PDF Accessibility
Tagged PDFs with reading order, alt text, proper structure, and bookmarks. Only 19% of observed tables in PDFs were properly coded. Scan → OCR does not equal accessible.
PDFs need proper tagging — headings, reading order, image descriptions — or screen readers can't make sense of them. A scan of a page is not accessible.
Accessible PDFs require: proper tag structure (headings, lists, tables), reading order that matches visual order, alt text on images, form fields with labels, document language set, and bookmarks for navigation.
Best workflow: create accessibility in the source document (Word, InDesign) and export to tagged PDF. Remediating an untagged PDF after the fact is significantly more expensive.
Why this matters
PDF accessibility failures affect approximately 72% of documents tested. An untagged PDF is a flat image to assistive technology — no headings, no reading order, no alt text, no form labels. Scanning a document to PDF and running OCR does not make it accessible.
How to detect
Open the PDF → File → Properties → check Tagged: Yes/No. In Adobe Acrobat: View → Accessibility → Full Check. Test reading order with a screen reader. Check that all images have alt text and tables have header cells.