Adobe 22001438 - acrobat - pc User manual

Creating Accessible PDF Documents with

Adobe Acrobat 7.0

A Guide for Publishing PDF Documents for Use by

People with Disabilities

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe PDF, Capture, FrameMaker, InDesign, LiveCycle, PageMaker, and Reader are either registered trademarks or

trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.,

registered in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows XP are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft

Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Mention of third party products is

for informational purposes only and constitutes neither endorsement nor recommendation.

iii

Contents

Introduction

Purpose of this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Audience for this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Software described in this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Adobe PDF software described in this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Authoring applications described in this guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Acrobat system requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Accessibility tools in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Accessibility tools in Mac OS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Summary of the sections in this guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 1: Accessibility and Adobe PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 2: Understanding tagging and document structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 3: The accessibility workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 4: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from word-processing and

desktop publishing applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 6: Creating a single tagged Adobe PDF document from multiple documents. . . . . . . . . .3

Section 7: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from web pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Section 10: Evaluating Adobe PDF documents for accessibility problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Section 12: Adding other accessibility features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Appendix: Standard tags for Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Section 1: Accessibility and Adobe PDF

What accessibility is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Why accessibility is important for Adobe PDF documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

What makes Adobe PDF documents accessible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Section 2: Understanding tagging and document structure

How tagging and document structure affect accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

How to tell if an Adobe PDF document has been tagged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

What tagging looks like in Acrobat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

When to tag documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Why touchup is often needed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Visit the Adobe accessibility website for more information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Section 3: The accessibility workflow

Six general steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 1: Start from the document you have . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 2: If the document is a form, add fillable, accessible form fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step 3: Tag the Adobe PDF document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step 4: Evaluate the Adobe PDF document and repair common problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step 5: Add other accessibility features to the Adobe PDF document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Step 6: As needed, edit the tag tree to fix advanced problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Section 4: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from word-processing

and desktop publishing applications

Options for converting to Adobe PDF from authoring applications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Using Acrobat PDFMaker in non Adobe applications (Windows only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Using the Save As or Export command in Adobe applications (Mac OS and Windows) . . . . . . . 16

Using Adobe PDF Printer (Mac OS and Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from Microsoft Office 2000 or later. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tips for improving the Adobe PDF tagging and document structure in

Microsoft Office documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tips for making artwork accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tips for making tables accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Tips for making large Excel tables (worksheets) accessible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Converting Microsoft Office documents to tagged Adobe PDF documents (Windows only) . 18

Converting Microsoft Office documents to Adobe PDF documents (Mac OS only) . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from InDesign CS or later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Planning ahead to minimize tagging rework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using threads to affect the structure of Adobe PDF tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using InDesign CS tags to improve accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Adding accessible text to graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Converting InDesign CS documents to tagged Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from FrameMaker 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Adding alternate text to imported graphics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Converting FrameMaker documents to tagged Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from PageMaker 7.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Converting PageMaker documents to tagged Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content

The three starting points for scans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Applying OCR to image-only Adobe PDF scans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Scanning a paper document to Adobe PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Converting TIFF or other image formats to Adobe PDF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Section 6: Creating a single tagged Adobe PDF document from multiple documents

Why to combine multiple documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Inserting, replacing, and deleting pages within an Adobe PDF document in Acrobat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Plan ahead to reduce changes to the tag tree and reading order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Combining files from multiple authoring applications while converting to Adobe PDF. . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Section 7: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from web pages

What to expect when converting web pages to tagged Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

How to convert web pages to tagged Adobe PDF documents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible

Characteristics of accessible Adobe PDF forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Workflows for creating forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Which Adobe tools are you using?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

What is your starting point? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Tips for working with forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Designing the form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Writing form field descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Setting and testing the tab order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Using LiveCycle Designer to create accessible Adobe PDF forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

The LiveCycle Designer workflow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Using Acrobat 7.0 Professional to make Adobe PDF forms accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Step 1: Add fillable form fields and descriptions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Step 2: Set the tab order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Step 3: Tag the form (if it isn’t already tagged). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Step 4: Finish the Adobe PDF document for accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using Adobe PDF Forms Access to tag Adobe PDF forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

How Adobe PDF Forms Access helps with accessibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Tagging Adobe PDF forms by using Adobe PDF Forms Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents

What to do before you tag a document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Reviewing the document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Creating links for URLs in the document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Adding tags to an untagged document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Reading the Add Tags Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Retagging a document, if needed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Section 10: Evaluating Adobe PDF documents for accessibility problems

