Digital Accessibility

See full training on the laws and regulations you need to know. The updated DOJ Title II regulations allow archived content as an exception to its WCAG requirements. You must meet all four of the following conditions for this exception:

• The content was created before the date the state or local government must comply with this rule, or reproduces paper documents or the contents of other physical media (audiotapes, film negatives, and CD-ROMs for example) that were created before the government must comply with this rule.
• The content is kept only for reference, research, or recordkeeping.
• The content is kept in a special area for archived content.
• The content has not been changed since it was archived.

Examples:

• Exempt: University Finance Administration has budget sheets available on their site from 3 years ago and they are stored in an “archive” section of its website which has not updated. This would likely fall under the exception.
• Not exempt: It is December 2026. The University Senate has meeting minutes created after April 26, 2026 and they are in the archived section of their site. This does NOT apply to the exception.

For any content that was originally a Word or Powerpoint file, we recommend that you use the original source file. If needed, these can be made into Read-Only files. If you only have the PDF version, you can use the following tools to reformat them:

• Adobe Acrobat
• Sensus Access

For any content that is a PDF form, you should consider converting them into a webform using the following:

• Qualtrics
• Microsoft Forms

For all other documents that should be a PDF, you should continue below.

What to know before reformatting your document

There are many directions a document can take. We recommend that your final document remain as Word or PowerPoint files, as these tend to be more inherently accessible than PDFs.

Converting from a PDF

You can convert from a PDF back into the following formats using Adobe Acrobat and Sensus Access:

• Microsoft Word/PPT/Excel
• Accessible PDF (PDF UA)
• HTML

You can either use Adobe’s “Save As” function or Sensus Access to convert your document from a PDF to a MS format or a tagged PDF. Below are some common issues we found and how to fix them:

• Set document Language (Word)
• Add alt text to images (Word)
• Review references (footnotes/end notes) (Word)
• Check reading order (Adobe)

Converting to a PDF

When converting to a PDF, it is important that you are:

• Starting with an accessible document. If you are using Microsof,t we recommend that you utilize the Accessibility Checker as a baseline for accessibility.
• When you convert to a PDF, we recommend you use the ‘Save As’ function. When you print to a PDF, especially if you are using a plug-in like cute PDF, it will flatten the document to one image.
• Ensure that your settings are correct when you save your document. For Windows, click Options > check- Document Properties & Document structure for accessibility. On a Mac select: Best for electronic distribution and accessibility.
• Check the PDF output. In Adobe Acrobat, go to All tools > Prepare for Accessibility > Check for Accessibility.

You can also use Sensus Access, to upload the document. Select Accessible Conversion > PDF.

Common issues converting to PDF

Below are some common issues we found and how to fix them:

• Repeat table heading row (Word)
• Fixing tables that span multiple pages (Adobe)
• Adding alt text to images (Adobe)
• Adding a title to document (Adobe)
• Color Contrast Checker
• Rutgers Color Contrast Look Up

We recommend using Adobe Acrobat to remediate your PDFs.

Run a check for accessibility

In Adobe, find the Prepare for accessibility icon > Check for accessibility.

In the open dialogue box, click Start Checking.

This will bring up a list of items to be checked for accessibility. We will proceed with the following items that should they appear on your report.

The Adobe Verify Accessibility Issues page will give you an overview of all of the issues that you might run into and how to fix them.

Scan and OCR your document

To fix this rule check manually, use OCR to recognize text in scanned images:

• From the All tools menu, select Scan & OCR.
• From the Scan & OCR panel, under Recognize Text, select In this file.
• From the Pages dialog, select the pages you want to process, the document language, and then select Recognize text.

Auto tag PDF

Select All tools > Prepare for accessibility > Automatically tag PDF.

If there are any issues, the Add Tags Report appears in the navigation pane. It lists potential problems by page, provides a navigational link to each problem, and suggests ways to fix them.

Add alternative text

Click Add Alternative Text > OK. Adobe will highlight the image and a pop up will appear allowing you to add alt text. If it is a decorative image, you can click the check box to indicate that.

Color contrast

Color contrast requires manual checks. To do so, we recommend using WebAim color contrast analyzer.

Once you have checked all of the elements, right click on the Color Contrast issue in the Accessibility Review, and click Fixed.

Check reading order

On the right hand side, you’ll see the following icon:

Click this to open the reading order. The page will now have an overlay with numbers next to each tagged item. Click Open Reading order and this will correspond to the right hand side.

You can click and drag the items in this list to change the order in which a screen reader will read these.

Fix reading order

Go to Prepare for Accessibility > Fix reading Order.

A toolbar will pop up and your mouse will become a cross-hair.

Click and drag a region to select it:

Then hit the appropriate element type in the reading order module box: (in this case a Heading 1).

Do this for all the elements on the page that need fixing.

It may be necessary after this step to check the reading order again, and drag the elements in the Order list to the right reading order.

Mark Passed in the accessibility report.

Once completed, go back to your accessibility report by going to: Prepare for accessibility > Check for accessibility.

If it still indicates Logical Reading Order – Needs Manual check: Right Click on Logical Reading Order- Needs Manual Check > select Passed.

Document properties

It important that we give our PDF a title in the properties menu. To do so:

File> Document Properties.

From there, you will see fields for Title under Description.