the example below, we have chosen Text top, Icon bottom. When the mouse moves over the Submit button, the icon changes to the cycle leaving. This button has two states. There can be up to three states for a button: up, down and rollover. PDF Forms Up Rollover Page 61

Unlock Save Form Feature for Users of Free Reader Since Acrobat 7 Professional form authors have had the ability to enable the Save menu item for anyone with Adobe Reader. In the past you could only Print or Submit forms, not Save. In order for an end user to be able to email the form results back, you must unlock the Save Form Data feature. Unlocing the Save feature should be the FINAL step before sending the form on. Be sure to Save a Copy of the master form. Unlocking the Save feature adds some security to the document and renders the form no longer editable! 1. To unlock the Save feature for people with Adobe Reader choose File > Save as Other > Reader Extend PDF > Enable More Tools (Includes form fill-in & save)... PDF Forms Note: When you are finished building your form, this should be your final step. 2. Click Save Now. Page 62

End User Submit When the end user clicks the Submit button, you need to be sure that the PDF has unlocked the Save Form Data feature using File > Save as Other > Reader Extend PDF > Enable More Tools (Includes form fill-in & save)... When someone hits the Submit button for the first time, these two dialog boxes will appear. PDF Forms Now the form filler just has to hit Send in their email. Page 63

Collecting Data Intelligent design can minimize repetitive tasks to enable you to reuse identical information without user entry every time the form is completed. Forms data can be merged into an Excel Spreadsheet when in Prepare Form mode, on the right pane choose More > Merge Data Files Into Spreadsheet. Customer Info Example If the same information is used every time the user completes a form from a given vendor, rather than forcing the user fill out redundant information, the Customer Info Data File can be used to complete all identical information that will appear in other forms. Once this form is completed, the data is exported. Then you can create a button to import the data so the user won t have to re-enter the same information. In order for forms to work with importing data, the field names have to be identical on both forms. If you use different field names on two forms, Acrobat won t be able to import the data successfully. PDF Forms Page 64

Security Settings in a PDF Form Some forms may have security applied that could prevent the user from filling out the form. To check these settings in the full version of Acrobat choose File Properties, then click Security. PDF Forms Resources for Forms & Acrobat helpx.adobe.com/support/acrobat.html planetpdf.com acrobatusers.com Page 65

Inserting the System Date JavaScript can be used to generate form field information, such as a dynamic date. Experience with JavaScript code is recommended, but not always necessary. PDF Forms Creating the Text Field First create a text field for the date. In the Field Properties dialog box, name the field date. Choose Text from the Type pop-up menu. Click the Format tab, select Date from the list, then select a date format from the options on the right. Setting a Page Action After creating the field, we will create a page action that inserts the date when the user opens the PDF file. To do this choose Document Set Page Action. Click Open, then click Add. Choose JavaScript from the Type pop-up menu, then click Edit. Type the text below into the JavaScript window. var dat = this.getfield( today ); dat.value = util.printd( mm/dd/yyyy, new Date()); Note: If the users system is set to automatically adjust for daylight savings time, when daylight saving time ends, the day includes one more hour, making it a 25 hour day. In addition, when daylight savings begins, the day loses an hour, so it s only 23 hours. To prevent this problem form authors may want to create a custom validation script to check and compensate for daylight saving time. This is a little too advanced for this class. For more details on this talk to your instructor Page 66

Recognize Text Using OCR To search, correct, and copy the text in a scanned Adobe PDF file, users can run Paper Capture in one of three file formats: Adobe PDF Formatted Text and Graphics, PDF Searchable Image (Exact), and Searchable Image (Compact). All formats apply Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and font and page recognition to the text images and convert them to normal text. The searchable image file types have a bitmap image of the pages in the foreground and the captured text on an invisible layer beneath. OCR Resolution Guidelines Black-and-white images at 200 to 600 dpi (300 dpi is generally optimal). Grayscale or color images at 200 to 400 dpi. To convert scanned pages to searchable text: 1. Open the file you want to capture. If the image you want doesn t show, go to Show at the bottom of the dialog and choose All Files. 2. Click the panel on the right side and choose Enhance Scans. Then click Recognize Text at the top of the dialog and choose In This File. 3. Click Settings at the top click the Edit button to set the language, PDF output style and the image downsampling. For PDF Output Style, the default is Searchable Image (Exact) to keep the original image in the foreground and place searchable text behind the image. Typically I change this to Editable Text and Images. Click Recognize Text to start the conversion. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran

