How to Create an Accessible PDF

PDFs are still one of the most common ways to share reports, guides and forms. Without accessibility in mind, a PDF can shut people out, especially anyone who relies on a screen reader or other assistive technology. This guide explains how to make a PDF accessible from the start, how to fix existing files, and how to publish accessible PDFs online and in WordPress.

What makes a PDF accessible

An accessible PDF is a document that people can read, navigate and understand whatever their access needs. In practice, that means the PDF:

1. Uses a clear heading structure that matches the visual layout
2. Has correct tags and reading order for assistive technology
3. Contains real text rather than images of text
4. Provides alternative text for meaningful images and icons
5. Offers enough colour contrast between text and background
6. Includes accessible form fields where users can enter information
7. Can be used with a keyboard and screen reader

If you design with those points in mind, you are already much closer to a PDF that works for everyone.

How to create an accessible PDF from scratch

The easiest way to make a PDF accessible is to build accessibility into the original document in Word, Google Docs or your layout tool. Then you export to PDF without breaking the structure.

Use accessible fonts and clear formatting

Screen readers do not care what font you use, but people with low vision definitely do.

1. Choose simple fonts such as Arial, Verdana or Helvetica for body text
2. Avoid decorative or script fonts for anything longer than a heading
3. Keep font size generous, usually at least eleven or twelve for body text
4. Use real paragraphs, headings and lists rather than manually styling plain text
5. Avoid text boxes and floating elements for core content, as they can confuse the reading order

Structure your content with headings and tags

Headings are the skeleton of your document. Tags are how that skeleton appears to assistive technology.

1. Use Heading one for the main title
2. Use Heading two for main sections and Heading three for subsections
3. Do not skip heading levels for styling reasons
4. When you export to PDF, keep the option to include structure tags
5. In a tool such as Adobe Acrobat, open the tags panel and check that headings, paragraphs and lists are tagged correctly
6. Use a reading order or order panel to confirm that content will be read in a logical sequence

A clean heading and tag structure makes it much easier for someone using a screen reader to jump around your PDF.

Add meaningful alternative text to images and graphics

Images, icons and diagrams can be very helpful visually but completely meaningless to someone who cannot see them. Alternative text fills that gap.

1. Describe the purpose of the image, not every visual detail
2. Keep descriptions short and focused on what the user needs to know
3. Mark purely decorative images as decorative so screen readers can skip them
4. For complex charts or diagrams, combine a short piece of alternative text with a fuller explanation in the main text or an appendix

Type	Example
Poor description	Picture of a graph
Useful description	Line chart showing website traffic doubling between January and June

Use descriptive link text

Screen readers can present a list of links on a page without the surrounding text. Generic links become very confusing in that list.

1. Avoid link text such as click here or read more
2. Use link text that explains the destination or action, for example “Download the PDF accessibility checklist”
3. Keep link text unique where possible, so people can tell links apart

Make forms and interactive PDFs accessible

If your PDF includes forms, they must be accessible to keyboard users and screen reader users.

1. Use real form fields, not lines or boxes drawn on the page
2. Give each field a clear label that matches any visible label in the layout
3. Add extra instructions or hints where needed, for example acceptable date formats
4. Set the tab order so keyboard users move through the form in a logical sequence
5. Make sure error messages or required fields are obvious without relying only on colour

Use colour and contrast that everyone can see

Colour can support your message, but it should never be the only way you communicate something important.

1. Aim for strong contrast between text and background, for example dark text on a light background
2. Avoid very light grey text, especially on white
3. Do not use colour alone to show meaning, such as red text for negative numbers without any other cue
4. Make link text stand out in more than one way, for example colour and underline

Add a tagged table of contents for longer PDFs

For longer documents, a table of contents is vital for orientation.

1. Use heading styles so your authoring tool can generate a table of contents automatically
2. Ensure each entry links to the correct section
3. Check that the table of contents is tagged properly so screen readers can use it

Test your PDF with accessibility tools

Never assume a PDF is accessible just because it looks fine on screen.

1. Use a built in accessibility checker in your PDF editor to scan for common issues
2. Manually review the tags tree and reading order
3. Test the PDF using only a keyboard
4. Where possible, check with at least one screen reader such as NVDA or JAWS to see how content is announced

Testing quickly exposes things like missing alternative text, broken reading order and unlabeled form fields.

