Accessibility: Convert a Word Documents to an Accessible PDF

Jason Kohlbrenner

A SUMMARY OF HOW TO CONVERT A BASIC WORD DOCUMENT TO AN ACCESSIBLE PDF

Before going through the process of converting your document to an accessible PDF, make sure you have tested your document with Microsoft Word’s built in Accessibility Checker. After you have created and tested the accessible document, you can convert it to an accessible PDF using the steps below:

STEPS TO CONVERT A WORD DOCUMENT TO A PDF – (PC)

  1. Click on the File tab.
  2. Under the File menu, choose Save As.
  3. Choose the folder / location you want to save the file to.
  4. Name your file.
  5. Change the Save as type to PDF.
  6. Set Optimize for setting to Standard (Publishing online & printing).
  7. Click Options.
  8. In the Options window, set the following:
    1. Page range: All
    2. Publish what: Document
    3. Include non-printing information: Check all
      1. Create bookmarks using: Headings
      2. Document properties
      3. Document structure tags for accessibility
    4. PDF options: Uncheck all
  9. Click Ok
  10. Click Save

STEPS TO CONVERT A WORD DOCUMENT TO A PDF – (MAC)

  1. In the file menu go to File > Save As.
  2. Choose the folder / location you want to save the file to.
  3. Name your file.
  4. Change the File Format to PDF.
  5. Select the button for the option “Best for electronic distribution and accessibility (uses Microsoft online service)”.

CHECK THE PDF

Using a school computer, the easiest way to check the accessibility of your newly created PDF is to run it through Adobe Acrobat Pro’s built in Accessibility Checker. If you are using your personal computer, you can run a check using Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader.

USING ADOBE ACROBAT PRO ACCESSIBILITY CHECKER

  1. Open your newly created PDF in Acrobat Pro.
  2. Click on the Tools tab and under Protect & Standardize select Accessibility. NOTE: This option may already be available in the right sidebar if it is active.
  3. The Accessibility tools will appear in the right sidebar next to your document. Click on Full Check.
  4. In the Accessibility Checker Options window, set the following:
    • Report Options: Create accessibility report is checked.
    • Page Range: All pages in document
    • Checking Options: Category is set to Document, and select all of the options.
  5. Click Start Checking to check the PDF.
  6. The results of the check will populate in the left sidebar. Any errors will be listed for you and instructions on how to fix them right in Acrobat Pro.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

While these are the fundamental considerations to take when crafting a document, there are other components to a more complex Word document that also require a similar attention.

  • Portland Community College has created a wonderful in-depth tutorial on making Word documents accessible. It provides you with step by step instructions on how to structure and craft all aspects of a Word document for overall accessibility.
  • Syracuse University’s Answers website has an Accessible Technology Toolkit chock full of resources for Microsoft Word and other programs as well.
  • The National Center on Disability and Access to Education has a cheat sheet for Creating Accessible Microsoft Word 2013 Documents (Windows). The information contained within the cheat sheet is still relevant to the current version of Office

Download a printable PDF of the instructions

Creating Accessible PDF from Word Document_171201