Captions and PDFsMaking PDFs, documents, video and audio work for everyone
Chapters (8)
  1. Why PDFs, documents and media need their own care
  2. Making a PDF accessible with tags, reading order and bookmarks
  3. Building Word files that turn into good PDFs
  4. Slide decks that turn into good PDFs
  5. Captions, subtitles and transcripts: what's the difference?
  6. When does a video need audio description?
  7. How to check a PDF for accessibility problems
  8. How to check a video or podcast for accessibility

How to check a PDF for accessibility problems

Last reviewed

Quick take

  • Check the Word file first. Then check the PDF you exported from it.
  • A checker gives three kinds of result: passed, failed and "needs manual check".
  • A tool can't judge everything. You still look at the reading order yourself.
  • Fix problems in the source file when you can, then export again.

Step 1: check the source file

If the PDF came from Word, run Word's Accessibility Checker first. It reviews your content and flags the issues it finds.[1] It's far easier to fix a heading in Word than in a finished PDF. The steps are on Word files that convert well.

Step 2: run a PDF checker

Adobe Acrobat Pro has a tool called Prepare for accessibility. It runs many tasks for you, checks accessibility, and gives instructions for items you must fix by hand.[2] A second tool, Check for accessibility, tests the file against standards such as PDF/UA and WCAG.[2]

Other PDF programs have checkers too. Names and menus differ. The idea is the same: run the tool, then read the report.

Three numbered steps: run the checker, read the results, fix and run again. A note below says to check by eye what the tool cannot judge.
A loop for checking a PDF.

Step 3: read the results

Each rule in the Acrobat checker ends up with one of a few results. Three matter most:

  • Passed. The item is accessible.[2]
  • Failed. The item didn't pass the check.[2]
  • Needs manual check. The tool couldn't test the item itself, so you must verify it by hand.[2]
Three result boxes. Passed: the item is accessible. Failed: the item did not pass. Needs manual check: the tool could not decide, so you check it yourself.
Three results a PDF check can give.

Don't panic over every failure. Adobe warns that the checker doesn't tell essential content from nonessential content, so some reported issues may not affect readability.[2] Read each one and decide.

Step 4: look at what a tool can't judge

The "needs manual check" items are your to-do list. Two are worth a closer look.

Reading order. A wrong order can leave keyboard and assistive technology users unable to follow the content.[3] Acrobat's Reading Order tool can examine the structure, order and contents of a PDF.[2] When the order is wrong, the W3C says a repair tool such as Acrobat Pro is how you correct it.[3]

Security settings. An author can lock a PDF so it can't be copied or extracted. That can stop a screen reader, because screen readers must be able to extract the text to turn it into speech.[2] If your PDF reads badly in one program, look at its security settings.

Step 5: fix, export, check again

Go back to the source file when you can. Fix the problem there. Export again with tags on. Run the checker again.

The U.S. Section508.gov site also offers a testing checklist and a testing guide for PDFs, as downloadable documents.[4] They go further than this page does.

When your PDF is clean, the next page covers the same job for sound and pictures: checking video and audio.

Sources

  1. Make your Word documents accessible to people with disabilities, Microsoft Support (accessed 2026-11-10)
  2. Create and verify PDF accessibility, Acrobat Pro, Adobe (accessed 2026-11-10)
  3. PDF3: Ensuring correct tab and reading order in PDF documents, W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (accessed 2026-11-10)
  4. Create Accessible PDFs, Section508.gov (U.S. General Services Administration) (accessed 2026-11-10)