How to make a PDF accessible for people who are blind or partially sighted

The steps above help everyone, but some aspects are particularly important for readers who are blind or partially sighted.

Reading order and navigation

For a screen reader user, the reading order is the experience.

1. Make sure headings follow a logical hierarchy, so people can jump between sections
2. Check the reading order so content is announced in a sensible sequence, not column by column in a confusing way
3. Provide a table of contents with clear section names

Alternative text and descriptions

Alternative text is often the only way someone will understand images or diagrams.

1. Describe what the image means in context, not just the visual elements
2. Where an image is critical, consider providing an extra text description nearby
3. Avoid repeating the same information in both alternative text and body text unless it is necessary

Link clarity

Lists of links are a common way to move through content using a screen reader.

1. Make sure link text makes sense out of context
2. Avoid having many links with identical text that go to different places

Visual clarity for partially sighted readers

Not everyone who struggles with a PDF uses a screen reader.

1. Use a good text size and generous line spacing
2. Avoid dense blocks of text with no spacing or headings
3. Keep layouts simple so zooming in does not completely break the page

Designing with these needs in mind dramatically improves the experience for blind and partially sighted users.

How to make a PDF accessible online

Publishing a PDF on the web introduces a few extra accessibility and compliance considerations. You’re not rebuilding the PDF , you’re ensuring it’s web-ready and discoverable.

Verify accessibility before uploading

If you use Grackle Docs, you can scan your Google Doc and export a fully tagged, accessible PDF. For existing files, Grackle GO checks PDFs against PDF/UA standards right in your browser. Fix any issues before they go live.

Add proper document metadata

Title, author, subject, and language matter online. Grackle automatically adds and validates this metadata so assistive technology and search engines can correctly identify the file.

Avoid image-only PDFs

Scanned or image-based PDFs can’t be read by screen readers. Use OCR to convert them to real text or rebuild them from an accessible source in Grackle Docs.

Publish with clear, descriptive links

In your web content, describe the file and its purpose:
“Download our 2025 accessibility report (PDF, 2 MB)”
This helps both humans and screen readers.

Monitor accessibility over time

Use Grackle Scan to crawl your website, find every hosted PDF, and generate accessibility reports. This makes long-term maintenance and compliance much easier.

How to make a PDF file accessible in WordPress

WordPress makes it easy to upload files, but it will happily serve inaccessible PDFs as well as accessible ones. The difference is in how you prepare the file and how you present it.

Upload an accessible PDF to the media library

The best place to fix accessibility is before the PDF ever touches WordPress.

1. Create your document in Google Docs or a similar editor
2. Use Grackle Docs to scan it, fix accessibility issues and export a tagged accessible PDF
3. Optionally, run the exported PDF through Grackle GO to double check it against PDF UA standards and get a clear pass or fail report
4. When you are happy with the result, upload the PDF to the WordPress media library as normal
5. Give the file a meaningful name that humans can understand rather than a random string of characters

That way, everything you add to WordPress is already in good shape for screen readers and other assistive technology.

Add accessible links to PDFs in posts and pages

Once the file is in WordPress, your job is to make it easy to find and understand.

1. Insert the PDF from the media library into your post or page
2. Edit the link text so it explains what the PDF contains, not just that it is a file
3. Avoid vague labels such as download or view file
4. Add context in the surrounding text when it matters, such as who the document is for or which year it covers

For example

Download our accessible PDF guide to creating inclusive forms

This tells users what they are getting and helps search engines understand the link as well.

Offer alternatives when you can

For key content such as policies, guidance or forms, it is worth offering more than one format.

1. Use the WordPress page content for the main information
2. Offer the PDF as a print friendly or offline copy
3. Make it clear that the same information is available in both formats so users can choose what works best for them

If you already have a large number of PDFs attached to posts and pages, Grackle Scan can be used to review all PDFs across your WordPress site, report which ones fail accessibility checks and help you prioritise what to fix first.

This combination of authoring with Grackle Docs, validating with Grackle GO and monitoring with Grackle Scan gives you an end to end workflow for accessible PDFs that play nicely with WordPress and with the people who need them.