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PDF Accessibility Checklist

Here you can find different questions to help you to know if your pdf document is accessible or not.

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Introduction

The purpose of the PDF Accessibility Checklist is to support Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) PDF document developers ensure that accessibility compliance meets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 standards. Please note that the checklist only contains WCAG criteria that are related to the most common errors identified in PDF documents.

We established a list of tools and resources to help developers verify their document accessibility, as well as the PDF Accessibility Checklist that identifies 27 success criteria that are pertinent to PDFs.

Tools and Resources

Resources to make Accessible PDFs

PDF Accessibility Checklist Instructions

Please complete the PDF Accessibility Checklist. This is to ensure common accessibility errors are resolved.

Please note for ESDC employees, you will need to fill out this checklist prior to requesting an accessibility audit from the IT Accessibility Office.

Contact Information

For any further questions or comments regarding the PDF Accessibility Checklist, or to request an accessibility audit, please submit a new request.

Checklist

Glossary

Alternative Text: Text associated with an image that conveys the same essential information as the image.

Assistive Technology: Any light-, mid-, or high-tech tool or device which helps people with disabilities perform tasks with greater ease or independence.

Bookmark: A type of link with representative text that makes it easier to navigate through documents.

Descriptive Text: The text that describes a form field’s contents to a screen reader user. This is also called a "label”.

Reading Order: This is the order in which assistive technologies, like screen readers, present the content in a PDF. The tags in the Tags Tree determine this order.

Running Headers/Footers: Information that is repeated at the top/bottom of pages in a document. They often contain information such as page number, the name of the document, etc.

Screen Reader: A software program used to allow reading of content and navigation of the screen using speech or Braille output. Used primarily by persons who are blind or have low vision.

Tags: The structured, textual representation of the PDF content that is accessed by screen readers, to read the document out-loud.

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