PDF Accessibility
What PDF accessibility means, why it matters, and how to make PDFs usable by assistive technology.
PDF accessibility means a PDF can be read and navigated by people who use assistive technology, such as screen readers, magnifiers, braille displays and keyboard-only navigation.
The main standard is PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility), published as ISO 14289. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the W3C are also applied to PDFs, and many accessibility laws and procurement rules refer to them.
An accessible PDF contains real text rather than pictures of text, a tag structure that marks headings, paragraphs, lists, tables and figures, a defined reading order, alternative text for images, a document title and a document language.
Why PDF accessibility matters
A screen reader cannot read an image of text, and without tags it cannot tell a heading from a footnote. People who rely on assistive technology then cannot use the document at all. Public bodies, schools and many companies are required to publish accessible documents, and accessible PDFs are also easier to search and reuse.
What makes a PDF accessible
- Real, selectable text in a logical reading order.
- Tags for headings, lists, tables and figures.
- Alternative text for each meaningful image, including screenshots.
- A document title and a language setting.
- Sufficient color contrast and no meaning conveyed by color alone.
- Bookmarks for long documents.
Tagged PDF vs searchable PDF for accessibility
| Searchable PDF | Tagged PDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Text | OCR or real text | Real text |
| Structure | None required | Headings, lists, tables, figures |
| Reading order | Not defined | Defined |
| Alt text | No | Yes |
A searchable PDF made with OCR is a step up from an image-only PDF, because a screen reader finds text. It is not fully accessible on its own, because it lacks structure and alt text. Temposhot's PDF export is searchable; check it with an accessibility checker if your use requires PDF/UA.
Common mistakes
- Publishing guides that are only screenshots, with no written steps.
- Relying on OCR text as a substitute for tags.
- Leaving the document title as a file name.
- Using screenshots without describing what they show.
Turning pages into a PDF?
In Temposhot Documents, the PDF dialog (Pro customization) can place descriptions before or after each screenshot, so every step has real text. See Documents export.
Common questions
Is a searchable PDF accessible?
Partly. It has text, but usually no tags, reading order or alt text.
How do I check a PDF?
Use an accessibility checker in a PDF editor, then test with a screen reader such as VoiceOver on a Mac.
Sources
Related resources
- Documents overview: build step-by-step documents with descriptions.
- Screenshot to Searchable PDF: add a text layer to screenshots.
Taking the same screenshots again and again?
Temposhot captures a screen, window or area on a timer and exports the set as a PDF, images, ZIP or MP4. The free browser tools fix single images.
Related resources
Related terms
- Tagged PDFWhat a tagged PDF is, why it matters for accessibility, and how it differs from a searchable PDF.
- Text LayerWhat a text layer is, how it gets into a document, and why it determines whether your PDF is truly searchable.
- OCRWhat OCR is, how it works, where it's used, and common mistakes to avoid when making screenshots and scans searchable.
- Searchable PDFWhat makes a PDF searchable, how to tell if yours is, and common mistakes when working with image-only PDFs.