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Re: converting a Word file into an accessible PDF?

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From: Robinson, Norman B - Washington, DC
Date: Dec 26, 2006 9:40AM

Jennison,

I know I'm not answering your question directly, but I'd make the
recommendation you don't rely on PDF for accessibility. We require this
in our policy
(http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/hand/as508a/508a_c6.html#508hdr78) because
of the difficulty in getting an accessible PDF, including dependencies
on the correct tagging in the original (MS Word in your example)
document. PDF and HTML versions are recommended.

Generally speaking, most people I've seen are thinking of PDF as a great
way to publish information when really what they are trying to do is
think of themselves before the user (not thinking about usability for
online access) or forgetting the primary purpose of the content they are
creating is for printing. I only mention this not to be negative but to
suggest you consider why you are using PDF before you create a process
to support something that doesn't help your users.

I hope you find a workable solution. If you do, please let us know what
implement!

Best fortune,


Norman B. Robinson

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED>
[mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Jennison
Asuncion
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 9:31 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List
Subject: [WebAIM] converting a Word file into an accessible PDF?


Hello,

Apologies if this has been previously asked and answered here, but a
colleague asked me a question that I didn't have an answer for - if one
has a relatively uncomplicated Word file (with headings, perhaps a
couple
of tables), what is the best process to follow to take this file and
convert it into an accessible PDF?

My gut is saying to move the file into PDF Pro and save it into a PDF
there, however, I am unfamiliar whether PDF Pro will automatically do
any
necessary tagging of an existing Word file, or
if there is some work that needs to be done.

Any help or direction to resources would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jennison