A Guide to PDF Accessibility

PDF accessibility means people with disabilities can read, navigate, and use a PDF, including with a screen reader, keyboard, or magnification. Among other things, an accessible PDF is tagged to define its structure, follows a logical reading order, includes alternative text for images, and uses labeled form fields, table headers, and real, searchable text.

PDFs carry the information people need to act on: tax forms, bank statements, benefit applications, and course materials. When a PDF isn’t accessible, people with disabilities—including those who use a screen reader, keyboard, or magnification—can lose access to that information.

Many PDF documents are built to preserve a page’s layout, not to describe its content. That gap is where most accessibility issues start. In this guide, you’ll learn what makes a PDF accessible and which laws and standards apply. You’ll also learn how to create, check, and fix accessible PDFs, step by step.

Key insights

An accessible PDF uses tags to define its structure, so screen readers and other assistive technologies can present headings, lists, tables, and images in a logical reading order.
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 apply to PDF documents, and most requirements point to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 or 2.0 Level AA. The PDF/Universal Accessibility (PDF/UA) standard defines how the file itself must be built.
For PDFs that authors create from a source document, the most reliable approach is to fix the source document first, export it with tags turned on, and then check it for accessibility and fix any issues identified. For PDFs that software generates automatically, accessibility has to be built into the software itself.
Automated PDF accessibility checkers can reliably detect many issues and improve the accessibility of many documents. However, validating conformance takes manual review with assistive technologies, including screen readers.
A scanned PDF is just an image, so screen readers can’t read it. Optical character recognition (OCR) converts the image into real text, but the file still needs tagging and a manual review to be accessible.

What makes a PDF accessible

A PDF, or Portable Document Format file, keeps a document’s layout the same on any device. That’s why many organizations rely on the PDF format for forms, reports, and official documents.

By default, a PDF records where text and images sit on a page. An accessible PDF also records what each element is: which text is a heading, which items form a list, what an image conveys, and the order to read everything in.

That information lives in accessibility tags, which give a tagged PDF its document structure, much like HTML does for a web page. Screen readers and other assistive technologies rely on those tags to announce headings, move between sections, and read content in order. Without tags, a screen reader may read content out of order or skip it entirely.

Who benefits from PDF accessibility

Accessible PDF files serve a wide range of readers, and each group relies on different accessibility features:

People who use screen readers, including people who are blind, rely on tags, a logical reading order, a document title, language setting, table headers, labeled form fields, and alt text.
People with low vision may use magnification, reflow, or high-contrast settings. They need real text rather than images of text, so content can be enlarged, reflowed, and recolored without losing meaning, as well as sufficient color contrast (if using default colors).
People with color blindness need information that isn’t conveyed by color alone.
People who are deaf or hard of hearing need captions or transcripts if the PDF includes embedded audio or video.
People who navigate by keyboard or alternative input devices need a logical tab order and links, buttons, and form fields that are all reachable and usable without a mouse.
People with cognitive or learning disabilities benefit from clear headings, plain language, and consistent formatting.
Older adults may experience changes in vision, hearing, or dexterity, and they benefit from many of these same features, especially sufficient color contrast, resizable text, and clear structure.

Accessible documents benefit many other readers, too—not just those with disabilities and the aging population. They’re easier for everyone to search, navigate, and reuse.

Which laws and standards apply to PDFs

Accessibility requirements don’t stop at web pages. Many of the laws and standards that cover websites also apply to the PDF documents you publish.

ADA Title II and Section 508 requirements for documents

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to state and local governments, including public colleges and universities. In 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) adopted the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA as the standard for web content covered by ADA Title II, which extends to PDFs.

An April 2026 interim final rule moved the compliance dates to April 26, 2027, or April 26, 2028, depending on the entity’s size. The rule has narrow exceptions, including one for certain documents posted before the compliance date that are not used to access a program, activity, or service.

Meanwhile, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to federal agencies. Its standards require electronic content, including PDFs, to conform to WCAG 2.0 Level A and Level AA, with four criteria excepted for non-web documents. Software and authoring tools that export PDFs also need to export files that conform to PDF/UA.

So, can a PDF be ADA or Section 508 compliant? Yes. A PDF that meets the applicable WCAG criteria supports compliance with both laws.

PDF accessibility standards: How WCAG and PDF/UA work together

Two standards are frequently referenced in conversations about PDF accessibility: WCAG and PDF/UA. Each plays a specific role in helping teams ensure digital documents work for everyone:

WCAG is the global standard for web content accessibility. It defines accessibility outcomes, such as text alternatives for images and a meaningful reading order, that digital content should support to be accessible to a broad group of people with disabilities. Many accessibility laws, including ADA Title II and Section 508, point to WCAG as the standard for compliance.
PDF/UA, short for PDF/Universal Accessibility, is an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard, ISO 14289, for the PDF format itself. It defines how an accessible PDF file must be built. For example, PDF/UA requires all fonts to be embedded in the file. WCAG doesn’t, as long as the text can still be read and extracted correctly.

