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PDF Remediation

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PDF Remediation 2025-05-28T10:53:13+00:00

Document Remediation

Many of the documents we use at Highline are not yet set up properly for accessibility. Many of these documents (Microsoft Office or Google Docs files) can be updated fairly easily, while others (PDFs) are more difficult to update.

Microsoft/Google Documents

Most documents created with either the Microsoft Office or Google Workspace suites of applications can be updated for basic accessibility needs by adding proper section headings, using alt text on images, writing descriptive links, and checking the documents with an accessibility checker.

Acrobat PDFs

PDFs, while a convenient way to distribute documents, can be difficult to make accessible. Many of the PDFs stored in Canvas courses and sent around campus are fine for most readers but are partially or entirely inaccessible for someone using assistive technology. If you have PDFs that don’t pass accessibility checks, start here!

Not sure if your PDFs are accessible? Faculty can check your course’s Ally Accessibility Report (enable it from Settings: Navigation if it’s not visible; this is not visible to students, so you can leave it active) or check individual PDFs with Adobe Acrobat’s Accessibility Checker tool.

Self-Service with SensusAccess

Many PDFs with fairly straightforward layouts (journal or news articles, book chapters, etc.) can now be automatically processed with the SensusAccess tool. If you have a PDF that is flagged as being inaccessible, upload it to SensusAccess and choose the appropriate output format. You will receive an email soon (anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the size and complexity of the document) with a remediated version of your file as an attachment.

Using SensusAccess

  1. Step 1: Choose your file and click “Upload”.
  2. Step 2: Choose “Accessibility conversion”.
  3. Step 3: Select your target format. We recommend the following:
      1. BEST for use on Canvas: “HTML” translates the document into an HTML document that you can open with a text editor and copy the HTML code into a Canvas page. This allows your students to use all of the accessibility tools built into Canvas (such as Immersive Reader) and their computer without needing to download a file and use a separate program.
    1. BEST for distribution: The default “docx – Microsoft Word” option, as Word documents give your students the most options for adjusting the document for their needs (changing the font face, text size, colors, etc.).
    2. For scanned PDFs: “pdf – Tagged PDF (text over image)” will place the recognized text over the scanned page image. This can help increase the readability of PDFs that have been scanned, but may not perfectly match the look of the original PDF.
    3. For electronically created PDFs: “pdf – Tagged PDF (image over text)” will place the recognized text under the page image. This allows the original page image to be seen while also allowing for text to be selected, copied, searched, and accessed with assistive technology.
  4. Step 4: Enter your Highline email address and click “Submit”. The remediated file will arrive in your email inbox once it has been processed.

SensusAccess

Advanced Remediation through Highline Accessible Technology

If yoù have larger or more complex documents that do not work well with SensusAccess, you can submit them to this PDF Remediation Request form and we’ll be able to update the PDF to be accessible. How long the remediation process takes will depend on the size and complexity of the document and overall workload. To be in compliance with federal and state regulations, you should plann ahead and submit documents before they are needed rather than waiting until a student is facing difficulties.

Conversion to Other Formats

The SensusAccess tool above can also convert various types of documents to other accessible formats that may be helpful for people using assistive technologies. This includes converting to MP3 audio for listening, Braille formats for use with a Braille printer, and .epub format for use with eBook readers. If any of these options sound interesting, we encourage you to experiment with the different format options offered by SensusAccess.

Feel free to contact Accessible Technology Program Manager Michael Hanscom (mhanscom@highline.edu) with any questions.