Two tools for checking the accessibility of Adobe PDF documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Performing an accessibility Full Check. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Full Check options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Viewing the results of an accessibility Full Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Using Full Check to check for inaccessible fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Using Reflow view to check reading order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Other ways to check the reading order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems

When to use the TouchUp Reading Order tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

How the TouchUp Reading Order tool works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

How the TouchUp Reading Order tool and the Order tab work together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Options for the TouchUp Reading Order tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

TouchUp Reading Order preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

The touchup workflow—an orderly approach to repairing reading order and tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Four basic techniques you must know to fix reading order problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Selecting highlighted regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Selecting content on the page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Applying a new tag to a selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Changing the reading order (in the Order tab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Fixing common problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Fixing highlighted regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

EXAMPLE 4. Fixing improperly grouped columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

EXAMPLE 5. Fixing improperly grouped columns of varying widths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Fixing reading order problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Adding alternate text to figures and descriptions to form fields. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Fixing basic table problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Starting over on a page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Section 12: Adding other accessibility features

Other accessibility features in Acrobat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Setting the tab order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Adding bookmarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Adding accessible links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Creating a link by using the Create Link command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Adding alternate text to links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Setting the document language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Setting security settings so they don’t interfere with screen readers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Adding a watermark to an Adobe PDF document. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Finishing the Adobe PDF accessibility workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Going the extra mile for accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

vii

Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems

When to use the techniques in this section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

How to read an Adobe PDF document’s tag tree. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

The tag tree hierarchy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Finding a tag and its corresponding content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Creating tags for links that you made active late in the workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Adding alternate text to links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Rearranging tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Deleting tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adding new tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Adding expansion text to abbreviated terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Setting the language for specific paragraphs or words. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Making tables accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Understanding the proper hierarchy of a table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

The workflow for tagging tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Checking and fixing the reading order of complex pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Appendix: Standard tags for Adobe PDF documents

An extensible tags architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Block-level elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Container elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Heading and paragraph elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Label and list elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Special text elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Table elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Inline-level elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Special inline-level elements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Introduction

Purpose of this guide

This guide provides a framework and instructions for properly preparing Adobe®PDF®(Portable Document Format)

documents and fillable PDF forms for access by users with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, and mobility

impairment. By following the workflow approach and tasks that are outlined in this guide, you can use Adobe

Acrobat®7.0 to create PDF documents that people can read by using conventional assistive technology (such as

screen magnifiers or screen readers) or the accessibility features that are built into Acrobat 7.0 and Adobe Reader®7.0

(such as the Read Out Loud feature and Reflow view).

This guide is designed for use alongside Acrobat 7.0 Help. Each section offers practical explanations, specific

workflow recommendations, and relevant step-by-step instructions for achieving accessibility with PDF documents.

As needed, the text also directs you to appropriate sections of Acrobat 7.0 Help for instructions on basic techniques

with Acrobat. The bulk of this guide applies to Acrobat 7.0 Professional, although some features and tools are also

available in Acrobat 7.0 Standard.

To better understand how people with disabilities will experience your accessible PDF documents, consult this

guide’s companion document, Using Accessible PDF Documents with Adobe Reader 7.0: A Guide for People with

Disabilities. You can download the document from www.adobe.com/accessibility.

Audience for this guide

This guide is written primarily for three audiences:

•People who are creating source documents that are meant to become accessible Adobe PDF documents

•People who want to improve the accessibility of existing PDF documents and interactive PDF forms

•People who want to test the accessibility of the PDF documents they have already created

Software described in this guide

This guide provides information about using Acrobat software to optimize Adobe PDF documents for accessibility.

Because the best results come from planning for accessibility before you convert documents to PDF, this guide also

provides basic tips on how to prepare documents for optimal accessibility in popular word-processing and desktop

publishing tools.

Note: For best results when you are creating and reading PDF documents, be sure to use the most current version of

Acrobat software, as well as the most current version of the authoring applications that you use. For information about

ordering Acrobat products, visit www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.

Adobe PDF software described in this guide

•Acrobat 7.0 Professional. This application provides a full complement of tools for producing and repairing Adobe

PDF documents for accessibility. You can use it to tag PDF documents, edit tags, optimize reading order, add a full

range of accessibility features, and repair accessibility problems for PDF documents that are generated from almost

any source. The breadth of its feature set makes Acrobat Professional the recommended application for achieving

accessibility for PDF documents. Most of the information in this guide applies to Acrobat 7.0 Professional.

ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0

Introduction

•Acrobat 7.0 Standard. This application includes limited support for achieving accessibility with PDF. You can use

it to apply one-time-only tagging of untagged PDF documents, to perform a quick check on the extent of accessi-

bility in a PDF document, and to set basic accessibility functionality. Because Acrobat Standard lacks tools for

editing tags and adding other accessibility features, this application is not recommended for those who want to

create accessible PDF documents. Acrobat 7.0 Standard supports only a few of the techniques that this guide

describes.

•Adobe LiveCycle™Designer. This application is ideal for creating interactive PDF forms and making them acces-

sible; it is available separately or as part of Acrobat 7.0 Professional.

•Adobe PDF Forms Access™.This application adds tags to untagged, fillable PDF forms; it is available as part of the

Adobe Acrobat Capture®3.0 Agent Pack.

Authoring applications described in this guide

•Microsoft®Office 2000 or later

•Adobe InDesign®CS

•Adobe FrameMaker®7.0

•Adobe PageMaker®7.0

Acrobat system requirements

You can use Acrobat 7.0 on a computer that is running Apple®Mac OS®X v10.2.8 or later, Microsoft Windows®2000,

or Windows XP®. For specific product system requirements, visit the Adobe website at

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html.

Accessibility tools in Windows

The Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems have built-in accessibility tools that provide increased or

alternative access to information on the computer screen. You may want to use these tools when you are testing the

accessibility of PDF documents. The two primary accessibility tools in Windows are the following:

•Narrator, a light version of a screen reader

•Magnifier, a screen magnification tool

To use Narrator, Magnifier, or other Windows accessibility tools, choose Start > All Programs > Accessories >

Accessibility.

To change operating system options that relate to accessibility, choose Start > Control Panel > Accessibility Options.

For more information on the accessibility tools in Windows 2000 or Windows XP, visit the Microsoft accessibility

website at www.microsoft.com/enable.

Accessibility tools in Mac OS

The Mac OS operating system has built-in tools that provide increased or alternative access to information on the

computer screen. You may want to use these tools when you are testing the accessibility of PDF documents.

To modify accessibility preferences, choose Apple menu > System Preferences > Universal Access, and then select the

category to change.

For more information on the accessibility tools in Mac OS X, visit the Apple accessibility website at

www.apple.com/disability.

ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0

Introduction

Summary of the sections in this guide

Section 1: Accessibility and Adobe PDF

This section defines accessibility, its importance to individuals who read Adobe PDF documents, and the character-

istics of accessible PDF documents.

Section 2: Understanding tagging and document structure

This section describes the basics of tagging and how tagging and document structure affect accessibility.

Section 3: The accessibility workflow

This section identifies the various workflows that you can follow when you are making accessible Adobe PDF

documents. Each workflow includes cross-references to the sections of this guide that can help you achieve accessi-

bility for the type of document from which you’re starting.

Section 4: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from word-processing and desktop publishing

applications

This section provides an overview of the options that are available for converting files to Adobe PDF from authoring

applications, and offers tips for preparing files for optimal tagging and accessibility before converting files to PDF.

By using the accessibility and document-structuring features (if any) that are available in an authoring application,

you can often minimize, if not eliminate, the amount of follow-up work you must do in Acrobat 7.0 to optimize the

accessibility of PDF documents.

Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content

This section explains the three ways that you can use Acrobat 7.0 to bring scanned documents into the Adobe PDF

accessibility workflow: by applying optical character recognition (OCR) to existing PDF scans, by scanning paper

documents directly to PDF and applying OCR, and by converting scanned image files to PDF and applying OCR.

You must apply OCR to all PDF documents that originate from scans, so that you can prepare the text and graphics

for editing and accessibility.

Section 6: Creating a single tagged Adobe PDF document from multiple documents

This section describes how to combine multiple documents into a single Adobe PDF document either during or after

conversion to PDF. It also explains the effect of these changes on the tag tree, and how to plan ahead when combining

documents, so as to avoid as much repair of the tag tree as possible.

Section 7: Creating tagged Adobe PDF documents from web pages

This section describes how to convert HTML web pages to tagged Adobe PDF documents either directly from

Internet Explorer or from HTML pages that you have saved to a hard drive.

Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible

This section describes the characteristics of accessible Adobe PDF forms and the three most frequently used methods

for creating them: by using Adobe LiveCycle Designer, by using the Forms tools in Acrobat 7.0 Professional, and by

using Adobe PDF Forms Access.

Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents

This section describes the basic steps for adding tags to untagged Adobe PDF documents in Acrobat. Although using

Acrobat to tag a document is not the optimal method for preparing a PDF document for accessibility, it is a

mandatory step when you do not have access to the source file of an untagged PDF document.

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