Many teams test their PDFs against both standards.

How to make a PDF accessible, step by step

Most of the work of creating an accessible PDF happens before you export it. Before you start, though, it’s worth asking whether the content needs to be a PDF at all. If the information can live on an HTML webpage instead, that’s often the more accessible choice.

If you’ve decided a PDF is the right format, follow the following eight steps in order, from the source document to a final check.

Importantly, these steps focus on PDFs that authors create from a source document, such as a Word file or slide deck. PDFs that software generates automatically, like account statements, invoices, or reports, work differently. Accessibility for those files depends on the software, which should export tagged, PDF/UA conformant files every time.

1. Start with an accessible source document

The best practice is to build accessibility into the source document. In Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or InDesign, use built-in heading styles, real lists, and table header rows, and add alt text to images. Heading styles also let your export add bookmarks automatically. You may use Microsoft Office’s built-in accessibility checker or Level Docs to catch common issues before you export.

Export with tags turned on, and avoid “Print to PDF,” which strips accessibility features. This is also the best way to make a PDF accessible for free, since it uses tools you already have.

2. Use proper tagging

Tags create a structural hierarchy within the document, defining elements like headings, lists, and tables. If you’re working with an untagged PDF, use the Autotag Document feature in Adobe Acrobat Pro to add tags.

Autotagging is a starting point, not a finished result. Open the tags panel and review the tag tree to confirm each element is tagged correctly. Headings shouldn’t skip levels, and all content should be tagged or marked as an artifact.

3. Include alternative text for images

Including descriptive alternative text (alt text) is essential for making images accessible in PDFs. Alt text provides a textual description that conveys the information or purpose of an image to users who are unable to see it, such as those using screen readers.

4. Set a logical reading order

Reading order is the sequence a screen reader follows through the page content. It should match the logical order of the content, such as finishing one column before starting the next.

In Acrobat Pro, the tag order in the tag tree sets the reading order. Set the tab order to follow the document structure, too, so keyboard users move through links and form fields predictably. Mark decorative elements, like borders, as artifacts so assistive technologies skip them.

5. Make tables and forms accessible

Tag header cells as table headers so a screen reader can announce which row and column each value belongs to. Keep the table structure simple, and avoid merged or split cells where you can.

Give each form field a text label and a tooltip that names its purpose, such as “Email address.” Make sure every field can be reached and completed by keyboard.

6. Check color contrast and link text

Text needs sufficient color contrast against its background: a ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text to conform with WCAG Level AA. Use a contrast checker to test your colors before you publish.

Link text should describe the destination. “Click here” doesn’t tell screen reader users where a link goes, but “Read our accessibility statement” does.

7. Set the document title and language

In document properties, add a descriptive document title and set the PDF to display it in place of the file name. Screen readers announce the title first.

Set the document language so screen readers use the right pronunciation. Then check the security settings, since some restrictions block assistive technologies from reading the content.

8. Check your PDF for accessibility and address issues

Start with an automated accessibility checker. Adobe Acrobat Pro includes one, but not every author has a license, and the checker relies on each author to run it and fix issues manually, one document at a time. That’s why many organizations add an external testing tool to find and prioritize accessibility issues across their document library.

The PDF Accessibility Checker in the Level Access Platform, for example, helps teams discover PDFs across their digital properties, test them for accessibility, and move directly from testing to remediation. This tool adheres to the PDF/UA standard, a globally recognized benchmark for ensuring PDF accessibility. With AI PDF Remediation, teams can then automatically fix supported issues, shortening the path from identifying barriers to removing them.

Automated checks can’t catch everything, so for documents with high exposure where full compliance is paramount, finish with a manual pass. Open the PDF with a screen reader, such as the free NVDA screen reader. Confirm the reading order, headings, tables, form fields, and alternate text make sense, and fix issues in the source document when you can.

Keep the PDF viewer in mind, too. The viewer affects how much of a PDF’s structure reaches assistive technologies, and many browser-based viewers, including the one built into Chrome, don’t fully expose a PDF’s tags. When you publish, include a download link so readers can open the file in the viewer that works best with their assistive technology.

What to do with scanned PDFs

A scanned PDF—one made by scanning a printed page—is a picture of a page, not real text, so assistive technologies can’t read it. Run optical character recognition (OCR) in a tool like Adobe Acrobat Pro to convert the image into searchable text.

Then review the recognized text for errors, tag the document, and check its reading order. If the original document is available, recreating the PDF from the source file usually produces a better result.

Fixing PDFs at scale

These steps work well one document at a time. Organizations with thousands of existing PDFs, plus new ones every week, need a different approach.

Level Access helps you match the method to the document. AI PDF remediation addresses common issues across existing PDF files at volume. LevelDocs generates accessible PDFs directly from Microsoft Office files, so new documents start out accessible. The Level Access monitoring platform also helps you find PDFs that you might not know were hosted on your website. For your most important files, expert manual remediation handles complex layouts, tables, and forms.

To find the right mix for your document library, explore Level Access’s document and PDF accessibility tools.

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