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XCITE Center for Teaching and Learning

Accessible PDFs

  • Chances are that at least some of the readings you assign to your students, or the slides you upload to your course site, are in PDF form. However, PDFs can often be inaccessible. Adobe’s page “What is an accessible PDF?” shares that accessible PDFs prioritize inclusivity and provide a better user experience for individuals with disabilities.

    Some recommendations when working with PDFs:

    • If your PDF is a flyer or is graphic-heavy, consider making an alternate version with fewer graphics
    • If you have the source file (Word Document, HTML webpage, PowerPoint presentation), please consider providing it as well, as source files are often more accessible than PDFs created from them.
    • When creating a PDF from a Microsoft Office tool, export the document as an Adobe PDF, as opposed to “Printing as PDF”. Printing as PDF strips out information needed to make a PDF accessible, whereas an Adobe PDF will preserve it.

  • Start with Accessible Documents

    If you are converting documents to PDF format and sharing them with your students (such as your syllabus), make sure that the original document* is accessible before you convert the file. Additionally, be sure that any scans you perform of documents make use of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to ensure that the file is scannable/highlightable and not merely an image scan.

    *How to make your original documents accessible:
    Make Accessible Slides

    Make Accessible Word Documents

    Make Accessible Spreadsheets

    Find Alternatives for your Students

    If you have an inaccessible PDF of a resource that you assign, like a journal article or portion of a book, look for an accessible version of the same file. You can do this by going back to the publisher’s site, or through the UCR library.

    Make Your PDFs Accessible

    UCR uses SensusAccess as a self-service document remediation tool. Visit the SDRC SensusAccess guidance site for step-by-step instructions for using this tool.

    If SensusAccess is not an option, you can also choose to make your PDFs accessible by following Adobe’s instructions for creating and verifying PDF accessibility. 

    Note that this is a work intensive and time consuming process, so it is worth searching for an alternative accessible version before embarking on remediation. Adobe provides an in-depth recorded webinar on PDF remediation that can also support your skill development. Also see Adobe’s guide to PDF Accessibility Review.

    Alternatively, you may choose to convert the pdf to a Word Document and using Microsoft’s guide to making Word documents accessible (some folks find the Microsoft Office suite to be a little more user-friendly in this regard.

  • PDFs can result in several different types of errors in UDOIT. Some of them can only be resolved by downloading the file, adjusting it as needed (e.g. adding a Title tag, or removing the password from the file). Others can be solved by requesting an Alternate format, such as an auto-tagged pdf or a Canvas Page for the file. Once you receive the alternate format for a file, replace the file receiving an error with the alternate format. We recommend that you also review the alternate format file to address any potential errors. 
     

  • Summary & Key Takeaways

    • Avoid PDFs if possible. In general, PDFs can be the most challenging when it comes to digital accessibility. When other alternatives are available – creating the document as a website/course page, Word document, or Google document – use those alternatives.
    • Create accessible documents in other tools before saving as a PDF. Use “save” or “export to PDF” (not “print to PDF”, unless you are printing). If you are creating a document that will be shared as a PDF, ensure that it meets digital accessibility guidelines before saving as a PDF. Correcting a PDF is much more difficult than correcting a document in other formats.
    • If the PDF is authored by someone else, use the accessibility checker and/or search for other versions of the same document that are more accessible. Publishers often have an accessible version of the document or may create one upon request.
    • Delete older versions, duplicates, and unused PDFs from your Canvas/eLearn course site. These files will decrease your course accessibility score.
    • Consider using SensusAccess to convert PDFs to more accessible documents.
       

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