Accessible PDFs

Note: Create actual web pages instead of PDFs.

If PDFs are not designed following web accessibility guidelines, there may be many issues that have to be resolved to make it fully accessible/ADA compliant before it can be uploaded to the website. To ensure that your PDF meets accessibility requirements, there are various tools that can be used to assist with making PDFs accessible/ resolve accessibility issues.

Tools for Making Accessible PDFs

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Adobe Acrobat Pro is available for use on Fordham's virtual desktop (mydesktop.fordham.edu) under the Academic GPU desktop option.  We have also created handouts and checklists on how to make your content more accessible.

If you would like to make an appointment to get an orientation on some best practices and how to enhance and improve the accessibility of the documents you have, Faculty Technology Services would be happy to meet with you.

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Action Wizard for Accessibility

  • Select "Tools > Action Wizard"
  • Select "Make Accessible"
  • Select "Start" and follow the prompts.

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Manual Check for Accessibility Issues

  • Select "Tools > Accessibility"
  • Select "Full Check" in the new sidebar
  • Select the issues that you would like to have checked
  • Select "Start Checking"
  • Right click on issues to either "Fix", "Explain Rule", or "Check Again"

View the PDF Accessibility Checklist

Blackboard Ally

Blackboard Ally will automatically run all course materials through an accessibility checklist that checks for common accessibility issues. Using advanced Machine Learning algorithms, Ally will also generate a range of more accessible alternatives for the instructor’s original file and will make these available to all students in the course. Faculty Technology Services provides support for Blackboard Ally.

All faculty have a sandbox courses that they can use to test Ally out. Any administrator who'd like a sandbox course in order to use Ally can request one from [email protected].

View Resources from Faculty Technology Services

BlackBoard Learn

BlackBoard Accessibility Accommodations

SensusAccess

SensusAccess is a document conversion tool, not necessarily an accessibility tool. It allows you to convert your document into various formats, which can be very helpful accessibility-wise when one format is more helpful to some with particular needs or preferences. That said, the original document must be legible or problematic elements will only be carried through the conversion process.

  • Go to http://sensusaccess.com/convert-a-file
  • Select "File" as the source
  • Upload your document
  • Select "Accessibility Conversion" as the output
  • Select "pdf - Tagged PDF" (if source is not a PDF) or "pdf - Tagged PDF (text over images)" (if source is a PDF)
  • Provide your email address and submit
  • You will later receive an email with a partially accessible version of your file as a PDF, you will still need to resolve the remaining accessible issues; the time it takes to receive the email may vary depending on the volume the site receives

Microsoft Office

If you are creating a document using MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), you can use the built-in accessibility checker to resolve some of the most common issues before exporting as a PDF.

View the MS Office Accessibility Tutorial

PDF Accessibility Tutorials and Resources

Lynda.com

Lynda.com (online educational site) provides access to free courses, tutorials, and workshops with a NY Public Library card. There are great resources on InDesign and Adobe Acrobat Pro to help create accessible PDFs. Connect to the Lynda.com database.

View the PDF Accessibility Tutorial

SiteImprove

You can use SiteImprove, our web-governance tool, to locate existing PDFs that have accessibility issues. SiteImprove is also able to send out weekly accessibility reports to help you locate other errors. If you would like to receive the accessibility reports or have access to SiteImprove, please contact us at [email protected].

View Webinar on Making Accessible PDFs

Other Helpful Resources

View Seattle School's Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - Common Accessibility Issues.

Learn about the importance of having accessible PDFs and how screen readers view them. Watch Normandale Community College's video on web accessibility.

Note: It is best practice to save the original version of your PDFs offline as backup for reference when needed.