Create Accessible Adobe PDFs

Phase 1: Accessibility fundamentals

The following practices cover the accessibility foundations every PDF should have before it is published or shared.

1. Add a document title

A descriptive document title is what screen readers announce when the file opens and what appears in browser tabs and bookmark lists. Without it, users hear the filename (often something like Form_v3_Final_FINAL.pdf), which provides no context.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the PDF.
2. Go to File then Document Properties.
3. On the Description tab, enter a meaningful title in the Title field.
4. Switch to the Initial View tab.
5. Under Window Options, set Show to Document Title.
6. Click OK and save the file.

The title should describe the document’s purpose, not its filename. For example, “UGA Student Accommodation Request, Fall 2026” is meaningful; “Accommodation_request_v2” is not.

2. Set the document language

The document language tells screen readers how to pronounce content. Without it, an English document may be read with default-locale pronunciation rules that mangle proper nouns and technical terms.

Important correction to common guidance: setting the language in Acrobat Preferences changes the Acrobat application interface language, not the document language. The document language is a property of the file itself.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the PDF.
2. Go to File then Document Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Reading Options, select the language from the Language dropdown (for most UGA documents, this is English).
5. Click OK and save.

For documents that include passages in another language, those passages can be tagged with their own language attribute through the Tags panel. Right-click the tag, choose Properties, and set the language on the relevant element.

3. Tag the document structure

Tags provide the semantic structure that assistive technology uses to understand a PDF. They identify headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, figures, links, form fields, and other relationships, and they establish a reliable reading sequence. An untagged PDF may still contain selectable text, but it lacks dependable structural information, so assistive technology may have to infer reading order and meaning. A scanned PDF without optical character recognition (OCR) is different: its text exists only as an image until text recognition is performed.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the PDF.
2. Go to All Tools then Prepare for Accessibility.
3. If no tag structure exists, click Autotag Document. This is a starting point, never the finished product.
4. Open the Tags panel from the left navigation rail (or View then Show/Hide then Navigation Panes then Tags).
5. Expand the tag tree and verify that document elements are tagged appropriately.

Decorative and layout-only content: In PDF/UA-1 workflows, this content is marked as an artifact and excluded from the logical structure tree. It is not represented by an <Artifact> structure tag. PDF/UA-2, which applies to PDF 2.0, introduces an Artifact structure element.

Autotag results almost always require manual correction. Plan for verification time.

4. Create a logical heading hierarchy

Heading structure is how screen reader users navigate a document. Using the H key in NVDA or VoiceOver’s rotor, users jump directly between headings without listening to everything in between. A document without proper headings is essentially a long, unnavigable wall of text.

The hierarchy works like an outline:

• H1: the document title. DAS recommends one H1 per document as a clear authoring convention.
• H2: major sections
• H3: subsections within each H2
• H4 and beyond: use sparingly, only in very long or complex documents

Example for a UGA application form:

• H1: UGA Graduate Assistantship Application
  • H2: Applicant Information
    • H3: Personal Details
    • H3: Contact Information
  • H2: Academic Background
    • H3: Degree Programs
    • H3: Transcripts
  • H2: Statement of Purpose

Steps to fix headings in Acrobat:

1. Open the Tags panel.
2. Locate the tag that should be a heading (often incorrectly tagged P).
3. Double-click the tag name to edit it, or right-click and choose Properties.
4. Change the Type to the correct heading level.

5. Write effective alternative text for images

Alternative text describes what an image conveys to people who cannot see it. Every meaningful image needs alt text. Purely decorative images (borders, dividers, ornamental graphics) should be marked as artifacts so screen readers skip them entirely.

What makes good alt text:

• Describes the information the image conveys, not just what it shows.
• Concise but complete (typically one to two sentences).
• Usually does not begin with “Image of” or “Picture of.” Identify the visual type when it adds meaning, such as “Bar chart showing,” “Screenshot of,” or “Map showing.”
• For complex images (charts, graphs, diagrams), describes the data or relationship, not just the visual.