Correcting Captured Pages Correcting words on captured pages, if choose the PDF Formatted Text and Graphics format as the PDF Output Style, Acrobat reads pixels of text and tries to substitute words and characters for the pixels. When it isn t certain of one of its substitutions, it marks the word as a Capture Suspect. Suspects are shown in the PDF as the original bitmap of the word, but the text is included on an invisible layer behind the bitmap of the word. This makes the word searchable even though it is displayed as a bitmap. You can accept these suspects as they are, or you can use the TouchUp Text tool to correct them. Note: You must have converted your scanned page to formatted text and graphics before you can correct suspect words. To review and correct suspect words on captured pages: OCR Web Capture Have you ever had a document that won t print properly from a web browser? With Acrobat s Create PDF from Web Page, most HTML documents can be converted into an 8.5 x 11 printable layout, even sites that use Frames. To try this Choose File> Create PDF > From Web Page. Note: This is also an excellent way to permanently archive information from the internet. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran

Comment with Free Reader The owners of Acrobat 7, 8 or 9 Standard or Professional can enable the Commenting tools for anyone with the Free Adobe Reader 7, 8 or 9 (the only requirement is that they have version 7, 8, or 9 not a previous version). Before you start, be sure Acrobat is connected to your default email program. 1. To start this process, on the toolbar at the top click Send for Review, then choose Send by Email for Review. Commenting 2. The file will be re-saved as Acrobat 7 or 8 if it was created as an earlier version such as Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3), which most print shops prefer to receive. Click Next. 3. In the next window click the button that says Customize Review Options. Check the box that says Display Drawing Markup Tools for this review, this will turn on an extra toolbar for Commenting. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 69

4. Now click Send Invitation, this will launch your default mail program and attach the PDF for review. Commenting 5. Once the program is launched, Acrobat will have written all this copy for the email and even included the location to download the latest Adobe Reader. Click Send. 6. When the reviewer receives the file, they open in the Free Reader the commenting toolbar will automatically open. 7. Once the comments are made, the reviewer simply has to hit the Send Comments button to get the notes back to the author of the document. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 70

Commenting Acrobat 8 & 9 have significantly improved their commenting features (formerly called Annotations). To view the Commenting toolbar, click on the Review & Comment Task Button and select Commenting Toolbar. Commenting Commenting Toolbar Indicate Text Edits Highlight Post-it Note Stamp Note: Comments are the most frequently used, they look like electronic Post-it notes. However, there is another commenting tool that may be easier for the reviewer. That tool is the Text Box tool on the Advanced Commenting toolbar. To access this tool click on the Review & Comment Task Button and select Advanced Commenting Toolbar. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 71

Commenting Preferences There are a few options that should be changed in the Commenting Preferences. Commenting Always use Log-in Name for Author name should be unchecked if the IT staff used a generic name for the installation, instead of your name. Create new pop-ups aligned to the edge of the document is a nice option and is on by default. Copy encircled text into Drawing comment pop-ups, will automatically put the text that is surrounded by a comment tool, such as Rectangle or Cloud into the note. Copy selected text into Highlight, Cross-Out, and Underline pop-ups will make Acrobat 7,8 & 9 behave more like Acrobat 5. This will allow the Highlighted, Underlined or Crossed out text to be exported to a summary or saved as a Word doc. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 72

Creating a Note The Note tool will add notes to any page in the document. They can be positioned anywhere on the page, by default they are created as pop-up windows on the edge of the document. Bold, italic and other attributes can be specified for the pop-up window. The text also text scrolls for long notes. 1. Select the Note tool 2. Click where you want the note, or click and drag to create a custom-sized note window 3. Add the note text 4. Once the note is finished, it can be closed or left open Commenting Tip: To keep the note tool active, select the Keep Tool Selected option in the Properties toolbar. To quickly get to the Properties toolbar, Right click or Control click the toolbar area at the top of the screen, then choose Properties Bar. You must be on the Note tool for this option to appear. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 73

Advanced Commenting Toolbar Text box comments are some of the most useful types of notes and they are closer to the traditional pen & paper method. The text box comment is visible on the page and doesn t have to be opened like the post-it note. Once the note is finished Properties can be set: Commenting 1. Choose Review & Comment > Advanced Commenting toolbar. 2. Select the Text Box tool. 3. Click once or drag a rectangle to create the note. Note: The Properties toolbar will allow you to change the color, alignment, and typeface of the note View > Toolbars > Properties Bar (Ctrl E or Command E). 4. Click outside the note, to leave text mode. Note: Acrobat 7 and 8 don t leave the note tool active, when a note is finished it will revert back to the Hand tool. Acrobat 9 leaves your current note tool selected when you add a comment. To Delete a Note 1. Select the Hand tool or the Note tool. 2. Select the note icon, then press Delete or Right click or Control click the note icon (or the title bar of the pop-up window), then choose Delete. Note: You can also Right click or Control click the text area of the pop-up window, and then choose Delete Comment. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 74

