Retrofitting your PDFs

If you've been teaching awhile, you no doubt have a folder or two on your computer that is stuffed with PDFs. For many years, there was an unfortunate myth floating around that the PDF format magically made documents accessible. Now, however, it's time to confront the skeletons in the closet, and check those old PDFs. 

Checking your PDFs

The best way to check a PDF is with Adobe Acrobat Pro. If you are going to use PDFs extensively, we strongly suggest you invest in this software. Adobe Acrobat has a host of tools, including an Accessibility Checker. To run an accessibility report, open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro:

  1. Select the Accessibility tool.
  2. Select Full Report from the menu bar.
  3. Select Start Checking.

The accessibility report will open in the left column. Follow the feedback to correct any errors. 

Retrofitting

Your approach to retrofitting PDFs will depend on whether you own the original source file that was converted to PDF. If you have the original file, that's where you'll start:

  1. Ditch the inaccessible PDF.
  2. Retrofit the original source file OR transfer the information to a Content Page in Canvas, and format accordingly.
  3. If you choose to retrofit the original source file, after fixing any accessibility issues, convert the file to PDF.

If you don't have the original source file, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Pro to make the file accessible:

  1. Open the file in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Run the Accessibility Check.
  3. Follow the tips generated by Adobe to fix any issues.

Using Adobe requires practice. They have some terrific web-based tutorials, which we've included in the additional resources. Ironically, the tutorial videos on Acrobat's YouTube channel have auto-generated captions, so they do not meet the accessibility standards for inclusion in this course.

Additional Resources