For very complex images (a full data dashboard, an architectural diagram), provide a short alt text and supplement with a longer description elsewhere in the document text, or link to an accessible data table.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Go to All Tools then Prepare for Accessibility then Add Alternate Text.
2. Acrobat presents each detected figure in turn.
3. For each meaningful image, enter a description.
4. For decorative images, check Decorative figure.
5. Click Save and Close.

To edit alt text on a specific image after the fact, locate the Figure tag in the Tags panel, right-click, choose Properties, and edit the Alternate Text field on the Tag tab.

AI-assisted alt text drafting can be a useful starting point, but it always requires human review. Tool availability and licensing vary. Visit the UGA AI Toolbox for current access information, and verify that every generated description accurately represents the image and fits the document’s audience and purpose.

6. Create accessible hyperlinks with descriptive link text

Screen reader users frequently navigate by pulling up a list of all links on a page. If every link is “click here” or a raw URL, that list is useless. Descriptive link text identifies the destination or action without requiring surrounding context.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Go to Edit then Link then Add or Edit a Link, or use the equivalent option under All Tools.
2. Draw a rectangle around the descriptive text.
3. In the Create Link dialog, set Link Type to Invisible Rectangle and Link Action to Open a web page.
4. Enter the destination URL and click OK.
5. Open the Tags panel and confirm the link is wrapped in a Link tag with the visible text inside it.

If autotag missed some links, use the Tags panel menu (three dots) then Find then Unmarked Links to locate and tag them.

7. Verify color contrast

Sufficient contrast between text and background is essential for people with low vision, color vision deficiency, and many situational impairments (sunlight on a screen, low-quality monitors). WCAG 2.1 Level AA requires:

Steps to check:

1. Run the Acrobat accessibility checker (All Tools then Prepare for Accessibility then Check for Accessibility). It may report some possible contrast issues, but the result is not a complete contrast evaluation.
2. For manual verification, use the free TPGi Colour Contrast Analyser (available for Windows and Mac). Sample the foreground and background colors directly from your document.
3. Pay particular attention to text on photographic backgrounds, text on colored shapes, and small accent text in headers and footers.

Make manual contrast testing the expectation. Automated checks cannot reliably evaluate every background, gradient, rasterized image, or meaningful graphical relationship. If the PDF contains text embedded in images, verify the contrast manually and consider whether the text can be converted to selectable text. Also verify applicable user-interface components and graphical objects at 3:1.

As a typography and legibility best practice, apply the iL1 test when selecting fonts: confirm that the lowercase i, uppercase I, lowercase l, and the numeral 1 are visually distinguishable. Fonts that fail this test (some condensed sans-serifs, some geometric display faces) create reading difficulties for people with dyslexia and low vision.

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Phase 2: Forms, tables, and complex content

Interactive forms and data tables are where most accessibility failures occur. They are also where UGA most commonly interacts with students, faculty, staff, and the public. Get these right.

8. Label form fields

Without proper labels, screen readers announce form fields as “edit, blank” or “edit, Field 1” with no indication of what information is being requested. The fix is to set a descriptive Tooltip on every form field. The Tooltip is the accessible name that assistive technology announces.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Go to All Tools then Prepare a Form. Acrobat will auto-detect existing fields and offer to create new ones where it perceives blanks.
2. Verify all expected fields are present. Add missed fields manually using the toolbar (Text Field, Check Box, Radio Button, Dropdown, List Box, Signature).
3. Right-click each field and choose Properties.
4. On the General tab, enter a meaningful Tooltip. The Tooltip supplies the accessible name announced by assistive technology. The Name field supports internal authoring and maintenance, but it is not the accessible name.
5. If the field is required, select the Required option and make the requirement clear in the visible instructions.

For radio button groups, all buttons in the group share a Name and each gets a distinct Export Value (the value submitted). The Tooltip should describe the question, and each button’s accessible label is derived from its Export Value or its associated visible label.

For checkboxes that represent a yes or no agreement, the Tooltip should be a full statement, not a fragment.

9. Set keyboard tab order

Tab order determines the sequence in which keyboard and screen reader users move through form fields. A wrong tab order makes a form effectively unusable, even when individual fields are correctly labeled.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the PDF and go to All Tools then Prepare a Form.
2. Click More in the Prepare a Form toolbar, then Set Tab Order.
3. Choose one of the following options.

