Create Accessible PDFs

Documents such as PDFs on a website, shared with a large audience, such as course and marketing materials, or required forms used by a department must be accessible. 

  • HTML web pages are likely more accessible than PDFs, but if you use PDFs, they must be accessible
  • Create a new document if you have the PDF version but not the original document. 
  • Apply accessibility practices as you create a new document in the authoring tool, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign, BEFORE converting it to a PDF. 
  • Convert the document using Adobe Acrobat Professional to a PDF.
  • Do not use “Print to PDF” or scan to PDF. 
  • To check documents for accessibility, visit the Check for Accessibility page.

Resources