According to Adobe Systems Incorporated (2012), the PDF is "the native file format for the Adobe Acrobat family of products"; it was designed "to enable users to exchange and view documents easily and independently of the environment in which they were created" (Overview of Portable Document Format section). PDFs are a destination file format, meaning that they are typically created in some other application.

While PDFs are the current standard for course readings, they are difficult to make fully accessible, which is why we recommend not using that format if possible.

PDF Sources

In addition to publisher PDFs, PDFs are generated by saving or exporting documents from programs like Microsoft Office, Google Docs, or design tools such as Adobe InDesign, usually to preserve the formatting and layout. The other main source is digitizing physical papers, or book chapters, into PDFs using scanners or scanning apps. The accessibility considerations vary based on the source. A document saved as a PDF will be more accessible than a scanned PDF. (Note: Do not use the Print to PDF as this removes page formatting from the source document, making it less accessible.)

Document Saved as a PDF

A PDF created from a document, such as a Word document, will work well for most students because it will enlarge nicely (for those using magnification) and convert easily to a readable file (for those using Read & Write Gold or another read-aloud tool). However, it will not work well for students who are blind (usually using JAWS) unless it is purposefully tagged for accessibility. Staff in Student Disability Resources usually convert PDFs to Word during accommodation work rather than trying to make the PDF fully accessible.

screenshot of a document saved as a PDF — Figure 1. Document Saved as PDF

PDFs Created From Scanned Materials

A scanned document creates problems for all students because they are hard to read and are not real text that can be highlighted and searched, so they don't work with read-aloud tools and won't convert to other formats with Ally or SensusAccess. A bad scan is even worse. Figure 2 is an example of a bad scan.

screenshot of a scanned PDF — Figure 2. Poorly Scanned PDF

How to Make a PDF More Accessible

If the PDF is already of good quality, it can be made fairly accessible with Acrobat Pro in minutes, creating a document that will work well with read-aloud tools and for most students. (Note: If you don’t have Acrobat Pro, you can request Adobe Acrobat from Penn State’s Adobe website. )

Edit the PDF in Acrobat
- Open the PDF.
- Under All Tools, select Scan & OCR and then Recognize Text.
- Under All Tools, select Prepare for accessibility and then select Automatically tag PDF.
  - Check the tag structure to verify the results.
  - Be aware that this process will not work well for a document with an unusual layout.
- Select Check for accessibility and select the Start Checking button.
- Expand the Document tab and fix the Primary language and document title if needed.
- Save.
Verify the quality using Ally in Canvas
- Upload the file to a Canvas course space.
- Check the Ally score (should be 50% or better).
- Select the Alternate Formats link
- Choose HTML from the list of format options.
- The HTML version will download; open it to verify all the text displays correctly.

Need Help?

For more advanced remediation of low-quality scans, two-page layouts, or full accessibility (such as verifying the read order and adding alt text to images), please submit a Document Cleanup Workfront request or visit the Accessibility Team SharePoint site.

Resources

Obtaining and Improving Scanned Readings page in WCLD 101 - This is our internal documentation with more information about what to do with scanned documents.
Reading PDFs with reflow and accessibility features - PDFs do have some built-in accessibility features. There is a setup process that allows a user to define their preferences so that the document will work better with their assistive technology or be easier to read visually.

References

Adobe Systems Incorporated. (2012). Adobe Acrobat XI accessibility: PDF accessibility overview. http://www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdfs/acrobat-xi-pdf-accessibility-overview.pdf

Updated May 2025