Note that free converters such as Cute PDF may not be suitable for producing accessible PDFs. navigate to the Adobe PDFMaker command through the Adobe PDF menu.use the Adobe PDFMaker buttons on the toolbar.If you have Adobe Acrobat Professional installed, and have macros enabled in Word, there are three ways to convert the document to PDF: Read more about creating a document tagline Create a PDF from a Word document Document taglineĭon't forget to include the tagline that tells the reader how to get a copy of the document in another format. It is also useful to keep a copy of the document in Word format so that it can be easily converted to alternative formats if required. Lists: Use the bullets and numbering tool to create lists do not use the TAB key to format a list or create a table.Īlternative text: Add text descriptions (‘alternative text’) to graphics that have meaningful content. Acrobat will use Word styles to establish the document structure and generate bookmarks for easy navigation. Headings: Use paragraph and heading styles, such as ‘Heading 1’, to define the document’s structural elements, instead of simply changing the font size by hand. Complex layouts make it harder for Acrobat to infer the correct reading order during conversion to PDF, which may reduce the accuracy of screen reading software. Simple text layout: Keep text layout as simple as possible, for example, avoid using text boxes. It is easier to make a document accessible if you first write it in Word, with accessibility in mind. Read and Write users should save the PDF and use the PDF reader function. Zoomtext users need to open Zoomtext before they open the PDF. If you need to create a PDF in Microsoft Office, then advise users to open the document in Adobe Reader, rather than in the browser, to ensure greater accessibility and compatibility with assistive technology. The best way to deal with this is to build accessibility into an initial Word document, and to optimise the accessibility of the PDF by using Acrobat Professional. However, this format presents challenges for some disabled people, because PDFs are often hard to navigate or incompatible with screen reading software. The PDF, or Portable Document Format, was designed to allow people to share documents that look the same whatever operating system they are viewed on. How to create PDFs that are accessible to most users.

Adobe reader accessibility compatible