Testing PDF Documents for Accessibility

PDFs are the preferred format for all digital documents distributed online at Central. The easiest way to create compliant PDFs is to export directly from the Microsoft Office suite of tools. Visit the Creating Compliant Documents page to learn how to create accessible Microsoft documents.

Acrobat Pro has built-in tools for scanning documents for accessibility issues. Be sure to scan all PDF documents before distributing them online.

Finding the Accessibility Tool

Open your Tools panel and find the "Accessibility" Tool. Generally the Accessibility tool is not pinned to the panel by default. If you do not see it in your tools panel, click "More Tools." Click "Add" to add it to the Tools panel. 

Running an Accessibility Check

For a detailed guide on how to run the Accessibility Check, check the Acrobat Tutorials website. 

In the Accessibility tools, select Accessibility Check. In the dialog box that pops up, check "Create accessibility report" at the top and choose a location where you would like the report to be saved. The default options for the checker should be fine, but you can customize what areas you would like to scan for.

Click "Start Checking." Once the check is complete, an overview will appear in Acrobat. 

Open the generated report for a more detailed summary of the issues and steps on how to correct them.