Before you begin
- Adobe Acrobat Pro — free to all CMC faculty and staff under the college’s site license and already installed on CMC machines; open it and sign in with CMC SSO. Do not use Adobe Reader for remediation.
- Microsoft Word — the recommended source application for creating PDFs from scratch, available to all CMC staff and faculty via the Microsoft 365 license. Google Docs also works; faculty and staff Google accounts are available by request at help@cmc.edu.
- Complex documents — for research PDFs with intricate tables or charts, contact help@cmc.edu and ITS will assist.
Why PDFs Are Tricky
A PDF that looks polished on screen can be entirely invisible to assistive technology if it lacks the underlying structural information screen readers depend on. Specifically:
- Tags — Without tags, a screen reader has no way to identify headings, paragraphs, lists, or tables. The document reads as a single undifferentiated block of text — or nothing at all.
- Reading order — A two-column layout that looks correct visually may be read left-to-right across both columns simultaneously, producing garbled output for screen reader users.
- Headings — Without heading tags, users who navigate by heading (a common screen reader technique) cannot jump between sections.
- Alt text — Images, charts, and figures have no meaning to screen readers without descriptive alternative text.
- Scanned PDFs — A PDF created by scanning a paper document is simply an image. There is no underlying text at all — it cannot be read, searched, or navigated by assistive technology without remediation.
Two Paths to an Accessible PDF
There are two approaches depending on whether you are creating a new document or working with an existing one.
Path 1: Start Accessible
Best for: New documents you are writing now.
Create your document in Microsoft Word — the recommended starting point — using proper heading styles, real lists, alt text on images, and descriptive links. Google Docs works the same way if that is your normal tool. Then export to PDF with accessibility options enabled. This produces a well-structured PDF with far less remediation work.
Effort: Low — built into your normal writing workflow.
Path 2: Remediate
Best for: Existing PDFs that were not created accessibly.
Open the existing PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro. Use the built-in Accessibility Checker to identify problems, then manually add or fix tags, reading order, alt text, and document language. More time-consuming but necessary for legacy documents.
Effort: Moderate to high depending on document complexity.
Path 1: Exporting from Word
Follow these steps when creating a new PDF from a Word document so the exported PDF is properly structured.
Apply Heading Styles
Select your title and section headings and apply Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 styles from the Styles pane (Home tab). Never simulate headings by making text bold and large — styled headings are exported as tagged headings in the PDF; manually formatted text is not.
Add Alt Text to All Images
Right-click each image → Edit Alt Text. Write a concise description of what the image shows and why it matters in context. For purely decorative images, check Mark as decorative so screen readers skip them.
Use Real Bullet and Numbered Lists
Use the Bullets and Numbering tools in the Home tab. Never type manual dashes, asterisks, or numbers followed by periods — these have no list structure and screen readers cannot identify them as lists.
Write Descriptive Hyperlink Text
Hyperlinks should describe their destination. Select meaningful text, press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac), and paste the URL. Avoid "click here," "read more," or bare URLs — these are meaningless when a screen reader reads a list of links out of context.
Run Word's Accessibility Checker
Go to Review → Check Accessibility. Fix all Errors and review Warnings before exporting. Common errors include missing alt text and insufficient color contrast.
Export as PDF with Accessibility Tags
Go to File → Save As → PDF. Click Options and confirm "Document structure tags for accessibility" is checked. Click OK, then Save.
Never print to PDF. Using File → Print → Save as PDF strips all structure tags, producing an inaccessible document. Always use File → Save As → PDF with the accessibility option checked.
Path 2: Remediating in Acrobat Pro
Use this process when you have an existing PDF that was not created accessibly.
Open in Acrobat Pro
Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro — not Adobe Reader, which does not have editing or remediation capabilities. Acrobat Pro is free to all CMC faculty and staff under the college’s site license — it is licensed separately from Creative Cloud.
Run the Full Accessibility Check
Go to All Tools → Accessibility → Full Check. In the dialog, select WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard and check all categories. Click Start Checking.
Review the Accessibility Report
The Accessibility Report panel opens on the left. Issues are grouped by category with Errors, Warnings, and Passed statuses. Start with Errors — these are definite failures. Warnings require manual judgment. Work through each category systematically.
Add Tags if None Exist
If the report shows a "Document is not tagged" error, go to Accessibility → Add Tags to Document. Acrobat will auto-tag the document — this is a starting point, not a finished result. Auto-tagging is imperfect and requires manual review, especially for complex layouts.
Fix Reading Order
Go to Accessibility → Reading Order tool. This displays numbered boxes showing the order content will be read by a screen reader. Drag boxes to correct the sequence. For multi-column documents, verify that columns are read top-to-bottom within each column, not across columns.
Add Alt Text to Images
Open the Tags panel (View → Show/Hide → Navigation Panes → Tags). Find Figure tags, right-click the figure tag → Properties → enter alt text in the Alternate Text field. For decorative images, enter an empty string or mark as Artifact.
Set the Document Language
Go to File → Properties → Advanced tab → Reading Options → Language. Set it to English (or the appropriate language). Screen readers use this setting to apply the correct pronunciation rules. After all fixes, re-run the Full Check to confirm no Errors remain.
Scanned PDFs
To make a scanned PDF accessible:
- Open the scanned PDF in Acrobat Pro.
- Go to All Tools → Enhance Scans → Recognize Text (OCR).
- Select the language and run the recognition. Acrobat adds a hidden text layer behind the scanned image.
- Review the recognized text for errors — OCR is not perfect, especially on older or low-quality scans.
- Proceed with the full remediation workflow above (tags, reading order, alt text, language).
For large volumes of scanned documents or low-quality scans, submit a Help Desk ticket — ITS can advise on batch OCR workflows.
Complex Research PDFs
Academic papers, reports, and research documents often contain elements that require additional attention beyond basic remediation:
- Data tables — Tables must have header cells (
THelements) with proper scope attributes (scope="col"orscope="row"). Acrobat's table editor allows you to designate header cells and set scope. Without this, screen readers cannot associate data cells with their headers. - Charts and graphs — Every chart requires a text alternative that conveys the same information. This may be a detailed alt text description or a data table provided alongside the chart. A caption alone is not sufficient.
- Mathematical notation — Equations created as images need alt text that reads out the equation. Consider using MathML or LaTeX-generated accessible PDFs for math-heavy documents.
- Footnotes and endnotes — Verify that footnote links are properly tagged and that the reading order takes users to the note and back correctly.
For complex documents with multiple tables, charts, and figures, submit a Help Desk ticket — ITS accessibility staff will assist with remediation.
Pre-Share Checklist
Before sharing or publishing any PDF, confirm the following:
- Heading styles used throughout — not manual bold/font-size formatting
- All images have meaningful alt text (decorative images marked as artifacts)
- Tables have header rows with proper scope
- Document language is set (File → Properties → Advanced)
- Acrobat Full Check passes with no Errors
- Reading order is logical — verify with Reading Order tool or screen reader test
Need Help With a Complex PDF?
ITS accessibility staff can assist with complex PDF remediation — multi-column layouts, data-heavy research documents, scanned files, and more. Submit a ticket and we'll work through it with you.
Contact Help Desk →