PDF Tagging

The PDF (Portable Document Format) format was created by a company called Adobe. PDFs are a useful way of providing material online which preserves its print layout

What is a 'tagged PDF' ?

PDF tagging refers to the practice of ensuring PDFs are made accessible to users of screen readers i.e. blind people. There is however more to making PDFs accessible than adding 'tags' but for simplicity we'll just refer to it as 'tagging'.

PDFs can be very accessible but unfortunately unless care is taken they usually aren't. The same can be said of normal web pages too. Both require a degree of awareness of what it takes to make a document accessible which normally content editors don't have. Probably the worst type of PDF is a scan of a document which is then converted to a PDF. That is almost completely useless to screen reader users. PDF files are not typically created in Acrobat. Most PDFs are not created from scratch but converted from programs such as Microsoft Word. Other programs such as Adobe Illustrator or Indesign can be used to create PDFs - in fact there are numerous other programs but those are the big three. Usually when you have a PDF which you want to upload onto a website you won't have access to the original format but just a PDF.

Unless you have Adobe Acrobat and also the expertise you won't be able to tag it.

Our PDF Tagging Service

We ensure an accessible, tagged PDF has:

• a proper reading order
• tags for all content
• alt text for images
• tags for tables to convey table structure
• usable links and form fields if the document is interactive

We use Adobe Acrobat to do the tagging and then test it in two screen readers, Jaws and Windows Eyes to ensure users receive all the content in the right order.

Contact us using form below or call us on 0151 223 0001 for more information.