Can PDF documents be accessible?

For a long time, the rumour has persisted that PDFs cannot be accessible. Unfortunately, this assumption also persists because the possibilities that exist are used far too seldom and are sometimes less well known.

For a long time, the rumour has persisted that PDFs cannot be accessible. Unfortunately, this assumption also persists because the possibilities that exist are used far too seldom and are sometimes less well known.

The PDF Association and the PDF/UA Technical Working Group announced that Matterhorn Protocol version 1.1 is available. This is the 2021 update with a new error condition and several clarifications. More information is available here.

PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) was published in July 2012 as the ISO 14298-1 standard and designates a variety of the PDF standard for creating accessible PDF documents.