1. Accessible PDF Documents with Adobe Acrobat 8 Sean Keegan Web Accessibility Specialist skeegan@gmail.com CSU Summer Accessibility Institute 2007

2. Overview Working in MS Word Headings, Tables, and Images (oh my) Working in Adobe Acrobat Adding Tags Repairing and Evaluating Text Content Working with Tables

3. Create A Logical Structure Apply Headings where appropriate in the document Headings will be translated into PDF Bookmarks during the transformation process

4. Utilize MS Word Layout Tools Use the tools within MS Word to customize columns and layout Avoid using text boxes, tables or tabs to visually format your document

5. Add Table Header Information From the menu bar, choose Table > Insert Table To designate the column headers Select the appropriate cells Open the Table Properties menu for the selected cells In the Row tab, select the checkbox “Repeat as header row at the top of each page”

6. Include Text Descriptions Select the image and choose Format from the menu bar Choose “Picture” In the Web tab, add a text description only if necessary for the image

7. Convert from MS Office Apply styles and formatting Design data tables using Table menu options Add text descriptions Create PDF by selecting Adobe PDF on the menu bar

8. Using Adobe Acrobat Pro Find original file, re-author, and export using PDFMaker (not Distiller!) OR Add tags to the PDF document Evaluate reading order Make repairs and evaluate…again

9. Adding Tags to a PDF Tags provide a structure in which to manipulate the accessibility of the content To add tags to a PDF document: Select Advanced on the menu bar Choose Accessibility and Add Tags to Document Even with tags, there can still be errors in reading order, figures, form fields, etc.

10. Evaluating Reading Order The best method is to read the PDF using assistive technologies Export the file as Text (Accessible) Provides a rough simulation as to the reading order used by assistive technologies Use the Read Out Loud feature in Acrobat Can be time-consuming to perform

11. Manipulating PDF Tags The TouchUp Reading Order tool provides the easiest method to improve PDF accessibility Choose Advanced on the menu bar Select Accessibility and then “TouchUp Reading Order tool” Information can be either added or removed with the TURO tool

12. Using the TURO Tool When selecting content to repair, draw the zone region larger than the actual content space Review Figures and Tables after adding tags to the PDF file - they may get misidentified Zone content as “Background” to remove from the reading order of the document Use the Table Inspector to add a table summary and row and column header information

13. Adobe Resources Adobe Accessibility Website http://www.adobe.com/accessibility http://www.adobe.com/accessibility Adobe Accessibility Blog http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/ http://blogs.adobe.com/accessibility/ Adobe Online PDF Conversion Tool http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html

14. Other Resources Planet PDF http://www.planetpdf.com/enterprise/article.asp?ContentID=6066 Additional “How-to” Manuals http://www.wac.ohio-state.edu/pdf/index.html http://www.htctu.net/trainings/manuals/tutmain.htm

15. www.calstate.edu/accessibility