For multi-page PDFs, also confirm page-level tab order. In the Page Thumbnails panel, right-click a page, choose Page Properties, and set Tab Order to Use Document Structure.

10. Create accessible data tables

A data table without header tags is unintelligible to a screen reader. Users hear cell values with no indication of what column or row each value belongs to. The fix is to identify which cells are headers and to set their scope (column, row, or both).

The two essential tags are TH for header cells (column or row labels) and TD for data cells (regular content).

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the Tags panel.
2. Locate the Table tag.
3. Expand it to view each TR (row) and the cells within.
4. For each cell, verify the tag is TH (header) or TD (data) as appropriate. To change, double-click the tag name or right-click and choose Properties.
5. Open All Tools then Prepare for Accessibility then Reading Order, select the table, and click Table Editor.
6. Right-click each cell and choose Table Cell Properties.
7. Set Type to Header Cell or Data Cell as appropriate.
8. For header cells, set Scope.
9. For merged cells, set ColSpan and RowSpan to match the visual layout.
10. Click OK and verify the corrected structure in the Tags panel.

Avoid using tables for layout purposes (positioning images and text in columns, for example). Screen readers announce layout tables as data tables, which confuses users. Use proper section and paragraph structure for layout instead.

11. Review tag order and reading order together

The Tags panel, Reading Order tool, and Order panel provide related views of PDF structure and sequence. They are not interchangeable, but changes in one view can affect how content is tagged or read.

• Tags panel: Shows the logical structure tree. Its hierarchy indicates the reading sequence and identifies elements such as headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, links, and figures.
• Reading Order tool and Order panel: Show numbered content regions and support visual inspection, basic tag assignments, and reordering. They can help locate grouping and sequence problems that must then be verified in the Tags panel.

For a tagged PDF, use the Tags panel as the primary place to verify detailed structure and logical sequence. Use the Reading Order tool and Order panel to inspect page regions and make appropriate basic corrections. After any change, recheck the tag tree and test the resulting reading sequence.

To check the logical sequence:

1. Open the Tags panel and review the structure from top to bottom.
2. Confirm that the order matches the intended meaning, not only the visual placement.
3. Use the Reading Order tool or Order panel to investigate page-level grouping or sequence problems.
4. After reordering or retagging content, return to the Tags panel and verify the final structure.

12. Add bookmarks for long documents

As a DAS recommended practice, add bookmarks to PDFs longer than about ten pages and to shorter documents when bookmarks would improve navigation. Bookmarks supplement, but do not replace, heading tags. Acrobat’s automated bookmark check specifically fails when a document has 21 or more pages and lacks bookmarks that parallel its structure.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Open the Bookmarks panel from the left navigation rail.
2. With your H1 and H2 headings already tagged, click the panel menu and choose New Bookmarks from Structure.
3. Select the heading levels you want to convert to bookmarks (typically H1 and H2).
4. Click OK. Acrobat generates a bookmark tree mirroring your heading structure.

Set the document to open with the Bookmarks panel visible: File then Document Properties then Initial View, then on the Navigation tab choose Bookmarks Panel and Page.

13. Test with a screen reader

Automated checkers detect only a subset of accessibility barriers. Many questions about meaning, reading sequence, alternative text quality, form behavior, and usability require human evaluation. For forms and complex documents, include testing with an actual screen reader.

Minimum testing protocol for document structure:

• Open the PDF and listen to the document title announcement.
• Press H repeatedly (NVDA) or use the rotor (VoiceOver) to navigate by heading. Verify the headings make sense and are in correct hierarchical order.

For images:

• Use the screen reader’s graphics navigation to step through images. Verify alt text is meaningful.

For links:

• Pull up the links list (Insert plus F7 in NVDA, rotor in VoiceOver). Verify all link text is descriptive out of context.

For tables:

• Navigate into the table with Ctrl plus Alt plus arrow keys (NVDA) or VO plus arrow (VoiceOver).
• Verify headers are announced when entering each new column or row.
• Verify cell content reads in logical order.

