Accessibility & PDFs

• PDFs are an excellent option for downloadable forms. Visitors can use Acrobat to fill out a downloadable form without a need to fill out a paper form. (Always ensure your data collection and storage workflows follow the University’s Data Protection Standards.)
• Event flyers are a great thing to share via PDF.  Provide a downloadable PDF in addition to publishing the event information on a standard web page. Supporters can download, print, and post your flyer to help promote your event.
• Lengthy documents that are frequently printed for offline reference.
• Content that needs to be shared digitally offline.

• You have a document from another application (like Word) that you saved as a PDF and it’s just easier to post it.
• You like the design/layout of the PDF better than how it looks as a web page.
• The PDF looks fine when you look at it on your computer so it will be fine for everyone else.
• You don’t know how to use WordPress to publish this content.

Maintaining accessible content is University policy and is more important than design preferences. Standard web page content will always be more accessible and discoverable than content in a PDF. If publishing your content as a PDF does not provide added value (such as ease of printing or filling out a long form), you should most likely publish it as a standard web page.

1. Place your cursor where you want the link to appear in your WordPress page.
2. Click the Add Media button to open the Media Library.
3. Choose the PDF from the Media Library; or upload your tagged PDF at this time.
4. In the Title field, give the PDF a meaningful title and include “(PDF)” in the linked text.
5. Under Link To, select Attachment Page (recommended) or Media File (not recommended – see best practices) for direct links.
6. Click Insert into Post to add the link.

Always indicate in your link text that you are linking to a PDF; for example use link text such as this: Download the event flyer (PDF).

• Avoid linking directly to a PDF media file — it bypasses the WordPress page URL, so the link can’t be redirected later. Share the wrong URL, or need to redirect an old one, and you’re stuck.
• Instead, publish PDF links on a regular web page, make them prominent and easy to find, and share that page’s link — not the PDF’s direct link.
• For policies, resources, or anything updated often, create a landing page linking to your PDFs, and always share that landing page link. You can update a landing page link anytime; you can’t redirect a PDF link.

Microsoft Word is a great option for creating tagged PDFs. Most BU users have access to Word, making it an accessible option for creating tagged PDFs.

1. Use built-in heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.).
2. Ensure all images have relevant descriptions in the alternative text (alt text), and tables are labeled clearly with column and row headers.
3. Go to File > Save As and select PDF.
4. In the save options, choose Best for electronic distribution and accessibility.

Adobe Acrobat Pro is the most accurate tool for creating tagged PDFs and checking accessibility. If you have access to Adobe Creative Cloud, you may already have Acrobat Pro. If not, check eligibility for a license through Adobe Creative Cloud at BU.

1. Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
2. Go to the Accessibility tools panel.
3. Select Autotag Document to add tags automatically.
4. Run the Accessibility Checker to ensure compliance with accessibility standards and follow the recommendations in the tool to fix any issues.

For more information, see the Adobe guide: Creating Accessible PDFs.

If you don’t have Microsoft Word, Google Docs can be used to create tagged PDFs:

1. Apply proper heading styles and provide alt text for all images.
2. Go to File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf).

Google Docs creates an accessible PDF, but always check the exported file for accessibility.

Tagged PDFs contain additional markup that defines the reading order and logical content structure of the document, allowing screen readers and assistive technologies to read and navigate the content properly. Without tags, a PDF may not be accessible to users with disabilities.

• Reference the IS&T guide on Creating PDFs from Paper Documents.
• Use a copier or scanner with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
• Always review text after scanning — OCR accuracy can vary.
• Scan at 300 DPI for the best results.
• Use your scanning software to Save As … and select PDF.
• If your scanning software did not produce a tagged document, use Adobe Acrobat Pro to tag the document for accessibility.
• If those steps have not worked, consider recreating the content as a web page or a properly tagged document.

