Creating Accessible PDF Documents with MS Word and Acrobat Pro XI Jayme Johnson • director of accessibility and user experience CCC Online Education initiative • www.ccconlineed.org

Resources Here are the sample files I will use as part of today’s demonstration: Mock Syllabus.docx Mock Syllabus PDF.pdf Mock Syllabus NOT accessible PDF.pdf Here is a step-by-step breakdown of the basic process I will demonstrate of taking a document from MS Word to Acrobat Pro and making it accessible: Creating Accessible PDF Document Resources.docx Downloaded these files at: http://tinyurl.com/OEIaccessibility

Overview Basic terms and required technology Create an accessible document in MS Word Save an accessible MS Word document as a PDF document Use Acrobat Pro to enhance a PDF document for accessibility Finding the PDF Tags Accessibility Tools Touch Up Reading Order Tool Reading Order Panel Accessibility Checker

Terms and Technology Acrobat, PDF, Adobe, Tags: Acrobat is the name of a software application. PDF stands for Portable Document Format, it is a type of digital document. Adobe is a company, they make Acrobat and Acrobat Pro. Mac OS users be warned: You must have Acrobat Pro in order to create an accessible PDF from a MS Word document on Mac OS. The Mac OS version of MS Office does not support exporting to accessible PDF.

Demonstration Time Let’s go to MS Word and enhance a document for accessibility…

Going to Acrobat Pro At this point, we’ve enhanced accessibility with our document by: Adding heading styles Providing descriptions for the images Providing headers for table columns. Now let’s open the PDF in Acrobat Pro and see what we created…

Summary In order to create an accessible PDF document, it is best to start with an accessible document from another program, such as MS Word. Adding heading styles, image descriptions, and table headers will greatly enhance the accessibility of any digital document. Acrobat Pro features the tools necessary to create an accessible PDF document, even on the Mac OS. A PDF document must be tagged in order to be 100% accessible. Use the “Make Accessible” Action Wizard in Acrobat Pro XI. Visit http://tinyurl.com/OEIaccessibility for step-by-step instructions and resources.

Thank You! Contact me at: johnsonjayme@fhda.edu