For forms:

• Tab through the form from beginning to end.
• Verify each field is announced with a meaningful label.
• For radio buttons and checkboxes, verify the state (checked, not checked) is announced.
• Verify required fields are announced as required.
• Submit the form (or attempt to) and verify error messages are announced.

Document what you find. If you cannot perform every test yourself, prioritize forms, tables, and any document that delivers high-stakes information (emergency procedures, financial aid, accommodations, deadlines).

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Deep dives

14. Headings in depth

Beyond the basic hierarchy, several heading patterns deserve attention.

Finding visual-only headings. Text that looks like a heading (large, bold, set apart) but lacks a heading tag is invisible to assistive technology. To find these:

1. Open the Tags panel.
2. From the panel menu, choose Find.
3. Select Unmarked Content.
4. Step through each unmarked block. When you encounter text that should be a heading, apply the correct heading tag.

Real-world impact. For a UGA student trying to find one specific section of a 40-page financial aid handbook, the difference between proper heading structure and no heading structure is the difference between a five-second jump and listening to the entire document from start to finish. For time-sensitive information (deadlines, emergency procedures, accommodation request instructions), poor heading structure is not just an inconvenience. It is a barrier that can change outcomes.

Headings within tables and forms. Section headings inside form layouts (for example, “Section A: Personal Information” above a group of fields) should be tagged as headings, not as field labels. This lets screen reader users jump between form sections.

15. Tables containing form fields

Forms that use tables to lay out related fields (an emergency contact table with columns for Name, Relationship, Phone, and Email, for example) combine two of the most complex accessibility structures in PDF: tables and interactive form fields. Acrobat’s automated tools do not handle this combination correctly. Manual verification is mandatory.

The challenge is to associate each form control with the correct table cell while preserving meaningful row and column headers. Acrobat versions and export workflows can expose annotation references differently, so treat the tag tree shown here as one common representation rather than a universal required path. If the association between the visible label, table header, and form control is broken, screen reader users may hear unlabeled inputs or lose the table context.

Steps in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

1. Build the table structure first. Tag header rows and columns as described in the data tables section.
2. Run All Tools then Prepare a Form to detect or place form fields within each data cell.
3. Right-click each field, choose Properties, and set a meaningful Tooltip and Name.
4. Open the Tags panel and locate the TD cell that contains each field.
5. Inside that TD, you need a Form tag wrapping the field annotation. If it is missing, right-click the TD, choose New Tag, select Form from the dropdown, and click OK.
6. Right-click the new Form tag and choose Find. In the Find Element dialog, select Unmarked Annotations and click Find.
7. When the field annotation is highlighted, click Tag Element. The annotation is now linked to the Form tag inside the correct table cell.
8. Verify in the Tags panel that each form control is structurally associated with the intended table cell. The exact annotation representation can vary by Acrobat version and export method.
9. Run the accessibility checker.
10. Test with a screen reader. Navigate into the table, move across cells, and confirm that each field announces both the table header context (column and row) and the field’s own Tooltip.

This work is meticulous. For tables with many fields, expect to spend significant time per table. Building the visible table and labels correctly in Word can improve the exported source structure, but ordinary Word content does not reliably become a fully accessible interactive Acrobat form. Verify every field, Tooltip, required state, table relationship, and keyboard interaction in Acrobat.

16. Use WCAG and PDF/UA together

WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA is the technical standard incorporated into the DOJ Title II web and mobile accessibility rule. It applies to covered web content and mobile apps that public entities provide or make available, including online PDFs, subject to the rule’s specific exceptions.

PDF/UA is a complementary ISO standard that addresses how accessible PDF structure is encoded and interpreted. PDF/UA-1 applies to PDF 1.7 workflows, while PDF/UA-2 applies to PDF 2.0. PDF/UA provides valuable assurance about PDF-specific technical structure, but it does not address every WCAG requirement or every content-quality question. A PDF can conform to PDF/UA and still fail WCAG. For higher-assurance PDFs, evaluate against both.

Acrobat checks a collection of accessibility rules associated with WCAG and PDF/UA, but a successful Acrobat check does not establish full conformance with either standard. Review every failed, skipped, and manual-check result. PAC 2026.1 can check many PDF/UA and WCAG requirements and provides visual review tools, but it also requires human evaluation.

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