Drop in a PDF to see whether a screen reader can handle it. The checker tests tags, reading order, alt text, language, and title, then lists a fix for each problem.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. What you enter is never sent anywhere.Your input is never sent anywhere.
DetailsDrop PDFs here, or click to choose files
You can add several files at once
PDF Accessibility: What to Check Before You Publish
Before you post a PDF to a website, portal, or email list, it helps to know whether a screen reader can read it. A PDF that looks fine on screen can still be untagged, missing alt text, or missing a document language, and a person using a screen reader then hears scrambled or empty output.
This checker reads your file in the browser and tests five things: tags, reading order, image alt text, document language, and document title. Each result comes with a short explanation and a fix you can hand to whoever made the file.
These are the basics that WCAG, Section 508, and the ADA rules for government websites build on. Treat the result as a first pass, not a compliance certificate.
Typical Uses for a Pre-Publish PDF Check
Government and public-sector documents
Notices, forms, and reports posted by agencies, cities, and schools often fall under Section 508 or ADA Title II. Run a quick check before the file goes on the site.
Course packs, syllabi, and readings
Students who use screen readers need tagged files with real headings. Catch scanned handouts and untagged exports before the term starts.
Customer-facing business documents
Invoices, account statements, terms, and product manuals are sent to the public as PDFs. Check them as part of your accessibility review, including for the European Accessibility Act.
Accepting files from a vendor or agency
If your contract asks for accessible PDFs, use the report as a quick acceptance test and attach it to your change request.
How to Test a PDF for Screen Reader Problems
- Drag one or more PDFs onto the upload area, or click it to choose files.
- The checker analyzes each file in your browser and tests tags, reading order, alt text, language, and title.
- Read the Pass, Needs review, or Fail result on each card, along with the suggested fix.
- Copy the report as text or download it as Markdown to send to the person who owns the file.
Note: When you upload several files, pick any file in the list to see its full results.
What This Checker Can and Can't Detect
- It is a quick screen, not a full audit. It does not test PDF/UA conformance, table markup, color contrast, form fields, or links. Use Acrobat's Accessibility Checker, PAC, and a screen reader for that.
- Tag, reading order, and alt text results come from the structure tree of the first 20 pages. Longer files show a note in the results.
- Reading order is only judged by whether a tag structure exists. A tagged file can still read in the wrong order, so listen to it before you publish.
- The image count is an estimate from scanning the file. Alt text is counted only on figures in the tag structure, so the tool cannot tell which untagged images are decorative.
- Language and the title display setting are read from raw PDF data. Compressed or encrypted files may be reported as missing even when the value is set.
- The text check looks at page 1 only, to flag scan-only files.
- Your PDF is processed in your browser and is not uploaded.
What Each Check Means and the WCAG Criterion It Maps To
The five checks below affect whether a screen reader user can follow the document. WCAG criteria are listed as a reference for audits.
| Check | What the tool looks for | WCAG criterion | Impact if it fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tags | A structure tree or a Marked flag in the file | 1.3.1 Info and Relationships | Headings, lists, and tables are read as plain text |
| Reading order | A tag structure that sets the sequence | 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence | Columns and captions can be read in the wrong order |
| Alt text | Alt text on figure tags | 1.1.1 Non-text Content | Charts and diagrams are skipped or read as unnamed images |
| Language | A document language entry | 3.1.1 Language of Page | The screen reader may use the wrong pronunciation rules |
| Title | A title in document properties, and the display setting | 2.4.2 Page Titled | The tab and the screen reader show the file name instead |
Reading the results
Each check shows Pass, Needs review, or Fail. The overall score is 100 when all five checks pass. A review result counts as half credit.
- Fail: The checker did not find the item. Fix these first.
- Needs review: The item exists, but a person has to confirm that it is correct.
- Pass: The item was found. This does not prove it is accurate.
Scores of 80 and up show as Good, 40 to 79 as Needs work, and below 40 as Major issues.
Section 508, ADA, EAA, and PDF/UA: What Applies to Your PDFs
A short guide to the rules people most often ask about, plus the habits that make accessible PDFs easier to produce.
Fix it at the source: export tagged PDFs from Word or PowerPoint
You can add tags to an existing PDF in Acrobat Pro, but it is slow and the result needs manual cleanup.
The reliable route is to use real heading styles, add alt text, and turn on Document structure tags for accessibility when you save as PDF. Print to PDF and screenshots do not carry tags over.
How screen readers read a PDF
A screen reader walks the PDF's tag tree and speaks each heading, paragraph, list, table, and figure description in order.
