Summer is a great time to take stock of your digital content, especially that growing collection of PDFs that have accumulated over the years. Whether you’re preparing course materials, managing departmental resources, or maintaining a public-facing website, now is an excellent opportunity to assess which PDFs should be kept, updated, archived, or remediated for accessibility.
Creating accessible digital content is both an important part of UW’s mission and a legal responsibility. While PDFs can serve valuable purposes, they also present unique accessibility challenges. Fortunately, UW offers several tools and resources to help.
Start with accessible content first
Before thinking about PDF remediation, it’s worth taking a step back and reviewing your overall content strategy. Accessibility is easiest and most effective when it is built into documents from the beginning, rather than added after a PDF has been created.
A good first step is to review existing content, remove outdated materials, use accessibility checkers, and consider whether a PDF is actually the best format for your audience. In many cases, web pages, Canvas pages, Word documents, or library links may provide a more accessible experience than a PDF.
For best practices on creating accessible documents and making informed decisions about PDF use, see the Making Documents Accessible guidance and the PDF Decision Trees for faculty and staff.
Little Forest: A tool for PDF remediation
When a PDF is necessary, Little Forest can help make remediation more efficient.
Available to anyone with a UW NetID, Little Forest uses AI-assisted technology to add document structure (tags) and generate suggested alternative text for images. It can be particularly useful for high-priority PDFs that need accessibility improvements.
However, Little Forest should be viewed as a support tool rather than a complete solution. While it can automate parts of the remediation process, manual review and testing are still necessary.
For a full list of capabilities, limitations, and important data-use considerations, visit the Little Forest Remediation Tool webpage.
Adobe Acrobat Pro
When manual PDF remediation is necessary, Adobe Acrobat Pro includes tools for accessibility checking, reviewing document structure, editing tags, adding alternative text, and performing many of the manual fixes that automated tools cannot address.
Depending on the complexity of your documents, remediating PDFs for accessibility using Adobe Acrobat Pro can be a highly specialized skill. However, there are multiple options available at the UW for developing these skills. For example, UWIT Accessible Technology Services has created custom learning paths on PDF accessibility for both LinkedIn Learning and Deque University.
For details on obtaining and using Acrobat Pro, see the UW Acrobat Pro resource page.
Outsourcing: A new state contract
There are a variety of vendors who provide PDF accessibility remediation services. Depending on your situation and needs, outsourcing could be an option. The State of Washington recently completed an RFP in which they selected 19 vendors across 7 categories (e.g., STEM, Legal, Historical/Aging, Translated, Fillable Forms). Prices vary significantly depending on the PDF category, its complexity, and turnaround time.
Visit the Document Accessibility & PDF Remediation Contract Summary page for additional details (in particular, see the “How to Use This Contact” section of the page).
Learn More: PDF backlog training
The Lunch & Learn webinar “What do I do with all these PDFs? Inventorying and assessing your PDF backlog” provides practical guidance for assessing your PDFs and deciding what to archive, convert, remediate, or remove.
When it comes to PDF accessibility, remediation is only one part of the process. Start by archiving outdated materials and considering alternatives to PDFs whenever possible. A thoughtful approach today can reduce remediation work tomorrow and help ensure your content is accessible to all members of the UW community.