Creating Accessible Word 2007 and PDF Documents

Introduction

When creating accessible electronic documents, authors must present information in a manner that disabled users can access with assistive technologies. The guides below give specific techniques for (1) making documents accessible and (2) preserving accessibility when converting to PDF.

The guides will aid electronic content authors in preparing accessible documents that can be read by users with disabilities either directly in Word or when converted (with little or no remediation) to accessible PDF documents.
 

Best Practice Guidelines

In the example guides below, readers will:

• Learn what types of information are needed to make documents accessible;
• Learn specific step-by-step techniques;
• Learn the rationale behind accessibility authoring techniques;
• Learn to use an accessibility checklist;
• Learn best methods for testing each subject area; and
• Understand that successful PDF conversions begin with accessible Word documents.

These guides show how to prepare documents in Word for accessible conversion to PDF, but they do not describe how to remediate existing PDF documents for accessibility. Also, note that some document elements may still require PDF remediation (tables, text wrapping around images/tables, and fixed images).