This article is to share my process of creating accessible PDF’s through InDesign for University of Florida. The PDF is then used for UF faculty and staff to learn more about Empowering UF. Empowering UF is a organizational transition from current UF system to Workday. My role was to transform this PDF into an accessible document.

1. Adding Document Title
   - This helps define the official name of the file. I added “Description” and “Keywords.”

2. Add Paragraph Styles
   - This not only helps with general formatting but from accessbility standpoint, it maps visual text formatting to semantic structure tags (H1, H2, p)-more below

   

   
   

   
   

3. Export Tagging
   - After formating the styles, tag the paragraph style on each of them. This helps to read in order

   

   
   

   
   

4. Define tags on each styles
   - This sets the tag of H1, H2, p or others

   

   
   

   
   

5. Arrange order using article panel

   - Helps to define reading and tagging order to read in the correct sequence
   
   

   

   
   

6. Reading order
   After tagging, move around to ensure they are in order
   
   

   

   
   

   
   

7. Anchoring objects in text frame
   To ensure the images alt text are read in order along with the sentences
   
   

   

   
   

   
   

8. Add hyperlinks
   Adding hyperlinks to direct them to the URL website

   

   
   

   
   

9. Add alt text to images
   To understand the image content and helps search engines to understand content for SEO

   

   
   

   
   

10. Export to PDF to ensure accuracy
    Make sure to check “create tagged PDF” to convert

11. The PDF was then opened using Adobe Acrobat and I check for any accessibility issues using the “Accessibility Checker.”