Accessibility information for your PDF and its interactive content

Accessibility information is optional text that helps people who use a screen reader, the keyboard or captions follow your publication: a title, language, summary and accessible alternative for the PDF, and descriptions, transcripts, captions and labels for its interactive content. You add it in the Workspace; readers find it in the viewer, on the interactive areas and in the Reading Mode.

Describe the PDF

1. In the Workspace, open the project’s ⋯ menu and choose Accessibility information.
2. Fill in the fields you need; all are optional.
3. Click Save information.

• Accessible document title – screen readers announce it as the name of the pages. It is prefilled with the publication’s name.
• Document language – a code such as en, de or de-DE, so that screen readers use the right pronunciation.
• Review status – your own note on how the PDF was checked, for example PDF/UA checked externally. Readers don’t see it.
• Document summary – what the PDF is about. It appears in the viewer and at the top of the Reading Mode, and search results use it when you write no description of your own (Get your PDF found in search engines).
• Accessible alternative URL – a web page or accessible document with the same information, linked in the viewer and at the end of the Reading Mode.

Save information also saves the section Reading Mode below the fields, with its settings under Search engines, and then closes the dialog. If something cannot be saved, the dialog stays open and says why.

These fields don’t change the PDF file itself. To correct the text, edit the Reading Mode’s text version: Reading Mode.

Videos, audio, 3D models, click dummies and slideshows

You describe each item once in your library, and the information applies in every PDF that uses it. In the Workspace under Your dynamic content, click the accessibility icon (Edit accessibility information) next to the item:

• Videos: Video description, Transcript, a WebVTT captions file (Subtitles/captions file URL (.vtt), Captions language), an Audio-described video URL and an Accessible content alternative URL – Add a video to a PDF.
• Audio: Short description, Transcript (recommended) and Accessible content alternative URL – Add audio to a PDF.
• 3D Models: Model description, an alternative image with its description and an Accessible alternative URL – Add a 3D model to a PDF.
• Click Dummies: Purpose and process description, Screenshot descriptions for each screen and Hotspot labels with an Order for keyboard users – Create a click dummy.
• Slideshows: an Alternative text and a Long description for each image – Add an image slideshow to a PDF.

Each form also has a title field. Content that carries no information needed to understand the publication can be marked as decorative, for example with Decorative video (not possible for audio); the Reading Mode then leaves it out. Link areas need no form: screen readers announce their web address.

Where readers find it

• In the viewer, the button next to fullscreen and download (in the menu on small screens) or Alt/Option + A opens Accessibility information: the summary, descriptions, transcripts, the screens and actions of click dummies, and links to the alternatives.
• On the page, every interactive area is reachable with Tab: screen readers announce its type, title and description, and Enter opens it or takes you to its controls. Hotspots carry their labels, slideshow images their alternative text. An alternative appears as a small link on the area – on audio as a round badge on the speaker button.
• Videos with a captions file show the captions if the file’s website lets other websites use it.
• The icon at the top right or Alt/Option + C lists the interactive content of the pages in view; Go to content moves the keyboard focus there.
• The Reading Mode shows descriptions and transcripts in the text, each with a link to its page in the PDF.

Accessibility information is part of every plan. Team members with the role Analyst can’t edit it (Invite team members and assign roles).