Test for Accessibility

Are My Documents Accessible?

There are two ways to check if a PDF is accessible:

• Use the Adobe Acrobat Pro procedure to find any accessibility issues.
• Test the PDF using Jaws

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro

ALA staff: Adobe Acrobat Pro is available for use in the ITTS training room.

1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro
2. From the toolbar, go to:

Advanced > Accessibility >Full Check…

Select  "Create Accessibility Report" and all options under Checking Options.>

Click "Start Checking"

3. Click OK to close the dialog box
4. The Accessibility Report should now appear in the left sidebar. Click Summary
5. Browse the bulleted list to view the accessibility errors present in the document

Using Jaws screen reader software

1. Go to Freedom Scientific. Download a free demo of Jaws. Install according to instructions on the page.
2. Plug in your headphones.
3. Once you have installed JAWS, launch the program. You have 40 minutes to test before rebooting  the PC to start a new session.
4. Once you hear the JAWS prompt, minimize the JAWS window and open the PDF document to be tested. Jaws will alert you immediately if the PDF document is untagged.
5. Turn off your computer screen.
6. Like a low-level screen reader user, you will now use basic JAWS shortcuts (keyboard buttons) to navigate the document. Table 7 lists these basic shortcuts.

	Function Keys	Action
Reading	Insert  +  ↓	Say all text.
	Page Up / Page Down	Increase/Decrease voice rate during say all reading
	Control (Ctrl)	Stop reading
	↑ / ↓	Prior line/Next line
	← / →	Previous/Next character OR Rewind/Fast Forward during say all reading
	F5 / Shift  +  F5	Page refresh/Hard refresh to start over
Navigation	Tab	Skips to the next link or form element
	Shift  +  Tab	Reverses to the previous link or form element
	H	Skips to the next heading
	N	Skips to the next non-link text
	T	Skips to the next table
	L	Skips to the next list
	1 - 6	Skips to respective heading levels, H1 to H6