With no tags, it has to guess from the position of text on the page. Two-column layouts get interleaved, captions land in the middle of a sentence, and scanned pages are silent.
Section 508 and the ADA in the United States
Section 508 covers electronic content from US federal agencies, and the Revised 508 Standards require documents such as PDFs to meet WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA. The ADA Title II rule for state and local governments adopts WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web content, which includes PDFs, with some exceptions. Title III, which covers private businesses, has no technical standard written into the regulations, but WCAG 2.x AA is widely used as the benchmark.
This is general information, not legal advice.
European Accessibility Act and PDF/UA
The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) has applied since June 28, 2025 to a defined set of consumer products and services, such as e-commerce, consumer banking, and e-books. Documents delivered as part of those services, like invoices or account statements, may need to be accessible as well. The related standard EN 301 549 builds on WCAG 2.1 AA.
PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) is the accessibility standard written for PDF itself. This checker does not test PDF/UA conformance.
Writing alt text that carries the information
Alt text should state what the image is meant to tell the reader, not just what kind of image it is.
For a bar chart, "Bar chart of revenue" says little. A line such as "Revenue grew 12% year over year to $3.2 million in 2025" gives a screen reader user the same conclusion a sighted reader gets.
Common Mistakes That Break Screen Reader Output
A scanned page saved as PDF and published as is
The file contains one image per page and no text, so a screen reader announces nothing or only the page number. It looks like a normal document to a sighted reader.
💡 See the solution▼
Headings made with bold and large text
A line looks like a heading but was formatted by hand. The exported PDF tags it as a paragraph, so heading navigation does not work.
💡 See the solution▼
Alt text on every image, including decoration
Dividers and icons get labels like "image1" or "icon". Screen reader users hear noise between the real content.
💡 See the solution▼
No title, so the file name is announced
The title property is empty. The browser tab and the screen reader fall back to a name like "document1.pdf".
💡 See the solution▼
Printing to PDF instead of exporting
Using a print driver such as Print to PDF flattens the document and drops the tags that the source file had.
💡 See the solution▼
Tagged PDFs, Alt Text, and Compliance: FAQ
Q.Does a good score mean my PDF meets Section 508, the ADA, or WCAG?
A. No. This checker tests a few items that a program can detect: tags, alt text on tagged figures, document language, title, and whether a tag structure exists. It cannot judge whether the reading order makes sense, whether alt text is accurate, whether tables are marked up correctly, or whether color contrast is sufficient. For a formal review, run Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker or PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker), then listen to the file with a real screen reader. This is general information, not legal advice.
Q.What is a tagged PDF and why does it matter?
A. A tagged PDF contains a hidden structure tree that labels headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, and figures. Screen readers follow that tree to decide what to read and in what order. Without tags, the software has to guess from where text sits on the page, so columns can get mixed together and charts can be skipped entirely. Two PDFs that look identical can behave very differently depending on whether tags are present.
Q.Does every image need alt text?
A. Images that carry information, such as charts, diagrams, and photos that support the text, need alt text. Purely decorative images, such as divider lines or background graphics, should be marked as decorative (an artifact) so a screen reader skips them. This checker compares the figure tags in the file with the alt text attached to them. It cannot tell which images are decorative, so open the PDF and review any that are flagged.
Q.Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
A. No. The file is read and analyzed in your browser, and it is not sent to this site. Closing the page clears it from memory.
Q.How does the checker treat a scanned PDF?
A. A scan saved straight to PDF is usually just page images with no text layer. A screen reader has nothing to read, whether or not tags exist. The checker looks for text on page 1 and reports a scan-like file as failing the tag check. Run OCR (optical character recognition) first, then add tags and re-check.
Q.How do I export an accessible PDF from Word or PowerPoint?
A. Apply real heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2) instead of bold text, add alt text to images, and run the built-in Accessibility Checker (Review > Check Accessibility). Then use File > Save As > PDF, open Options, and turn on Document structure tags for accessibility. Avoid Print to PDF, which usually drops the tags.
Q.The checker says my PDF has no language or no title, but I set them. Why?
A. The language and the title display setting are read from the raw PDF data. In some files, especially those with compressed or encrypted structures, that data can be hard to read, so a value may be reported as missing. Confirm in Acrobat under File > Properties. The title itself is read through the PDF library and is more reliable.
Q.Which pages does the checker scan?
A. Tag, reading order, and alt text checks read the structure of the first 20 pages. Longer documents show a note in the result. Language and title are document-level settings, so they do not depend on page count.
Your feedback
makes this tool better.
Tell us which features you'd like, what should be fixed, or which new tool you'd like to see. An engineer reads every submission and uses it to guide development.