Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
11
↓
Best PDF + Word Conversion Practices (self.Blind)
submitted by Wild_Face_3372
I work at a small community college and was tasked with figuring out the best way to deal with certain accessibility issues and I was hoping some folks could help answer some questions for me. From what I understand, PDFs are usually awful for people who use screen readers and Word Docs are a preferred format. Let's say, however, that I had a PDF that I needed to share. Would it generally be better to try and tweak the PDF to make it accessible, or is it better to convert the PDF to a Word Doc and then go from there (adding alt-text, etc.) If the later is the case, what is the best program to use?
Thank you for your help in advance.
Thank you for your help in advance.
AutomaticChair9 3 points 1y ago
Welcome to the challenging world of document conversion :) This is something that occupies a great deal of my time. It is tough to pick a one-size-fits-all method. If you are working with full-length books that start as PDFs, tweaking the PDF is probably the most efficient way to go. If you are starting with a scanned document (an article or chapter of a book, for example), converting to Word might be the only way to end up with an accessible document. I use three programs for document conversion: Adobe Acrobat DC, ScanTailor (a free program, only works on Windows machines), and ABBYY Finereader. If you'd like to get in touch we can talk more.
vwlsmssng 1 points 1y ago
Documents need making accessible at source. Using the accessibility checker in MS-Word before the document is published or converted to PDF will address a lot of the basics.
A common source of frustration is not getting the text flow / ordering correctly marked up and people using tables instead of columns or other more appropriate layouts.
Abby Finereader is an expensive but capable tool for dealing with troublesome PDFs. It could be worth a trial.
A common source of frustration is not getting the text flow / ordering correctly marked up and people using tables instead of columns or other more appropriate layouts.
Abby Finereader is an expensive but capable tool for dealing with troublesome PDFs. It could be worth a trial.
Electronic_Fortune86 1 points 1y ago
For a one stop solution, I think Google Chrome is a good option.
Download Screen Reader extension -> Upload PDF to Google Drive -> Convert to Word Doc -> Use Screen Reader
Please note I can see but did research on assistive technologies and this observation is based on interviews and not personal use experience.
Download Screen Reader extension -> Upload PDF to Google Drive -> Convert to Word Doc -> Use Screen Reader
Please note I can see but did research on assistive technologies and this observation is based on interviews and not personal use experience.
Nighthawk321 1 points 1y ago
You should create a tagged PDF out of the one you have. I believe Microsoft Word is actually able to create tagged PDFs, but don't quote me on that.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.