Overview: Accessible PDFs

In Ontario, the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR) mandates that accessible formats of information must be provided upon request. There may be times in your role on campus when a request is made for an accessible format of materials that you or your department may have created “in-house.” This request may come from students, faculty, staff, volunteers or visitors. This tip sheet outlines some basic guidelines that will help you to create an accessible PDF document.

Step 1: Create an Accessible Microsoft Word Document

Much of the work required to create an accessible PDF happens in the creation of the document itself, not in the conversion to PDF.

Make Text Accessible

  • Follow the Clear Print Guidelines
  • Text should be at least 12-point type; fonts should be simple, sans serif (for example, Arial).
  • Use a bold font to show emphasis. Italics and uppercase letters are not recommended.
  • Avoid using “Enter” to create space between paragraphs. Instead, use the Space Before and Space After properties in your styles.
  • Avoid using text boxes.
  • Use real text rather than text within graphics.
  • Ensure that there is sufficient colour contrast between the text and the background.
  • Avoid using watermarks; instead include the information elsewhere in the document.

Use Styles

  • Design your documents and format text using Microsoft Word’s “Styles” menu rather than character formatting.
  • View Word’s paragraph styles in the “Home” tab, within the “Styles” menu group.
  • Edit styles by right-clicking on a style and selecting “Modify > Format.”
  • Use “Styles” to create hierarchical and logical headings: “Title,” “Heading 1,” “Heading 2” and so on.

Be Careful When Using Tables, Columns and Lists

  • Avoid nested tables or merged or split cells inside tables.
  • Ensure that the tab order within a table is logical. To test the navigation of a table tab order, select the first cell of the table, then press the “Tab” key repeatedly to ensure that the focus moves across the row and then down to the first cell of the next row.
  • Format the layout or spacing between paragraphs by customizing your styles or using Word’s “Column” command to create multi-column documents.

Add Alternative Text to Images

Alternative text or “alt text” refers to text that can be read by a screen reader to describe graphics and images that people with visual disabilities cannot see.

Provide alt text for all graphics, images and multimedia content. To add alt text:

  1. Right click on the image.
  2. Select “Size.”
  3. Select the “Alt Text” tab and type text that describes the image (for example, “Logo of Council of Ontario Universities”). Use clear but concise descriptions.

For more information about alt text, please refer to the “Alternative Text” guide in the Accessibility Toolkit.

Step 2: Configure the PDFMaker

Once you have prepared your Microsoft Word document with accessibility in mind, you are ready to convert it to a PDF. You must use the Acrobat PDFMaker tool within Word to create a tagged PDF.

  1. In the top toolbar, click the “Acrobat” tab.
  2. Select “Create PDF.”
  3. In the “Save” box, select the “Options” button. Select the “Enable Accessibility” and “Reflow with Tagged Adobe PDF” options.
  4. Name the file as desired, select a destination folder, and click “Save.”

Do not create your documents using the “Print” to PDF method, as this creates an untagged (inaccessible) PDF.

Step 3: Check and Fix Accessibility in Acrobat

If you have followed all of the above guidelines for creating your Word document, the resulting PDF has a basic level of accessibility. However, it still may not be fully accessible to all screen readers, and you may need to provide additional information using Adobe Acrobat software.

For information about creating accessible PDFs using Acrobat software, visit www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf/A9-accessible-pdf-from-word.pdf

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