Accessibility Process for PDF

System Office employees must do the following to comply with accessibility standards before sharing a PDF with audiences via SharePoint or a website. Although following these steps may not necessarily guarantee a completely accessible document, following these steps should minimize accessibility issues and make your content more accessible than before. Visit our website for more information on System Accessibility.

To make your PDF files more accessible:

1. Export from Microsoft Products
2. Run Accessibility Checker

Export from Microsoft Products

When exporting a PDF file from Word or PowerPoint, please follow the Accessibility Process for Microsoft Word or PowerPoint job aids prior to completing the next steps. It is important to export the file correctly so that the accessibility features are preserved and successfully transferred to the PDF.

1. In the Microsoft file, select the File tab on the Ribbon.
2. Select Save As on the left column.
   1. NOTE: Do not select Save as Adobe PDF.
3. Select More options… below the drop-down list.
4. On the Save As screen that appears, navigate to the correct location or folder where you want to save the PDF.
5. Edit the file name in the File name field, if necessary.
6. Select PDF (*.pdf) in the Save as type drop-down list.
7. Enter the title of the document in the Title field below the Save as type drop-down list.
   1. NOTE: The Title and File name should be the same. This will ensure that the title bar shows the correct title of the document.
8. Select the Options… button on the bottom of the screen.
9. On the Options screen under the Include non-printing information section, make sure that the Document structure tags for accessibility option is selected.
10. Click OK.
11. Click Save.

Run Accessibility Checker

The Accessibility Checker feature finds accessibility problems and provides suggestions on how to fix them. Following these steps should result in an adequately accessible document, but more changes may be needed based on a user’s needs, or more work may be needed to make it fully accessible. Automatic checkers are imperfect and cannot catch everything but can help guide you in creating more equitable content. 

1. Select the Tools tab on the Ribbon.
2. Select Accessibility under the Protect & Standardize section.
3. Select Accessibility Check on the Accessibility column that appears on the right side of the screen.
4. Click the Start Checking button on the bottom of the Accessibility Checker Options screen.
   1. NOTE: Items that failed the Accessibility checker will be shown on report list that appears on the left side of the screen.
5. Address any items that failed on the report list.
   1. Right click on the failed item in the list.
   2. Select Explain. This will open your browser and direct you to a guide provided by Adobe to address the issue.

Additional Resources

Accessibility Process for PDF - PDF