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Tools for Accessible PDF

Exposing the relationship between content and tags

Screenshot of a PDF page and associated tag tree. A selected tag is reflected in the content with a highlight on the respective tagged text.

All major browsers provide an “inspection” or “debugger” view that allows the user to investigate the guts of a given web page.

Historically, PDF’s internal complexity – and its nature as a binary file format – have tended to limit PDF inspector tools to the needs of highly technical users.

The use of Tagged PDF, however, makes it very important to be able to expose at least that aspect of a PDF's internal structure – together with its relationship to content on the PDF’s page.

This page lists PDF Association members’ free and commercial PDF software that exposes the relationship between a PDF’s page content and its structure tree (more commonly known as its “tags tree”).

These tools provide an on-ramp to understanding tags as demonstrated by the PDF Association’s Techniques for Accessible PDF. Please note our disclosures.

If you have recommendations for other PDF tools that can expose tagging, or wish to update the listing for your own tool, please let us know.

Commercial software

Vendor Tool Platform License
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Windows, Mac Commercial
Allyant CommonLook PDF Windows Commercial
axes4 axesPDF Windows Commercial
Foxit PDF Editor + Windows, Mac Commercial
GrackleDocs Grackle PDF Online Commercial
IDRsolutions JPedal Windows, Mac, Linux Commercial
PDFix PDFix Desktop Pro Windows, Mac, Linux Commercial
TargetStream Technologies StreamEDS Windows, Mac, Linux (Java, .NET) Commercial

Free / open source tools

Developer Tool Platform License
Allyant CommonLook PDF Validator Windows Free
iText (Apryse) RUPS Windows, Mac, Linux (Java) GNU Affero GPL
axes4 PAC Windows Free
callas PDFgoHTML Windows, Mac Free
Dual Lab PDF4WCAG Online Free
Dual Lab ngPDF Online Free
GrackeDocs Grackle GO Online Free
PDFix PDFix Desktop Lite Windows, Mac Free

Request an update

Send us an email to suggest changes or to request the addition of a new tool. All tools listed on this page must already be posted to pdfa.org.

Disclosures

The above claims have not been vetted by the PDF Association. Vendors own their respective copyrights wherever they are mentioned. The information provided may be incomplete or outdated. Readers are responsible for independently verifying any and all information including licensing and suitability for purpose. Any mention of companies or products does not imply endorsement or support of any of the mentioned information, services, products, or providers.  Please see each tool’s documentation for additional information.

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