Home / Blog / Making PDFs Accessible — A Complete Guide Guide 2026-03-22 5 min read
Making PDFs Accessible — A Complete Guide Why PDF Accessibility Matters
Over 1 billion people worldwide live with some form of disability. Accessible PDFs ensure everyone can access your content, and in many jurisdictions, it's legally required.
Key Accessibility Features
1. Document Structure
Use headings, lists, and tables properly
Add bookmarks for navigation (Add Bookmarks )
Include a table of contents for long documents
2. Alternative Text
Add alt text to all images
Describe charts and graphs in text
3. Reading Order
Ensure logical reading order matches visual layout
Use Reorder Pages to fix page sequence
4. Text
Use real text, not images of text
OCR scanned documents (OCR )
Minimum 12pt font size recommended
5. Color
Ensure sufficient contrast
Don't rely on color alone to convey information
Color Adjust to improve contrastPDF/A for Archiving
PDF/A is an ISO standard for long-term archiving.
Validate PDF/A to check compliancePDF/A Conversion to convert existing PDFs