Creating Accessible PDF Files using Microsoft Word 2010 and Adobe Acrobat Pro version X Office of Information Technology West Virginia University OIT Help Desk (304) 293-4444, oithelp@mail.wvu.edu http://oit.wvu.edu/training/classmat/acr/accessible-pdf/ Last revised: April 5, 2011 Copyright 2011 West Virginia University
Table of Contents Introduction... 1 What is a PDF File?... 1 How Are PDF Files Created?... 1 Accessible PDF Files... 1 Adobe Reader Features for Accessible Reading of PDFs... 2 Adobe Acrobat Features for Creating Accessible PDFs... 3 Checking Accessibility of a PDF File... 4 Searchable text... 4 What to do if PDF is a scanned document:... 4 Quick Check... 5 Full Check... 6 Navigation Features... 7 Tags and Read Order... 8 Other Checking... 8 Making an Existing PDF File More Accessible... 9 To add or edit tags... 9 To change the reading order... 10 To add alternate text to an image in the PDF file... 10 Guidelines for Creating Accessible PDF Files from Word... 12 Accessibility in Mind... 12 References... 14
Introduction What is a PDF File? Portable Document Format (PDF) is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems.each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, graphics, and other information needed to display it.. While the PDF specification has been available free of charge since at least 2001, PDF was originally a proprietary format controlled by Adobe. It was officially released as an open standard on July 1, 2008. How Are PDF Files Created? Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pdf Adobe Acrobat + anything on computer via File > Print to Adobe PDF Adobe Acrobat + Microsoft Office via PDFMaker Macro Office 2007 with free plug-in downloaded from Microsoft.com: Save as.pdf Office 2010: File > Save as.pdf Scanning to PDF or scan to image and import image into Adobe Acrobat Various Adobe software such as InDesign and Photoshop export to PDF OpenOffice Writer, WordPerfect, etc. Ghostscript, CutePDF, PDFCreator, PrimoPDF, and similar software LaTeX + dvips Macintosh OS X: Print to PDF Accessible PDF Files 1 Accessible PDF files have the following characteristics: Searchable text not an image of text Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to text Navigation features such as buttons, links, bookmarks, table of contents, tab order Document structure tags and proper read order Alternate text descriptions for images and tool tips for form fields and links Document language specified Interactive form fields with a defined tab order Security that will not interfere with assistive technology 1 Source: Adobe Acrobat X Accessibility Guide: PDF Accessibility Overview, http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf/acrobat-x-pdf-accessibility-overview.pdf Creating Accessible PDF Files 1
Adobe Reader Features for Accessible Reading of PDFs 2 Preferences and commands to optimize output for assistive software and devices, such as saving as accessible text for a Braille printer Preferences and commands to make navigation of PDFs more accessible, such as automatic scrolling and opening PDFs to the last page read Accessibility Setup Assistant Wizard for easy setting of most preferences related to accessibility Keyboard alternates to mouse actions Reflow capability to temporarily present the text of a PDF in a single column Read Out Loud text-to-speech conversion. Support for screen readers and screen magnifiers Figure 1. Edit > Preferences > Accessibility Figure 2. Tools > Accessibility > Setup Assistant 2 Source: Adobe Acrobat X Accessibility Guide: PDF Accessibility Overview, http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf/acrobat-x-pdf-accessibility-overview.pdf 2 WVU Office of Information Technology
Table 1. Examples of Keyboard Alternatives Fit Page Ctrl 0 Go to Next Page key Add Bookmark Ctrl B Actual Size Ctrl 1 Previous View Alt Add Sticky Note Ctrl 6 Fit Width Ctrl 2 Go to Last Page End Crop Pages Shift Ctrl T Reflow text to a single column: View > Zoom > Reflow [Ctrl 4] Read Out Loud: View > Read Out Loud > Activate Read Out Loud followed by View > Read Out Loud > Read This Page Only or Read To End of Doc Adobe Acrobat Features for Creating Accessible PDFs 3 Creation of tagged PDFs from authoring applications Conversion of untagged PDFs to tagged PDFs from within Acrobat Security setting that allows screen readers to access text while preventing users from copying, printing, editing, and extracting text Ability to add text to scanned pages to improve accessibility Tools for editing reading order and document structure Tools for creating accessible PDF forms 3 Source: Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Accessibility Guide: PDF Accessibility Overview, www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf/a9-pdf-accesibility-overview.pdf Creating Accessible PDF Files 3
Checking Accessibility of a PDF File Searchable text PDF files created by scanning directly to PDF or by scanning a document to an image file and then importing it into Acrobat creates an image of the text and not the text itself. This type of PDF file is inaccessible to those who rely on assistive technology to hear the contents. It also prevents copying text or performing full text searches. Ways to determine if the file is a scanned document: Page appears to be skewed Search for text on the page: Edit > Find [Ctrl F] Zoom in and look for jaggy edges on curved letters: use marquee zoom tool Attempt to use Read Out Loud feature Adobe Acrobat X will alert you when you open a scanned document: What to do if PDF is a scanned document: Perform Optical Character Recognition: Tools > Recognize Text > In This File Click on the Edit button to set preferences. 4 WVU Office of Information Technology
