[Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

[Rachel Ford]

Hi Bevi (and everyone!),

Thank you for the great information, and confirming basically what I've decided to do (at least for now). My institution does have the Office 365 license and we do keep it up to date. :)

Thank you all for your help! 

Rachel Ford
Web Accessibility Manager
Henry Ford College

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2020 20:02:47 -0500
From: <chagnon at pubcom.com>
To: "'Andrea L. Dietrich'" <adietrich at cornell.edu>,	"'Access
	Technology Higher Education Network'"	<athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] -  Accessible PDFs without Acrobat
Message-ID: <011201d6ccfd$d7f4dfb0$87de9f10$@pubcom.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Andrea D. asked:

?Are there any good tools to use if you?re forced to start with a PDF file??

 

Note: this is a long, detailed answer.

Sure, but it?s going to depend on:

1.	How complex the document is, 
2.	Whether it was created in InDesign, Word, or PowerPoint ? or something else. Reading orders get botched up with documents from InDesign and PowerPoint, unless the creator has had specific training in how to make them accessible. And those from non-Adobe/non-Microsoft programs just don?t get accessibility at all and are a ripping mess to correct.
3.	And whether it has maths and STEM in it.

Therefore, there is no magic wand that will fix all your files with one magic keystroke.

Today, anyone using MS Word should be able to generate a simple accessible Word document and matching accessible PDF without any extra effort, other than using a good accessible Word template and having a 2-3 hour training session in how to do it. It?s not rocket science!  

Stop the hemorrhaging of your institution?s funds!  Get your staff trained immediately and reduce the drain of money and time. Remediate the original source file when you can, and especially if it will be re-used later for another document. Invest your time wisely for maximum benefit.

OK, so when you can?t remediate the source file and it?s a doozie of a PDF, some of the tools we find helpful are:

*	Acrobat?s built-in remediation tools, like AutoTag and Preflight. And you need training in how to use them.
*	CommonLook PDF, is especially good with correcting tables. And you need training in how to use it.
*	AxesPDF Quick Fix is meh, IMHO. And you need training in how to use it.
*	Outside remediation cloud-based technologies. Today, vendors are crawling out of the woodwork claiming that their A I (artificial intelligence) will magically create accessible PDFs in seconds and cost you pennies. Artificial Intelligence is not yet very intelligent, especially for those problematic documents. We still need humans to determine what?s in a PDF, how it should be tagged and presented, and what a logical reading is for that document. My firm recommends only a handful of companies to our clients, and if you?re interested, contact me off list for our recommendations. I?m not here in Athen to promote one over the other.

Bottom line: start fixing the problem rather than buying expensive band aids. Otherwise you?ll eventually run out of money.

 

? ? ?

Bevi Chagnon  | Designer, Accessibility Technician |   <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com> Chagnon at PubCom.com 

? ? ?

PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing

consulting ? training ? development ? design ? sec. 508 services

Upcoming classes at  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.pubcom.com/classes__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-tl-pUBj$ > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.PubCom.com/classes__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-o1Vjgw4$  

? ? ?

 <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailchi.mp/e694edcdfadd/class-discount-3266574__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-usAERrh$ > Latest blog-newsletter ?  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_07-20/alt-text_part-1.shtml__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-sW_DGUv$ > Simple Guide to Writing Alt-Text 

 

From: Andrea L. Dietrich <adietrich at cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2020 4:25 PM
To: chagnon at pubcom.com; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: RE: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

 

Using Microsoft?s built-in tools is great if you?re starting from scratch building the document. But often we work on remediating preexisting PDF files (I work a lot with document conversion for students, and we get publisher PDFs.) Are there any good tools to use if you?re forced to start with a PDF file? Or is it better to convert the PDF to Word, fix up the order and such, and then turn that into a PDF?

 

-Andi :)

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of chagnon at pubcom.com <mailto:chagnon at pubcom.com>
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2020 3:03 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

 

We find that Microsoft?s built-in PDF export utility (in Office 365) does a much better job, comparable to Acrobat?s PDF Maker plug-in which comes with Acrobat Pro.

In most cases, MS?s matches Acrobat?s conversion. And it?s free.

 

But your IT department will have to make sure they keep MS Office up to date: earlier versions of their PDF export utility were awful.

 

Another alternative is FoxIt?s PDF plugin, but given that FoxIt makes the one built into Microsoft Office, why would you pay for what?s essentially the same product?

 

Question: wouldn?t it make more sense (and cents!) to train your faculty and staff in how to make accessible documents? Doing the job right from the start is always more cost effective than remediating everything after it?s made.

 

It?s a teach-a-person-to-fish strategy.

 

? ? ?

Bevi Chagnon  | Designer, Accessibility Technician |  Chagnon at PubCom.com <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com>  

? ? ?

PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing

consulting ? training ? development ? design ? sec. 508 services

Upcoming classes at https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.PubCom.com/__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-hPQcmFp$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.pubcom.com/classes__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-tl-pUBj$ > classes 

? ? ?

Latest blog-newsletter <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://mailchi.mp/e694edcdfadd/class-discount-3266574__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-usAERrh$ >  ? Simple Guide to Writing Alt-Text <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_07-20/alt-text_part-1.shtml__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-sW_DGUv$ >  

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Greenfield, Mark
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2020 11:39 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

 

We are exploring the use of AxesPDF (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.axes4.com/__;!!MgW1hd0liSoK!A5VWF1BAgAG2gsMtuMEHnUJPb2pKp2tIAN0ZXmYFNXQI5f6Wfu4pZ83w-gj_Ngcs$ ).  It doesn?t require Acrobat Pro, and in my experience is easier to use than Acrobat Pro.   Remediating PDFs has been an ongoing challenge for us because we don?t have a campus-wide license for Acrobat Pro and most faculty don?t have it.

 

Mark 

 

Mark A. Greenfield
Web Accessibility Officer

Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
406 Capen Hall
State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y.  14260

 

telephone: (716)645-2811
e-mail:  <mailto:markgr at buffalo.edu> markgr at buffalo.edu

 

 

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > on behalf of "Hayman, Douglass" <dhayman at olympic.edu <mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu> >
Reply-To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Date: Monday, December 7, 2020 at 11:12 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu> >
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

 

Rachel,

 

My institution provided me with a laptop to work from home which has both Microsoft Office and also Acrobat Pro to let me work on remediation of documents.  Are your remote staff having to use their own computers?

 

Doug Hayman

IT Accessibility Coordinator

Information Technology

Olympic College

dhayman at olympic.edu <mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu> 

(360) 475-7632 (currently working remotely and don?t have access to this phone)

 

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> > On Behalf Of Rachel Ford
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2020 7:56 AM
To: athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu <mailto:athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] - [Athen] Accessible PDFs without Acrobat

 

CAUTION: This email came from a non-OC system or external source. Beware of phishing and social engineering!

 

Hello All,

 

With our faculty working from home, I?ve run into an issue where some faculty don?t have access to Acrobat Pro to create accessible PDFs. Does anyone have a good alternative to Acrobat or just generally using PDFs? Any suggestions would be really helpful. 

 

Thank you,

 

Rachel Ford

Web Accessibility Manager

Henry Ford College