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PDF Accessibility — Untagged Document

criticalWCAG 1.3.1 · Level Adocument scope

This PDF document has no tag structure, which means screen readers cannot read it in a meaningful way. A person who is blind would hear a jumble of text with no headings, no reading order, and no way to navigate the document. This is the most critical PDF accessibility issue and must be fixed before your ADA compliance deadline.

Who Is Affected

Blind users who rely on screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver), users with low vision who use reflow/zoom and need the document to restructure correctly, and users with cognitive disabilities who benefit from structured navigation (headings, table of contents).

What This Means

A PDF "tag structure" is like the HTML of a web page — it tells assistive technology what each piece of content is: headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, images, and their reading order. Without tags, a screen reader can only extract raw text in whatever order the PDF internally stores it, which may not match the visual layout at all.

An untagged PDF is the document equivalent of a web page with no HTML structure — just a flat stream of text with no headings, no landmarks, and no navigation.

Fix: Document

Remediating an untagged PDF requires adding a complete tag structure. The approach depends on whether you have the source file.

Option A: Remediate from the Source File (Recommended)

If you have the original Word, PowerPoint, or InDesign file:

  1. Open the source document.
  2. Ensure proper structure: use heading styles (Heading 1, 2, 3), list formatting, table headers, and alt text on images.
  3. Export to PDF with accessibility tags enabled:
    • Word: File → Save As → PDF → Options → check "Document structure tags for accessibility"
    • PowerPoint: File → Save As → PDF → Options → check "Document structure tags for accessibility"
    • InDesign: File → Export → Adobe PDF → check "Create Tagged PDF"
  4. Verify the output with Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker or PAC 2024.

Option B: Tag the PDF Directly

If the source file is unavailable:

  1. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Go to Accessibility → Autotag Document for an initial automated pass.
  3. Review and correct the auto-generated tags:
    • Open the Tags panel (View → Show/Hide → Navigation Panes → Tags)
    • Verify headings are tagged as <H1>, <H2>, etc.
    • Verify reading order matches visual layout
    • Add alt text to all informational images
    • Mark decorative images as artifacts
    • Tag tables with header cells
  4. Set the document title and language in Document Properties.
  5. Run the full accessibility check: Accessibility → Full Check.

Option C: Use OctoComply Document Remediation

For Professional tier subscribers, OctoComply can process documents through the AI-assisted remediation pipeline, which automates much of the tagging work for standard document types.

Standard Reference

WCAG 2.1 Success Criterion 1.3.1 — Info and Relationships, Level A

Information, structure, and relationships conveyed through presentation can be programmatically determined or are available in text.

Helpful Tools

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