Remediate PDFs in Adobe Acrobat DC Pro

Introduction to Remediating PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro

PDF documents are a common fixture in both academic and professional settings, but they are often inaccessible scans of physical documents. These documents often contain artifacts from the original scan that can impede the readability of the document for all especially those using screen readers. The resources on this page consist of a video tutorial and text instructions outlining the process of using Adobe Acrobat DC remediate PDFs.

 

Step by Step Instructions for Remediating PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro

1. Open a PDF document in Adobe Pro.
2. Select ‘Edit PDF’ in the sidebar.
3. Scroll through the document page-by-page to initiate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on each page.
   • Note: As you scroll the document review the OCR results on the page. Ensure they are correct and coherent. Acrobat will fix orientation issues automatically.
4. Delete needless or distracting items like highlights and other artifacts.
5. Edit any incorrect material like incomplete recognition or limited visibility.
6. Create labels and titles to go with chapters and sections using the Reading Order in the Accessibility Tool.
   1. Ensure the Reading Order is accurate.
7. Click on the File tab and hover over Save As
8. Select Archivable PDF/A
9. Select your destination.
10. Click Save.

Now, a screen reader such as the Adobe Reader Read function, Read and Write, and JAWS can access your file. Don’t forget to set or adjust the reading order.