Indicating Text Edits Acrobat 7 and 8 has added new features called Markups, to indicate where text changes or deletions should occur. A caret indicates text is to be inserted and the actual text will appear in a pop-up window. Text can also be highlighted or underlined after it is selected with the Indicate Text Edits tool. Comment text can be exported directly to a Word 2002 document. That means if the document originated in Word, a user can send a PDF to a group of Reviewers, they can mark it up and send the comments back to the Author. Finally, the author can export the comments back to the original Word doc. The author just needs to be sure that the insertion comment is the exact text, including spaces and returns, that they want added. Commenting Markup Instructions 1. Click the Indicate Text Edits tool 2. With the cursor in the text, simply start typing and a pop-up window will appear adding your text Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 75

Markup Tips To indicate that a space should be added simply press the spacebar, then close the pop-up window. Note: Right click or Control click selected text, then choose Replace Text. To indicate that a new paragraph should be added, press Enter or Return, then close the pop-up window without adding text. Text edits can also be indicated using the Select Text tool, then choosing Insert Text At Cursor from the Text Edits menu on the Commenting toolbar. For text to be deleted, on the Commenting toolbar click Text Edits. Select the text, then press Backspace or Delete. Choose Text Edits > Highlight Selected Text or Underline Selected Text on the Commenting toolbar. Then Ctrl drag or Option drag to mark up a rectangular area of text. This is especially useful to mark up text in a column. Notes added to cross-out markups will not be exported into Word. Commenting Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 76

Adding Stamps The Stamp tool has many enhancements in Acrobat 7 and 8. Users can now choose from a list of predefined stamps and it is easier to create your own custom stamps. Adobe has added Dynamic stamps which grab information from your system and from the Identity panel of the Preferences dialog box. This information includes name, date, and time which appears right on the stamp. Commenting 1. On the Commenting toolbar, select the stamp to add. 2. Click the page where you want to place the stamp (this builds one at its default size). Note: You can also or drag a rectangle to define a custom size. To delete a stamp, Right click or Control click the stamp, then choose Delete. An easier method is to click the stamp and press Delete or Backspace. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 77

Stamp Properties To change a stamp s color or opacity, Right click or Control click the stamp, and choose Properties. The Appearance tab contains these settings. Commenting Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 78

Creating Custom Stamps Creating Custom Stamps from PDF files is far easier than in previous versions. Acrobat now supports common graphic formats such as Adobe Illustrator (.ai), Adobe Photoshop (.psd), Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg), Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), and Bitmap (.bmp). It does continue to support PDF for custom stamps. Custom stamps can be added to an existing stamp category, or users can create a new categories. Note: To remove the stamp from the menu, Select the stamp, then choose Remove Current Stamp from Favorites. Commenting Highlight, Cross-Out and Underline The Highlighter tool is very powerful. Here is an example: You may have a long PDF document that you are reading and certain sections may be important to note or markup. Use the Highlighter tool to mark the sections that you would like to save and they will become exportable to a Comment Summary. The Cross-Out Text tool is helpful for indicating text that should be deleted from a file you are reviewing and the Underline Text tool can be used like the Highlighter tool. 1. On the Commenting toolbar, select the Highlighter tool (or Cross-Out or the Underline tool). 2. Click and drag over the text to be marked or Ctrl or Option drag to mark up a rectangular area. This works well for PDF documents that have multiple columns. 3. Double click the text to add a note. Note: If Copy selected text into pop-ups has been selected in the Commenting preferences, the highlighted text will automatically be in the pop-up. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 79

Deleting a Highlight, Cross-Out or Underline Right click or Control click the markup and choose Delete or select the Hand tool, click the markup, and then press Delete. Note: If multiple markups are placed on top of one another, you may need to delete several comments Commenting Exporting Comments Once comments have been added to a document, they can be exported or summarized through the Comments Navigation Tab (View > Navigation Tabs > Comments) or click on the Comments tab at the lower right corner of the document window. Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 80

Summarizing Comments To create a separate document with all of the comments and the author choose Options from the Comments Navigation Tab and choose Summarize Comments. Commenting Acrobat 2018 Kelly McCathran Page 81