Improve PDF Files

Overview

Although PDFs can look good and seem convenient, they're actually not the most manageable when it comes to accessibility. This is a practical guide for using the automated assistance of Panorama to improve the accessibility of your PDF files and address the most common remediation tasks.

Common Issues, By Severity

Severe issues are what actually block screen readers, so work through your severe issues before the minor ones to benefit your students sooner and to make the improvement process move faster.

Level	Example	Solution
Severe	PDF has no tags at all — screen readers can't parse structure	Re-export from source with tagging enabled
Major	Missing alt text on meaningful images	Describe the purpose and content of each image
Major	Heading levels skip or are missing (no H1/H2 structure)	Rebuild headings in the source file
Major	Low color contrast between text and background	Adjust contrast to compliant level
Minor	Decorative image not marked as decorative	Mark as decorative so screen readers skip it
Minor	Table missing header row markup	Rebuild the table in the source document

Text vs. Visual Content

PDF files have particular properties that aren't shared by Word documents and create very particular issues concerning accessibility.

Text Content

PDFs are presented to readers in an already finished form, unlike Word Documents, which can be shared in an editable state.
While Word docs use formatting to distinguish between headings, paragraphs, lists, etc., PDF documents use a hidden tag tree to establish structure. If a PDF is not properly tagged, screen readers only get a meaningless stream of text.

Visual Content

Unlike Word documents, which screen readers follow sequentially based on order, PDFs rely on a distinct visual layer for elements such as sidebars or columns, that screen readers can scramble and must be manually repaired.
Screen readers know to ignore decorative items in a Word document, but will attempt to read them aloud for a PDF, unless they're manually tagged as "artifacts."

Document Tags

A PDF can look perfectly organized on screen and still be completely untagged underneath.

This is why PDFs require document tags. Document Tags are an invisible structural layer inside a PDF that label each piece of content as what it actually is, such as a heading, a paragraph, a list, a table, an image. Tags are unrelated to how information looks on the page. Screen readers rely on tags to announce structural elements and navigate through the document. Without tags, the assistive device only reads from one undifferentiated block of text with no way to know of its sections.

Workflow

Following these steps will help you develop efficiencies in your habits and routines, so remediations take a matter of minutes.

Open the Accessibility Report
Click the colored indicator icon beside the PDF filename to open a preview of it in split view.
Sort by severity, not by order
Work on Severe issues first, then Major, then Minor. Severe issues will drag down drag down the score the most and usually block the document for screen-reader users entirely.
Severe → Major → Minor
Use "Fix Issue" where it's offered
If an issue shows a wrench icon, Panorama can walk you through the fix right inside the report, with no need to leave Brightspace.
Apply the staged changes
Fixes made in the report are staged but not saved automatically. When you're done with a batch, click Apply Staged Changes to generate the corrected file and replace the version students see.
Re-check the score
The indicator updates after remediation. If issues remain that Panorama can't fix in-platform, they'll need to be corrected in the source file and re-uploaded.

Platform vs Source

Use the Fix Issue button to make corrections right in the platform

Works for issues Panorama's remediation engine can resolve directly — contrast, some tagging, alt text prompts, reading order in many cases
No download or re-upload required
Changes are staged, then applied to replace the live file
Fastest path — try this before anything else

Correct the source document, then re-upload it to your course

Needed when the fix requires restructuring the original — e.g. rebuilding headings in Word before exporting to PDF
Edit the source (Word, PowerPoint), export a fresh PDF, and re-upload it to Brightspace
Panorama will automatically re-scan the new upload
The right call when a PDF was exported without proper structure to begin with

Best Practices

Aim to resolve Severe issues before Minor issues because Severe issues improve the score most. Also, severe issues are what actually block screen readers.
Fix new PDFs when you upload them, not the week before the term starts — Panorama scans on upload, so the indicator is there immediately.
When the meter dial becomes green, keep improving toward the best score you reasonably can.
Whenever a source file is available, such as the original Word Doc or PowerPoint from which the PDF was exported, use that to improve the accessibility of your learning content and document structure before reproducing it in other file formats, such as PDF.