How to use MS Word to create an Accessible PDF

You will need the following software:

• Microsoft Word
• Adobe Acrobat Professional or Standard
  

Anything else will just give you a headache because you will end up working on making the PDFs accessible the hard way. With these two softwares combined, you can create accessible PDFs in minutes.

Here are the steps:

1. Prepare the document for accessible needs:
   
1. Spell out abbreviation's when possible.
   
2. Mark headings with heading 1, heading 2, etc. Setting text as Bold is not a heading.
   
3. Use the list feature when you are listing items.
   
4. Don't use the "Text Box" feature (Insert>Text Box) for it is never accessible.
5. Don't tab or space to create the illusion of a column or table. Use the Column feature (Format>Columns) or Tables (Tables>Draw Table).
6. Avoid using complex tables. Complex tables include those with more than one level of headings. These are very difficult to make accessible. Consider breaking complex tables into a number of smaller tables.
   
7. All images must have an "Alt text". To do so, click the image to select it, right-click and select Format Picture. Select the Web tab and type the required text to describe the image (keep it simple).
   
2. Save the document after changes.
3. Now it's time to save the document as a PDF, but we aren't going to use the old method "print" because it does not tag the document. Tags are needed for screen readers to read the document. Instead we are going to use the "Adobe PDF" add-on in the menu bar.
4. In the menu bar go to Adobe PDF>Convert to Adobe PDF. Save the file to your computer and tada, now you have a tagged PDF document that any screen reader can read.
5. But we aren't finished yet. Open the PDF you created in Adobe Acrobat Professional or Standard and from the menu bar go to File>Properties. Go to the "Advanced" tab and set the "Language" to "English US" and click OK.
6. Now let's test the PDF to make sure it is completely accessible by running an Accessibility Full Check(Professional) or Quick Check(Standard). On the menu bar, go to Advanced> Accessibility>Full Check... or Quick Check.
   
7. For the Full Check... feature, make sure all check boxes are checked and then click "Start Checking"
8. If the PDF is accessible it will says there are no problems.
9. If it found problems with the PDF follow the directions Adobe gives you to fix it or refer to other posts on this website.
   

Prep the Original Document

If you are having problems making a PDF accessible in Adobe Acrobat Professional, revert back to the original document from which the PDF was created from.

If possible, tag the original document before you convert it to a PDF.

If the original document's software has a tagging feature, tag the document before converting to a PDF.

Adobe Acrobat Standard or Professional comes with a plug-in for Microsoft Office(Word, Excels, and Access) that tags the document as you convert it to PDF. This feature only works on Windows not Macintosh.


If using InDesign CS2 and up, follow these steps

1. Go to View>Structure>Show Structure.
2. In the Structure panel, click on the arrow at the top and click on "Add Untagged Items". Now everything is tagged

But you might have to manually reorder some of the tags around and tag them as (headers, paragraphs, figures, etc.) using the Tag Panel found at Windows>Tags. I am not fully an expert at tagging in InDesign yet, but I will update this post when I have time to figure it out. So far this is a start to getting it tagged.

Sometimes Acrobat Professional will have problems tagging a PDF when the letter-spacing is increased or not set.


Solution:

Open the original document and highlight all the text and set the kerning/letter-spacing to zero. If kerning/letter-spacing is applied to a specific text because of styling reasons skip that text and continue with the rest of the document. Then save as a PDF again.

Sometimes when there is a hyphen at the end of sentence Acrobat Professional reads the word as two separate words.

Solution:

Open the original document and remove hyphens at the end of the lines if possible. And then save as a PDF again.

Or edit the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Standard/Professional using the Tools>Advanced Editing>Touchup Text tool.