File Accessibility: PDF

Alignment

Quality Matters

8.3 C The course provides accessible text and images in files, documents, LMS pages, and web pages to meet the needs of diverse learners.

National Standards for Quality Online Teaching

E3. The online course provides accessible course materials and activities to meet the needs of diverse learners.

WCAG

1.3 Adaptable Content

WCAG 1.3 Adaptable Content:

• The structure of the reading and order of navigation is clear and logical
• Titles and headings of sections are not set apart solely by font size or color (i.e., visual cues). Web pages use programmable Styles to designate select text as a title, subtitle, heading, or normal text. If you can view the html for the page (i.e., highlight the text, right-click, and select Inspect), then check to see if it includes top level headings (<h1>), next level headings (<h2>), third level (<h3>) and so on to convey the order or relationships between sections of the page.
• If the file can be downloaded, then click on or highlight the text and examine the Styles value associated with the text in the word processing application.
• The structure of the reading and order of navigation is clear and logical, and that you can use the tab key to move from heading to heading (or list or table) on the page.
• Instructions provided for understanding, use, or operating within the content do not rely solely on sensory information such as shape, color, size, or visual location of an object or a sound (e.g., Click the square to continue. The sound of a beep indicates that you can continue to the next page. Etc.)

On the rare occasion that the content or desired functionality necessitates a PDF document, you must follow one of the following pathways to ensure that you’ve produced an accessible document:

Option 1: Export from Google Docs via Grackle

In most cases, attached documents will be created in Google Docs using the appropriate iPD file template (e.g., video transcript template) and downloaded as a Word .docx files after being scanned and edited using Grackle. PDF documents must not be exported from Google Docs via the native File menu “Download as a PDF” option. Doing so will eliminate any added accessibility features like table tags.

Refer to this Style Guide entry for more information on how to export a PDF using Grackle:

Style Guide: Google Docs/Grackle (Accessibility)

Option 2: Export from Microsoft Word

1. Create your source file in Word or download as a Word .docx file from Google Docs.
2. Prepare the source file by running the Word-native accessibility checker (Review>Check Accessibility).
3. Use the checker dialog box to remedy any issues.
4. When finished, select SaveAs, then choose PDF from the dropdown menu of file type options.
5. Save your file in the desired location.

Please note:

No matter which of these methods you choose, it’s best practice to open the file in Adobe Acrobat to run its accessibility checker, verify logical focus order, and ensure that features like table tags are transferred properly. PDF documents are a file type created by Adobe, which makes Acrobat the ideal software for checking them for accessibility. However, at the time of the writing of this entry, Acrobat is not universally available to our team. This is another reason that PDF documents should be avoided whenever possible.

NVDA may also be used to manually check reading order and general experience with assistive technologies.

• WebAim: PDF Accessibility
• Adobe: PDF Accessibility Overview
• Web Accessibility Evaluation Criteria – Resource Crosswalk (Apr 2023)
• W3: WCAG 2.2 Technique PDF23:Providing interactive form controls in PDF documents
• W3: WCAG 2.2 Technique PDF3:Ensuring correct tab and reading order in PDF documents
• University of Minnesota: Documents and PDFs
• Style Guide: Google Docs/Grackle (Accessibility)