Adobe Acrobat PDF Files

To ensure that your PDF if fully accessible and that accessibility tags are included, it is suggested that you use Microsoft Word to convert a document into a PDF. Adobe Reader 5.0 and greater will allow accessibility "tags" to be embedded into PDF files. These tags contain information about document structure to increase accessibility. They store information such as header locations, hyperlinks, and alternative text descriptions for graphics. Assistive technology interprets these tags and displays the information on a variety of platforms, from screen readers to refreshable Braille output devices.

PDF files will be accessible to disabled users only if the following conditions are met:

• The PDF file contains real text (not a graphic)
• The PDF file has images and graphics with alternative text
• The PDF file has the proper tags
• The user has Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or greater
• The user has either a JAWS or Window Eyes screen reader, or Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Read Out Loud feature

Using Adobe Acrobat, you can take a Microsoft Word document and with the "Make Accessible" plug-in, you can make an accessible PDF file with the help of Acrobat Reader. If you have a hard-copy version of a document and scan it into Acrobat, it will not be accessible at all unless you also run it through an OCR converter such as Adobe Capture. It captures the text on a scanned copy and turns it into screen-readable and editable text.

It is recommended that an accessible HTML version be made available as an alternative to PDF.

To learn more about how to create accessible PDF files, please visit the Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Web site.