If your PDF file has been uploaded through the WordPress dashboard, you can use Enable Media Replace to simply replace the existing PDF file with a file using the same file name. Follow our documentation on how to replace existing files in the Media Library.

If you do not see the menu option to “Replace Media” in your Media Library, contact IS&T to request the Enable Media Replace plugin be turned on for your WordPress site.

When a PDF is uploaded to websites in BU WordPress, an automated check is run on the document to ensure the presence of tags for accessibility. Untagged PDFs are inaccessible to screen readers, so PDFs without accessibility tagged are not permitted to be uploaded. If your upload failed, your document is likely missing these tags. Use the resources above to create a tagged document for a successful upload.

Authoring software can have several options to create PDFs. The following guidelines apply generally.

• SAVE AS PDF – The “Save As…” menu option in some software programs allow you to save as a PDF. “Save as” generally produces the best document for accessibility compliance.
• EXPORT – Some software programs have an “Export” or “Export as PDF” option; this is generally the same as  “Save As” but may require additional user input before saving the document.
• Avoid “PRINT AS PDF” – the “Print as PDF” option creates a PDF file specifically for printing. Much of the accessibility information may not be included in a PDF generated solely for print.

BU does not have a plugin for, nor do we support any “flipbook” embed code for PDFs. These types of technologies generally introduce accessibility barriers to content. The web is a scrolling medium; adding flipbook aesthetics at the expense of accessibility is a bad tradeoff.

Keep accessibility in mind from the outset. Many techniques to author accessible PDFs require that you use special editing tools in your authoring software. Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Office applications, and many other authoring tools support PDF accessibility.

Learn how to use the tools in the source software so when you export your file as PDF, you will have the accessibility requirements in place. For example, Microsoft Word is a very common software tool used to create PDFs.

• Headings/heading structure – Tag your headings specifically as headings like HTML – H1 as the main heading, stepping down to H2, etc., structuring your document hierarchy.
• Alternative text for images – Important images need informative Alt attributes describing the image so it is fully understandable to non-visual users. Unimportant images and graphics should have empty Alt attributes so they can be skipped.
• Table structure – As with web pages, tables should only be used for tabular data and should not be used for layout. Table property settings in the source software can be set up to produce PDFs that mark table elements such as rows, headers, and spans appropriately for assistive technologies.
• Descriptive links – As with web pages, do not use “here” or “click here” or other generic words for link text. Make your link text descriptive of the content you are linking to, using actionable and relevant keywords.
• Lists – Use lists when you have an actual list. Several lines of text with line-breaks at the end may look like a list, but the list should be tagged appropriately for assistive technologies to read the list and understand there is relationship in the list items.
• Legible text size – An appropriately tagged PDF uses the document’s logical structure to allow page content defined into structural types. Text content should be a legible size, and text size should be adjustable in a way that the document reflows to accommodate the text without losing any content.
• Good contrast – Foreground and background images, texts, and colors must have sufficient contrast to be accessible to some users with visual impairments. Learn how to test for color contrast and use appropriate color choices. Note also that text size is variable, so small text on a background color may have different contrast requirements than a large text with the same background color.
• No color reliance – Do not rely solely on color to convey information. Color blindness is a common visual impairment.
• Document title – Meta data in your document should be used for discoverability and search engine optimization. Use a document title (required) and optionally use authoring tools to define author, keywords, and other meta data just as you would with a web page. Also note that when viewed in a browser, the PDF’s Document Title appears in the browser tab. Use a title that will still make sense if the file is updated—avoid including dates or version-specific info.

The topics linked below contain detailed instructions for using authoring software to achieve accessibility compliance. The topics frequently include specific instructions with screenshots from Acrobat and Office software packages.

• Marking content with heading tags
• Applying text alternatives to images
• Using table elements for table markup
• Providing links and link text using the link annotation
• Using list tag for lists
• Tagged PDF, logical structure, text size
• Ensuring proper contrast ratio
• Using color and pattern
• Specifying the document title