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NOTE: All faculty have access to Abobe Acrobat Pro for free through SUNY Downstate. Send a license request to help@downstate.edu.
Why Accessibility Matters
Accessible PDFs ensure that all students, including those using screen readers or assistive technologies, can read and navigate course materials. Properly structured PDFs are also required under federal accessibility regulations and institutional policy.
The good news: Acrobat Pro includes a built-in Accessibility Wizard that walks you through most of the process.
Before You Begin
Accessibility is easiest when it starts at the source.
If possible:
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Create documents in Word, PowerPoint, or another authoring tool
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Use built-in headings and styles
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Export to PDF using “Save as PDF” (not “Print to PDF”)
If you’re working with an existing PDF, continue below.
Step 1: Open the Accessibility Tools
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Open your PDF in Acrobat Pro.
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Select Use guided actions in the side menu.
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Choose Make Accessible.
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Click the blue Start button.
Step 2: Run through the Accessibility Wizard
- Set Descriptions
- Title: Ensure the document has a meaningful title.
- Subject: enter a short summary of the subject of the document
- Author: (optional) enter the name of the document author
- Keywords: enter keywords relative to the content of the document
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Recognize text - General Settings: If your PDF is scanned as an image, this step will convert it into text. (Note: If you can’t highlight text, it’s not readable by screen readers yet.)
- Document language: Select the correct language (e.g., English). This step is important — screen readers rely on this to pronounce words correctly.
- Output: leave on Searchable Image
- Downsample to: leave at 600 dpi
- Detect Form Fields (If Applicable)
- If your PDF includes fillable fields, allow Acrobat to auto-detect form fields and make them keyboard-accessible and identifiable by screen readers
- Set Reading Language: Confirm the correct language of the document
Step 3: Add Alternative Text to Images
Images must have alternative text (alt text). This is often the most important step in making your document accessible.
Why this is important: Adding descriptions (alternative text) to images in PDFs ensures that people who use screen readers can understand the information conveyed by those images, making the document accessible to users with visual impairments.
- When the following dialog appears, click the OK button.
- You will be prompted to enter text describing each image in your document. It is important to provide a description that would make sense to a visually impaired person. If an image is purely decorative and alt text is not required, you can check the Decorative figure checkbox.
Step 4: (Optional) Run the Accessibility Checker
- If you wish, you can generate a report to confirm that your document is accessible:
- When finished, click the Done button and save your PDF. Congratulations, your document is now accessible!