Creating Accessible PDFs from Word

Creating Accessible PDFs from Word

  • Method 1: Save as > PDF > more options > options > Create bookmarks based on headings, include document properties, and include document structure tags for accessibility > OK
  • Method 2 (Requires Acrobat): acrobat tab > preferences > enable convert document information > enable “create bookmarks” and “add links” > click “enable accessibility and reflow with tagged adobe PDF > OK > create PDF (no preferences when doing this on Mac).
  • In method 2, there are extra paragraph tags added to tables that need to be artifacted.

Layout Considerations

  • Follow the natural top to bottom flow of a Word document for easier tagging when exported to a PDF.

Adding Metadata in Word

  • Add the title to the document metadata by hitting file > info > properties > show all properties > title: “name of document”.
  • The title is the only required bit of metadata, but other fields like tags, subject, and author are helpful to add / edit.
  • Metadata will carry over from Word to PDF file when saved as a PDF.

Styles and Outline Levels

  • Styles carry over to PDFs. For example, the “heading 1” style in Word automatically gets marked as an “H1” tag in a PDF.
  • The “title” style in Word is marked as a paragraph tag on a PDF. To fix this in Word, click the arrow on the title style button > hit “modify” > “format” > “paragraph” > set “outline level” to “level 1”.

Tagging Tables

  • Make sure to add header rows to tables.
  • Click on the table in Word > hit the “table design” tab > hit either header row, first column, or both depending on what fits your table the best.

Adding Hyperlinks

  • In Word, highlight over link / link text with cursor > right click > “link” > choose link type > do what is prompted > “OK”
  • ScreenTip is similar to Alt Text in that it works as an extra description.
  • Link tag will automatically be applied when converted to PDF.

Table of Contents

  • References > table of contents > choose preset table or make custom table > it will automatically build one based on your headings.

Images

  • Alt text is carried over from Word to PDF.
  • Objects marked as decorative are automatically artifacted in PDF form.
  • Artificing in PDFs is like marking as decorative in Word.

Headers, Footers, Footnotes, and Endnotes

  • Using the header and footer features in Word means the information in headers and footers will be properly artifacted.
  • Using the footnote feature in Word ensures that footnotes will be tagged properly in PDF form.
  • References tab > insert footnote.

Issues with Word and Touch-ups after Conversion to PDF

  • A table that extends over a page break in word gets broken into 2 tables.
    • This can be fixed in the tags in PDF form.
  • When converting, extra paragraph tags can be added to tables and footnotes, causing failures when ran through an accessibility checker.
  • Artifact any empty tags left by empty returns in Word.
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