PDFs
PDF inaccessibility presents significant challenges and access barriers for people with disabilities. To address this, it’s vital to understand and apply accessibility principles when preparing digital files or source documents for sharing online.
Because PDFs represent significant challenges in terms of accessibility, UMKC recommends avoiding the use of PDFs on websites unless absolutely necessary.
PDF Accessibility Principles
- Proper heading levels
- Adequate color contrast
- Clear, concise alt text for informative images
Adhering to the Web PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0 helps ensure the creation of accessible and user-friendly PDF files.
Creating Accessible PDFs
Accessibility for PDFs begins with the creation of a new document or digital source file. If you are using Microsoft 365, you can improve accessibility by using the built-in accessibility checker.
- Do not use the “Print to PDF” or "Scan to PDF" options to convert files to PDF
- Refer to WebAIM’s step-by-step PDF instructions for converting your source document to PDF using Adobe Acrobat Professional or the Microsoft PDF option.
- Before uploading a PDF file to your website, always check your final PDF document for accessibility to ensure it is properly tagged to support accessibility.