Specify OCR language and output style. Hopefully the page was scanned at least at 300dpi; if not, these steps will not work. Quick Check Tools > Accessibility > Quick Check Not much info: Creating Accessible PDF Files 5
Full Check You can select what standard to use for the checking: Adobe PDF, Section 508, WCAG 1.0, or WCAG 2.0 Figure 3. Accessibility Full Check Options You might choose to have comments created in the document where the problems are noted (you can delete these later). Choose your options and then click on the Start Checking button. 6 WVU Office of Information Technology
Figure 4. Accessibility Report Navigation Features A table of contents page should have been created in the original document. Check buttons, links, bookmarks, and tab order for form fields. If the document looks like a form, it should be an interactive form with fields that can be completed; add descriptive text to each form field which will act as a tool tip. If the document was created via PDFMaker from a structured Office document, bookmarks will be created from heading styles (and any other specified paragraph styles). Check hyperlinks: hover mouse over them to make sure you see a w on the back of the hand; if not, select the text or object and right click on it. Choose Create Link from the shortcut menu. This technique will add all three tags that screen readers require. Do not use the Create Links from URLs command. Creating Accessible PDF Files 7
Tags and Read Order View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Order Other Checking Document language: File > Properties > Advanced > Reading Options > Language Security : File > Properties > Security tab verify Content Copying for Accessibility is allowed. When adding security to a PDF document, check the box for enable text access for screen reader devices. 8 WVU Office of Information Technology
Making an Existing PDF File More Accessible To add or edit tags If you are working with an untagged document, try this command: Tools > Accessibility > Add Tags to Document You will get a report on the left: You might need to: 1. Choose the Edit Document Text tool under Tools > Content 2. Select the text that should be a heading etc. 3. Right click on the selected area and choose Properties from the shortcut menu 4. Click on the Tag tab 5. Choose a Type of tag and enter the Actual Text. 6. Click on Close when you are done. Creating Accessible PDF Files 9
To change the reading order 1. Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order 2. Click on the Show Order Panel button. 3. Navigate to the page and expand its list of items. 4. Drag the tag to the desired location. The items will be renumbered. With the TouchUp Reading Order tool selected, you can draw a box around text that should be a heading then right click and select Tag as heading To add alternate text to an image in the PDF file 1. Select the Edit Object tool from Tools > Content 2. Right click on an image and choose Properties from the shortcut menu 3. Click on the Tag tab. 4. Make sure the type is set to figure. 5. Enter alternate text. You can also specify a language: 10 WVU Office of Information Technology
6. Click on Close If the figure is already tagged, you can also go to the set of tags to add alternate text: Expand the <Figure> item. Right click on the XObject item and choose Properties. Follow remaining steps above. When you are touching up the reading order, you can add or edit the alternate text. Right click on the figure and choose Edit Alternate Text from the shortcut menu: Creating Accessible PDF Files 11
Guidelines for Creating Accessible PDF Files from Word In general, the following rules apply. Design your source document with accessibility in mind Do NOT use character formatting for headings, use the program s styles. Do add alternative text to graphics in the source file Do use a table editor if available to create tables Do NOT use a table editor to design layouts Do generate the PDF file in a way that generates tags Do set your PDF output preferences option to tagged PDF Do check the results in Adobe Acrobat X Pro using Advanced > Accessibility > Full Check Do follow the suggestions for repair and repeat checking until no errors are detected Accessibility in Mind Use heading styles to add structure Text at least 12 points Avoid using text boxes Avoid pressing Enter to create white space between paragraphs. Use the Page Layout > Columns if you want multiple columns on a page do not use tabs, spaces, or place text in a table to achieve this look. Use list styles to create bulleted or numbered lists. Do not use tabs or spaces to create a table effect use the table editor. o Designate a table header: select the top row, right click, choose Table Properties, and under the Row tab, check the box for repeat as header row. Allow Word to turn web addresses into hyperlinks. 12 WVU Office of Information Technology
Avoid placing text too close to text place white space between text and graphics. Add alternative text for images: right click on image and choose Format Picture. Click on Alt Text on the left. Enter a brief meaningful title and a full description. Check for issues: File > Info > Check for Issues > Check Accessibility Creating Accessible PDF Files 13
References http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/ http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf/acrobat-xaccessible-pdf-from-word.pdf http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/ http://www.webaim.org/techniques/acrobat/ http://www.webaim.org/techniques/word/ http://www.ncsu.edu/it/access/tutorials/forms/formpdf.php 14 WVU Office of Information Technology