Accessible Content 7: Follow an Accessible Content Workflow

1: Create an Accessible Source Document

Creating an accessible source document is the simplest and easiest way to ensure your documents are accessible. If your source document is not accessible, you will need to master PDF remediation, which is quite technical.

1. Follow accessibility best practices specific to the software you’re using to create the content. For example, apply accessible design principles when working in Word, PowerPoint, InDesign, Excel, Outlook, et cetera.
2. Learn how to build source files correctly by following EIRA’s training guides.

2: Use the Accessibility Checker in the Source Document

1. Run the accessibility checker within the source document.
2. Review and fix issues.
3. Rerun the checker until no issues remain.

3: Export an Accessible PDF

1. Export to accessible PDF.
2. Run the Accessibility Check tool in Adobe Acrobat.
3. Review the report and determine if the issues can be fixed in the source document or not.
4. If yes, return to the source document and address errors in source. 
5. Re-export to accessible PDF. 
6. Rerun the Accessibility Check. 
7. Review and fix errors until no errors remain other than “Color Contrast Needs Manual Check” and “Logical Reading Order Needs Manual Check.” Acrobat will always report those errors.

4: Check Reading Order in Acrobat

1. Walk the tags tree to check reading order in Acrobat.  
2. If the reading order is wrong, something was likely done incorrectly in the source document.  Fix it in the source document and re-export.

5: Perform Post-Process Tasks

Perform post-process tasks in Acrobat. These are things the source file can’t handle and must be done in Acrobat.

6: Run Preflight Fixups

Run the Preflight Fixups that apply to your document. This will most often be Embed Fonts, Mark All Non Structure Elements as Artifact, Set PDF/UA-1 Entry.

7: Test Your Document

1. Test your document with PAC 2024 and JAWS using this method.
2. Fix any errors PAC identifies in your source document and re-export if possible.
3. If it’s not possible to fix the error in source, remediate the PDF.
4. Rerun PAC 2024 until no errors remain.
5. Listen to your document with JAWS and remediate where necessary.

8: Rinse and Repeat

Repeat this process each time you export a new PDF from your source document.

Exporting a new PDF erases the accessibility fixes added in Acrobat, so you’ll need to reapply those features each time.