Previous | Next | (P-PDF) PDF Accessibility

Topic: RE: Batch conversion and accessible PDFs (Via Email)
Conf: (P-PDF) PDF Accessibility, Msg: 145981
From: Duff_Johnson
Date: 2/4/2006 12:45 AM

> We need to convert lots of Word documents to PDF. When we
> convert documents individually we always use the Convert to
> Acrobat macro to tag the PDF for accessibility.

Excellent.

> I've seen several solutions to batch convert documents but
> none of them mention accessibility and tagging the PDF.

Correct! Well... I shouldn't say that for sure - you MIGHT be able to
script Make Adobe PDF plugin itself, not sure about that.

> Is there any way of batch-converting Word docs and ensuring
> accessible PDFs?

First of all... merely adding tags does NOT, repeat does NOT "ensure
accessibility". The mere FACT that tags exist in a file means little.
Using Make Adobe PDF to create a tagged PDF is a GREAT start, but it is
no panacea.

Before I got into "how fast can I convert these files", I think I'd want
to answer the question: "What is my standard for accessible content?"

The reality is that it takes a lot longer to assure accessibility than
it does to open a Word file and convert it to PDF.

It's also a LOT easier to produce an accessible PDF if the Word file is
optimized for accessibility as well. For example, you can add alt. text
to images in the Word file, and that text will "carry through" to the
PDF if you use Make Adobe PDF. If you simply batch-convert your Word to
PDF through some printing model, the alt. text in the Word file won't
transfer.

Now... if you are bound on automation, and you plan to do your
accessibility validation after-the-fact (if you do it at all), you can
automate your process, but at a cost in terms of tagging quality. You
could (a) batch convert your files using whatever method appeals, and
then (b) run the Add Tags feature in Acrobat in Batch mode across your
freshly-minted PDFs. The results won't be as good as if you tagged
directly out of Word... but that's up to you.

Duff Johnson
Document Solutions, Inc.
http://www.document-solutions.com