This FAQ is for non-technical users who need a simple, fast way to review and improve the accessibility of PDFs they upload to their website.

1. I don’t have much time. What’s the quickest way to do this?

If you only do one thing, do this quick process for each important PDF (forms, applications, policies, high-traffic docs):

1. Open the PDF and do a 10-second check
   • Try to select text with your mouse.
   • Try to search for a word (Ctrl+F / Command+F).
     If nothing is selectable/searchable, it’s basically a scanned picture and will not be accessible yet.
2. Run an automatic accessibility check
   Choose one of these:
   • Adobe Acrobat Pro (paid, best all-round option) – use the built-in Accessibility Check / Make Accessible tools.
   • PAVE 2.0 (free, web-based) – upload the PDF and follow its guided steps to fix common issues.
3. Fix the issues the tool highlights
   • Simple things you can usually fix yourself: missing title, missing alt text for images, wrong reading order, unlabeled form fields.
   • If something looks complex (like big tables or complicated layouts), you may want to ask the original document creator or a specialist for help.
4. Save the file and test again
   Run the check one more time to confirm the major problems are gone.

If you can do that for your key PDFs, you’re already in much better shape than most organizations.

2. What tools do I actually need?

You don’t need to be a designer or a developer. A small set of tools goes a long way.

“Good” (free options)

PAVE 2.0 (web tool)

• Upload a PDF and walk through a simple 4-step process (structure, reading order, images, tables/forms).
• Great if you want a click-through, guided experience and don’t own Acrobat.

PAC 2024 – PDF Accessibility Checker (Windows desktop)

• Free checker that tests your PDFs against accessibility standards (PDF/UA and WCAG).
• It reports problems but does not edit the PDF, so it’s best combined with another editor like Acrobat or PAVE.

“Better” (paid, but easier for ongoing work)

Adobe Acrobat Pro

• Lets you check and fix accessibility in one place.
• Has a “Make Accessible” / “Prepare for accessibility” wizard that walks you through adding a title, running OCR, tagging, and running the Accessibility Checker.

If your organization is going to be posting PDFs regularly, Acrobat Pro plus either PAVE or PAC is a very solid setup.

3. How do I quickly tell if a PDF is a problem?

Here’s a super-fast “is this PDF even usable?” test:

1. Try to highlight text
   • If your cursor always behaves like it’s selecting a picture, the file is likely just images (a scan).
2. Search for a word (Ctrl+F / Command+F)
   • If it finds nothing, again: probably a scan or image-only PDF.

If it looks like an image-only scan:

• In Acrobat Pro: use Scan & OCR or the Make Accessible action to recognize text.
• Or, go back to the original document (Word, etc.), and export again as a real text-based PDF.

Until the text is recognized, a screen reader cannot read it.

4. What’s the easiest step-by-step process to review a PDF?

Here’s a simple, repeatable process you can follow for each important PDF.

Step 1 – Run an automated check

If you have Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat Pro.
2. Go to Tools → Accessibility (or Action Wizard → Make Accessible).
3. Run Accessibility Check.
4. Look at the report:
   • Fix anything marked as Failed.
   • Review Warnings – they often just mean “a human should double-check this.”

If you don’t have Acrobat Pro:

• Go to PAVE 2.0, upload the PDF, and complete its 4-step workflow.
• Optionally, run PAC 2024 afterwards to get a detailed report.

Step 2 – Do a quick manual check (no deep tech skills required)

When the automated tool is done, check these basics:

1. Headings & structure
   • Does the document visually look organized with headings (big/bold titles, section headings)?
   • In Acrobat’s Tags panel, you should see headings and paragraphs (H1, H2, P, etc.), not just one giant block. (source)
2. Reading order
   • Use the Reading Order / Order tool (in Acrobat) or the equivalent step in PAVE.
   • Make sure the content is read top to bottom in the same order a sighted person would read it (title → heading → paragraph, etc.), not jumping around columns or sidebars. (source)
3. Images
   • Any image that conveys information (charts, photos, icons that mean something) should have alt text – a short description of what the image is showing.
   • Purely decorative images should be marked as decorative so they’re skipped.
4. Links
   • Link text should be descriptive, like “Download the enrollment form (PDF)”, not just “Click here”.
5. Forms (if it’s a form PDF)
   • You should be able to Tab from one field to the next.
   • Each field should have a clear label (for example, a screen reader user should hear “First Name, edit text” rather than just “edit text”).
6. Language & title
   • The PDF should have the correct language set (e.g., English).
   • The document Title (what shows in the browser tab) should be meaningful, not just “Document1.pdf”.

Step 3 – Fix issues in the original file when possible

Often, it’s faster and cleaner to:

1. Open the original file (Word, PowerPoint, etc.).
2. Fix the structure there (use real headings, proper lists, table headers).
3. Export again as a PDF using the program’s “Save as PDF” / “Export to PDF” with accessibility options turned on.

Then, do a final accessibility check on the new PDF and touch up any remaining issues in Acrobat or PAVE.

5. What if fixing the PDF looks too complicated?

Sometimes, the right answer is not to use a PDF at all.

You might want to:

• Turn the content into a regular web page (HTML) instead of a PDF. Web pages are often easier to make accessible and are more mobile-friendly.
• Ask whoever created the PDF (designer, vendor, or internal team) to:
  • Fix the original document and re-export it as an accessible PDF, or
  • Provide the content in an accessible web format.

For especially complex PDFs (lots of tables, charts, interactive forms), it can be reasonable to bring in a specialist accessibility vendor—especially if they’re legal- or compliance-critical documents.

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References

• Section508.gov – Create Accessible PDFs
  • Clear, government-backed guidance on creating and remediating accessible PDFs.
• Adobe – PDF Accessibility Overview & Acrobat guides
  • How to use Acrobat Pro’s Accessibility Checker and Make Accessible tools.
• PAVE – Validate and Fix PDF Accessibility
  • A free web tool with a guided workflow for making PDFs accessible.
• PAC – PDF Accessibility Checker
  • A free checker that tests for PDF/UA and WCAG 2.1 compliance and gives detailed reports.