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How to make a PDF accessible to screen readers

pdfeditor.page · · 2 min read

Open your PDF in Check PDF accessibility, choose Add tags, check the headings, paragraphs and reading order it proposes, and download. A screen reader follows a PDF’s tags; without them, it guesses the order.

Add tags run on a Residential Lease Agreement: every part of the page is boxed and numbered 1 to 9 in reading order, the title first, then the landlord and tenant line, then each numbered clause, from 1. Term to 7. Parking.
Each part numbered in the order a screen reader will read it.

Tag a PDF in six steps

  1. Run the check. Choose your PDF in Check PDF accessibility, then Check accessibility.
  2. Choose Add tags. Every part is numbered on the page in reading order.
  3. Check each part. Change what it’s Read as, move it, or choose Leave out, starting with any marked A guess.
  4. Set the Language. It picks the voice a screen reader uses.
  5. Choose Write tags. The tags are written into the file.
  6. Download the PDF. The tags are saved in it.

Good to know

  • Have a person review it. Tags are guessed from the layout, so a numbered heading can merge with its sentence.
  • Describe gives a picture words instead of “graphic”.
  • Label names a form field.
  • A missing title is offered from the first heading.
  • Add form fields first? Make the form fillable before you tag it. Everything starts at pdfeditor.page, and there are 45 single-purpose tools at pdfeditor.page/tools.

Questions

What can the check not tell me?

Whether each description fits its picture, the reading order is right, the contrast is enough and each tag says the right thing: a person has to judge those.

Can it fix a PDF that already has tags?

It keeps the tags a PDF already has, and you can still describe a picture that has none.

Try it

Choose a PDF and run the check. No sign‑up, no install.

Check PDF accessibility