The Most Common Issues in PDF Accessibility

PDF accessibility is vital to ensuring that all users, including individuals with disabilities, can access and interact with digital content effectively. Addressing common issues in PDF accessibility is essential to enable assistive technologies, such as screen readers and Braille displays, to interpret and navigate the content independently. Screen readers convert on-screen text into spoken words or Braille output, but they rely on PDFs being properly structured with elements like tagged text, headings, and alt text for images. Similarly, connected Braille displays allow visually impaired users to access digital content tactilely, but these devices depend on the presence of well-structured, tagged text.

Without accessibility features, users with disabilities encounter significant barriers, including an inability to understand visual content, navigate documents, or complete interactive forms. Accessible PDFs eliminate these barriers by incorporating features such as alternative text for images, logical reading order, and properly tagged tables and forms. These enhancements ensure an inclusive digital experience and compliance with legal standards, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Common Challenges in Achieving PDF Accessibility

Here are the most common issues in PDF accessibility that organizations face:

1. Lack of Text Accessibility

Many PDFs are created from scanned images, making their content unreadable to assistive technologies like screen readers. Use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert the text into a digital format that can be tagged and read effectively. For more on this, see Using OCR to Tag Scanned PDFs for Accessibility.

2. Improper or Missing Tags

Tags are digital encoding that is critical for assistive technologies to interpret the structure and meaning of content in a PDF. PDF tags enable assistive technologies to:

• Identify the content type and structure.
• Navigate documents efficiently using features like headings and bookmarks.
• Read non-text elements (like images) via alternative text.

Common tagging issues include:

• Missing headings, which hinder navigation.
• Unlabeled links, making it unclear where they lead.
• Unstructured lists or tables, causing confusion about relationships between elements.

3. Incorrect Reading Order

If the reading order isn’t properly set, content may be presented in a confusing sequence, disrupting the user’s ability to follow the document logically. Check out this article for more information: The Logic of Accessible PDF Reading Order 

4. Missing Alternative Text (Alt Text) for Images

Without alternative text (alt-text), images are meaningless to screen reader users. Alt-text must provide context-specific descriptions to ensure the information is accessible. This blog post explains how to apply alt-text for images: Adding Alt Text for Images in PDFs 

5. Complex Tables and Forms

Tables need meticulous tagging to connect each cell to its respective headers. Forms require interactive fields with labels to guide users through completion. Errors here can make data impossible to interpret or forms unusable. These articles explain how to apply tags for Tables and Forms in PDFs: Tagging Tables in PDFs and Tagging PDF Forms for Accessibility.

6. Overcomplicated PDFs

PDFs with decorative or unnecessary elements can clutter the user experience. Mark these elements as artifacts to prevent assistive technologies from reading them unnecessarily.

7. Use of Nonstandard Fonts and Poor Document Quality

Unusual fonts, pixelated scans, and repeated faxing can reduce OCR accuracy, introducing errors that require manual correction. 

Encode all fonts in non-scanned PDF documents so assistive technology and other digital tools can read them.

Solutions

Addressing these challenges involves applying OCR, carefully tagging elements like headings, images, lists, and tables, and ensuring proper reading order. Tools like Equidox simplify these processes by automating much of the tagging process and enhancing document structure for accessibility. Test PDFs regularly with assistive technologies to confirm compliance standards, address common issues in PDF accessibility, and ensure an equitable experience for all users.

To learn more about PDF accessibility and how Equidox can help you address the challenges, contact our experts.

Tammy Albee

Tammy Albee | Director of Marketing | Equidox Tammy joined Equidox after four years of experience working at the National Federation of the Blind. She firmly maintains that accessibility is about reaching everyone, regardless of ability, and boosting your market share in the process. "Nobody should be barred from accessing information. It's what drives our modern society."