Digital documents

“Digital documents” refers to all digital documents that are not rendered as web pages. When you add a digital document as a download to your content, users must be able to access and read it.

Note: This website is primarily about web accessibility. In this page we briefly explain what is important for PDFs (Portable Document Format) and point you to resources specialized in accessibility for digital documents.

All WCAG success criteria for web content also apply for digital documents if they are included in a website that needs to comply to WCAG.

Additionally, for digital documents, the W3C publishes the WCAG2ICT: Guidance on Applying WCAG 2 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies.

The best advice is to avoid publishing important information only in digital downloads. A webpage is much easier to make accessible than a PDF. If you must, aim for the best of both worlds: publish the information on the website and also provide the PDF as a download. Then the user has a choice.

Accessible PDFs in short

PDFs (Portable Document Format) are often referred to as tagged PDFs. Similar accessibility rules apply for PDFs as for HTML documents:

• headings structure.
• appropriate link texts.
• color contrast.
• alternative text for images.

What is a tagged PDF?

PDF tags are the semantic content marks and indicate the logical document structure and reading order. They are similar to HTML tags but are not identical.

In a source document created using common platforms like Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign, you are able to set the tag structure. If you use document styles to set headings, rather than changing the font and sizes manually, then PDF tags will be set in the resulting document. General content will be inside <p> tags.

It is also important to format your lists and tables correctly to get the best results while exporting your PDF.

Export as accessible PDF

The list of software which is able to export a PDF is quite long. In the export settings of your software, you should watch for an option which is called Tagged PDF or similar.

• Create accessible PDFs by Microsoft.
• Create and verify PDF accessibility (Acrobat Pro) by Adobe for Acrobat Pro.

Note: Google Docs doesn’t support the export of a tagged and accessible PDF natively; they will require the help of a plugin.

Resources

WCAG Success Criteria for digital documents

• WCAG success criteria for web content.
• Guidance on Applying WCAG 2 to Non-Web Information and Communications Technologies.

Other resources

• PDF Accessibility on WebAIM.
• PDF/UA in a Nutshell by the PDF association.
• Techniques for Accessible PDF by the PDF Association.
• Create accessible PDFs by Microsoft.
• PDF Accessibility Overview by Adobe.
• Create and verify PDF accessibility by Adobe for Acrobat Pro.
• Tagged PDF by Tagged PDF.