User manual

About accessibility and Adobe PDF documents
Adobe Acrobat 7.0 incorporates two distinct sets of accessibility features--that is, features
that assist users with blindness, low-vision, and mobility impairments. The first set of
features helps authors create accessible documents from new or existing PDF documents.
These features include simple methods for checking accessibility and adding tags to PDF
documents. (See Making existing Adobe PDF documents accessible.)
Other, more complex features allow authors to fix accessibility and reading-order
problems by editing the PDF file structure. (See Checking a document's reading order.) By
making PDF documents more accessible to users, authors may help their organizations
meet government standards for accessibility and broaden their readership.
The second set of accessibility features helps readers with motion or vision limitations
navigate and view PDF documents more easily. Many of these features can be adjusted by
using the Accessibility Setup Assistant. (See Setting accessibility preferences.):
● Keyboard alternatives to mouse actions. (See Using keyboard shortcuts for menu
commands and navigation.)
● Support for assistive technology (such as screen readers and screen magnifiers) that read
content and convert it to speech or braille output. (See Using a screen reader and
Outputting accessible text for a braille printer.)
● Visibility customization to make text and images easier to view. (See Using high-contrast
colors.)
● Reflow capability for text, to view at high magnification or on Portable Device Assistants
(PDA). (See Reflowing the contents of tagged Adobe PDF documents.)
● Speech functionality on systems without assistive technologies. (See Using the Read Out
Loud feature.)
● Navigation through documents using automatic scrolling, to reduce keyboard actions. (See
Scrolling automatically.)
For more information about creating accessible PDF documents and for using accessibility
features in Adobe Acrobat to read PDF documents, visit the Adobe website at http://
access.adobe.com.
Related Subtopics:
Elements of accessible Adobe PDF documents
Understanding how tags affect accessibility