How to do a PDF accessibility scan and request a PDF remediation. PDF scans are done through a Remediation Quote. Order a list of issues that require attention in the PDF. This service is provided by a third-party provider, CommonLook Clarity:
CommonLook Clarity | PDF Accessibility and Compliance
Choose the type of PDF scan:
This section gives information on how to request a PDF accessibility scan.
On the top menu bar, click Accessibility (icon of a human figure with outstretched arms).
The Accessibility summary page opens.
The Internal PDFs page opens.
The chart has the following sorting options:
External PDFs: Select this option if the PDF file is not on your site.
The External PDFs page opens.
The list shows all external PDF files that you need to check for accessibility issues. The chart gives a graphic view of:
Select Start PDF Accessibility scan: Select to scan this PDF.
The PDF file moves into the Queued column.
If the PDF is located externally, select External PDFs: The External PDFs page opens. The chart has the following sorting options:
The scan results are imported directly into your account and are available through the Acquia Optimize dashboard.
If the scan is successful and no accessibility errors are found, the PDF is automatically moved to the Reviewed/OK column. Select the PDF to view the results.
If the scan is successful and some accessibility errors are found, the PDF is automatically moved to the Failed column. Click to view the scan results and the issues detected. Repair the errors or use the PDF remediation option as described below in the Remediation Quote instructions, upload the new PDF documents, and then start a new scan.
Here is an example of how the scan report can look:
To find more details about the PDF from the scan results, the Quality Assurance Module can provide some additional details:
Instructions
Click Quality Assurance (the checkbox icon), on the domain dashboard toolbar.
Click Content with QA Errors from the menu on the left side of the page.
The Content with QA Errors page opens.
Click a document in the list to view more information about the scan results.
If the scan is successful and no accessibility errors are found, it is automatically moved to the Reviewed/Ok column. Select the PDF to view the results.
If the scan is successful and some accessibility errors are found, the PDF is automatically moved to the Failed column. Click to view the scan results and the issues detected. Repair the errors or use the PDF remediation option as described below in the Remediation Quote instructions, upload the new PDF documents, and then start a new scan.
If any PDF files require remediation, this can be requested from within the Acquia Optimize platform. Acquia Optimize delivers the remediated documents and accessibility reports when they are ready. To include the PDF scanning tool, upgrade your account at Acquia Optimize Support
Click to select Remediation Quote on the same row as a non-compliant PDF
This submits an order for remediation of issues that require attention in the PDF. This service is provided by a third party. A dialog box opens with the following text:
"Document remediation for compliance to WCAG 2.1 AA, Section 508, HHS or PDF/UA accessibility standards. Document remediation requires manual verification and can range in cost. When you submit PDF documents for remediation, we will review the document and give you a firm, fixed price for the remediation. Upon completion of the work, we will also provide a compliance report. We will let you know if there is any Alternative Text (Alt-Text) required for images that are not self-descriptive or any related additional information needed to remediate the document."
Section 508 is now fully aligned with WCAG 2.0 AA. Acquia Optimize has transferred existing users of the check to WCAG 2.0 AA.
EU customers have to contact our partner Commonlook directly for PDF remediation quotes at their own discretion due to regulatory requirements. The PDF Remediation option continues to be available for customers in other geographical regions.
For more information on the PDF accessibility scan service, see:
For accounts that are upgraded to include the PDF scanning tool, it is possible to do a bulk remediation quote to include all PDFs.
Click Accessibility from the domain dashboard.
Contact Support for more information. PDF tracking allows users to see which files are remediated.
EU customers have to contact our partner Commonlook directly for PDF remediation quotes at their own discretion due to regulatory requirements. The PDF Remediation option continues to be available for customers in other geographical regions.
This section gives some solutions to issues that may occur with PDF accessibility.
Tagged PDF files have an underlying tag tree that defines the structure of the document. Use PDF tags to identify content as headings, lists, tables, and so on, and to add alt-text to your images. PDF files that are not tagged are not accessible.
Usually, you create tagged PDFs from within an authoring application, such as Adobe FrameMaker®, Adobe InDesign, or Microsoft Word. This way, tags are added more effectively than in Acrobat.
PDFMaker provides conversion settings that let you create tagged PDFs in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
Here are some other ways that you can put tags on PDF files:
This works, but keep in mind that Auto-tagging an untagged PDF document can have unpredictable results. Inspect the tag tree after you use auto-tagging. To add tags to an untagged document with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC:
This is another way to add tags to an untagged document. Use the Reading Order tool during the manual tagging or remediation process. For more information, see the Adobe Support documentation on using the Reading Order tool for PDFs. To add tags with the Reading Order Tool:
While tags are essential for PDF accessibility, they do not guarantee accessibility. Tags must be used properly for the PDF to be accessible.
For more information about creating accessible PDFs, see www.adobe.com/accessibility.
For more information, see the following:
This section answers some common questions about Commonlook Clarity accessibility scans.
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