9
• How to set up the document’s properties
• How to manually evaluate accessibility of the document’s content
• How to use Acrobat’s Accessibility Full Check tool
• How to use Adobe’s Read Out Loud text to speech tool to read the PDF
Before utilizing Acrobat’s accessibility check tools, the PDF must be visually verified to identify issues
that cannot be detected by the automated testing tool. For example, visually ensuring proper Heading
level structures were used, or verifying that descriptive alternative text was applied to images and objects.
Please Note: In order to perform the visual checks in Adobe Acrobat you must be able to view the screen
and use a mouse. Additionally, if the PDF contains attachments or is a portfolio, each individual
document must be evaluated for accessibility using the correct testing methodology. For guidance on
how to test MS Office documents, visit www.Section508.gov
.
Document Properties
The PDF’s document properties should contain a few key pieces of information such as a descriptive title,
tags, allow copying content for accessibility, and have a specified language.
To view the document properties,
1. First open the PDF and select File > Properties > Description.
In the Title field, verify that a descriptive title appears. Next navigate to the Initial View tab and
from the Show dropdown box verify that Document Title is selected. If the Title field is missing
a descriptive title and Document Title is not selected, the PDF is considered not accessible. A
descriptive title will need to be added and the Show field will need to be set to Document Title
before the PDF can be considered accessible.
[Provide examples of a descriptive title]
2. While on the Descriptive tab, verify that the Tagged PDF option is set to “Yes”. If the Tagged
PDF option is set to “No”, the document may not be tagged and therefore it is not accessible. The
document will need to be tagged before it can be made accessible.
3. From the Properties window select the Security tab and verify Content Copying for
Accessibility is set to Allowed. If the option is set to Not Allowed, Assistive Technology will
not be able to access the PDF’s content rendering the PDF not accessible. Change the Security
settings to allow content copying for accessibility. Do this by selecting a different security option
from the Security Method dropdown box or by selecting Change Settings and then set the
security settings as needed. If the Security Method has been set to No Security, then no
restrictions for content copying have been applied.
4. Lastly, ensure a primary language is assigned. From the Properties window select Advanced >
Language and verify that the proper primary language is assigned to the document. If the
language is not set correctly, screen readers will be unable to reliably read the PDF, rendering the
PDF not accessible. The correct language will need to be assigned before the document can be
considered accessible. If the document contains multiple languages, the language will need to be
set as a property of the tag associated with the content that contains a language change before the
document can be considered fully accessible.