Accessible PDF
This page gathers content regarding PDF accessibility from across pdfa.org.
- ISO standards for accessible PDF
- Industry specifications on accessibility
- Other PDF industry publications related to accessibility
- Member communities related to accessibility
- Articles on accessibility
- PDF Days presentations on accessibility
- Members' products & services supporting PDF/UA
ISO standards for accessible PDF
The PDF Association is ISO's and ANSI's committee manager for ISO TC 171 SC 2, publisher of all ISO standards for PDF technology with the exception of ISO 15930 (PDF/X), which is developed under the auspices of ISO TC 130.
ISO 14289-2:2024 (PDF/UA-2) defines the use of tagged PDF in files conforming to ISO 32000-2:2020 … Read more
ISO/TS 32005 extends ISO 32000-2 to clarify inclusion rules for using tags defined in the … Read more
ISO 14289-1:2014 (PDF/UA-1) defines the use of tagged PDF in files conforming to ISO 32000-1:2008 … Read more
Industry specifications on accessibility
These formal industry publications define the interoperable use of PDF technology for accessibility purposes. All are freely available. Some are also published as ISO standards.
Other PDF industry publications related to accessibility
In keeping with the spirit of the original PDF Reference, all PDF Association publications are freely available.
Comprehensive requirements for software that seeks to create fully reusable and accessible PDF 2.0 files … Read more
Explanations of technical terms related to accessibility as used in the PDF and PDF/UA standards.
The Matterhorn Protocol, a free publication, identifies all possible ways to fail PDF/UA-1.
The PDF/UA Reference Suite is a resource for software developers and practitioners interested in best-practices … Read more
The Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide includes guidance for all structure element types and attributes, … Read more
Member communities related to accessibility
The PDF Association's volunteer communities represent the organization's true purpose and most important feature. Their primary purpose is to develop and obtain consensus on PDF specifications, test-suites, technical and application notes, best practices and other formal industry guidance. Many of these products are eventually submitted for ISO standardization via ISO TC 171 SC 2.
Accessibility is the direct or indirect focus of the following communities:
Formalizing common understandings on processing tagged PDF.
Exploring pathways to expressing PDF content in HTML.
Developing techniques and examples for accessible PDF.
Supporting generation of tagged PDF directly from LaTeX.
Accessible PDF, including oversight of ISO 14289.
Articles on accessibility
PDF Association members can post non-commercial educational content on pdfa.org.
August 2024 by PDF Association staff
Starting today, PDF users everywhere can leverage ISO-standardized accessibility requirements for content in PDF.
March 2024 by PDF Association staff
Authoritative answers to common questions about Tagged PDF, WTPDF and PDF/UA.
February 2024 by PDF Association staff
Well-Tagged PDF (WTPDF), a common specification for both reuse and accessibility, is a massive leap forward for PDF technology.
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PDF Days presentations on accessibility
These educational presentations were presented at PDF Days events by a wide range of industry experts. Since 2022 PDF Days has been replaced with PDF Week, a technical conference meeting three times a year.
A common complaint about making documents accessible is too hard for most. This session will explore many of the common challenges faced by people learning how to make PDF/UA compliant … Read more
How do you get the fastest from the source document to the accessible PDF? We present 3 ways that help you to find the best PDF accessibility strategy for your … Read more
Since December 2018 some of the world’s most trusted PDF accessibility experts work together to create atomic examples of WCAG 2.1 compliant PDF files. We report about the current status. … Read more
Apache Tika is widely used as a critical enabling technology for search in Apache Solr and other search systems. This open source library performs text and metadata extraction from numerous … Read more
In February 2017, Peter Shikli launched Access2online to provide accessibility auditing of websites because he knew how to design websites. What little he knew about accessibility was almost completely wrong. … Read more
The talk is devoted to typical problems and possible solutions of generating PDF/UA compliant (or at least well-tagged) PDF documents from authoring applications such as rich layout WYSIWYG text editors, … Read more
Members' products & services supporting PDF/UA
PDF Association members are entitled to post their products and services in the product showcase. The members' posting the products listed below are claiming that the product supports PDF/UA-1. The PDF Association is not responsible for members' representation of their products or services.
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