Preparing PDFs for Use on the BCIT Public Website

To create a PDF document you’ll need Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Part one – Create the PDF

1. In the File menu choose Create PDF > From File.
2. Browse for and open the file you want to create a PDF from. Acrobat will process the document.

Step two – Set the document properties

Note: If you are creating a fillable PDF form, you will not be able to set document properties as outlined below. This is a known problem. Just submit the file without document properties set in that case.

1. In the File menu choose Properties.
2. If the window does not open automatically to the Description tab click on the Description tab.
3. In Title Case (capitals letters at the beginning of most words), set the Title to: BCIT : : Your Department : : Document Title
   (for example: BCIT : : IT Services : : Preparing PDF Documents)

• Note: There is a space between the colons “: :”

4. In the Author field put BCIT – Your Department – Your Name.

• Note: Your name is optional.

Step three – Set the security settings

1. Click on the Security tab of the Document Properties dialog.
2. Click in the Security Method drop down and change it to “Password Security.”
3. The Password Security – Settings dialog will then pop up automatically. Click the checkbox next to “Restrict editing and printing of the document.”
4. Type a password into the Change Permissions Password field. Remember this password – you’ll need it again in a second.
5. Change the Printing Allowed field to “High Resolution.”
6. Check off the Enable copying of text, images and other content checkbox. (If you decide you don’t want people to be able to copy information out of this PDF you can uncheck this box.)
7. Click the OK button.
8. An alert dialog might pop up warning you not all software will respect your security settings. You can just click the OK button to close it.
9. You then get a Confirm Permissions Password dialog. Retype the same password that you used above.
10. You then might get another alert dialog reminding you to save. You can just click OK again to close it.

Step four – Save the PDF

1. Click OK to close the Document Properties dialog.
2. In the File menu choose Save As to save your new PDF.

Remember: your file name must be all lowercase with no special characters, other than hyphens, which should be used to separate individual words in the file name.

At a high level, the process of creating accessible PDFs consists of a few basic stages:

1. Consider accessibility before you convert a document to PDF.
2. As needed, add fillable form fields and descriptions, and set the tab order.
3. Add other accessibility features to the PDF.
4. Tag the PDF.
5. Evaluate the PDF and repair tagging problems.

Make PDFs accessible (using Acrobat Pro)

The Make Accessible action walks you through the steps required to make a PDF accessible. It prompts to address accessibility issues, such as a missing document description or title. It looks for common elements that need further action, such as scanned text, form fields, tables, and images.

1. Choose Tools > Action Wizard.
   The Action Wizard toolset is displayed in the secondary toolbar.
2. From the Actions List, click Make Accessible.
   The right-hand pane changes to display each task included in the Make Accessible action, as well as the instructions to execute the action.
   
3. Select the files that you want to apply the Make Accessible action to. By default, the action runs on the document that’s currently open. Select Add Files to select additional files or a folder to run the action on.
4. Click Start.
5. Follow the prompts to complete the Make Accessible action.

Note: A list of available actions is displayed under the Action List in the right-hand pane.

A good way to check the accessibility of a document is to use tools that your readers will use. Even if you do not have access to those tools, Adobe Acrobat provides an automated way to check the accessibility of a PDF file. The Full Check/Accessibility Check feature in Acrobat checks a PDF for many of the characteristics of accessible PDFs. You can choose which accessibility problems to look for and how you want the results reported.

With your PDF open in Acrobat Pro:

1. Click on the Tools menu, and then Accessibility. The Accessibility toolset is displayed in the secondary toolbar.
2. In the secondary toolbar, click Full Check/Accessibility Check. The Accessibility Checker Options dialog box is displayed.
3. In the Report Options section, select options for how you want to view the results. You can save the results as an HTML file on your system, or attach the results file to the document itself.
4. Select a page range if you prefer to check individual pages of a document.
   Note: When you have a large document, running a full check/accessibility check one page at a time can be more efficient.
5. Select one or more of the Checking Options.
6. Click Start Checking. The results are displayed in the Accessibility Checker panel on the left, which also has helpful links and hints for repairing issues. If you created a report in step 2, the results are available in the selected folder.

Because the Full Check/Accessibility Check feature cannot distinguish between essential and nonessential content types, some issues it reports don’t affect readability. It’s a good idea to review all issues to determine which ones require correction.

The report displays one of the following statuses for each rule check:

• Passed: The item is accessible.
• Skipped By User: Rule was not checked because it wasn’t selected in the Accessibility Checker Options dialog box.
• Needs Manual Check: The Full Check/Accessibility Check feature couldn’t check the item automatically. Verify the item manually.
• Failed: The item didn’t pass the accessibility check.

Note: In addition to Full Check/Accessibility Check, Acrobat provides other methods to check PDF accessibility:

• Use Reflow view to quickly check the reading order.
• Use Read Out Loud to experience the document as readers who use the text-to-speech conversion tool experience it.
• Save the document as accessible text and then read the saved text file in a word-processing application. This exercise enables you to emulate the end-user experience of readers who use a braille printer to read the document.
• Use the Reading Order tool, Order, Tags, and Content panels to examine the structure, reading order, and contents of a PDF.

Fixing accessibility problems in your PDF

To fix a failed check after running Full Check/Accessibility Check, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) the item in the Accessibility Checker panel. Choose one of the following options from the context menu:

• Fix: Acrobat either fixes the item automatically, or displays a dialog box prompting you to fix the item manually.
• Skip Rule: Deselects this option in the Accessibility Checker Options dialog box for future checks of this document, and changes the item status to Skipped.
• Explain: Opens the online Help where you can get more details about the accessibility issue.
• Check Again: Runs the checker again on all items. Choose this option after modifying one or more items.
• Show Report: Displays a report with links to tips on how to repair failed checks.
• Options: Opens the Accessibility Checker Options dialog box, so you can select which checks are performed.