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Re: Accessible "save as PDF" plug ins for Word on OSX

for

From: Kroon.Kurtis
Date: Jan 10, 2011 11:36AM

I use a Mac at home, and there's another often-overlooked way to
create a PDF that no one has mentioned yet, but which is works in
*any application that allows you to print*:

1. File > Print ...
2. PDF button
3. Select "Save as PDF" from the dropdown menu
4. Select a location to save and name the output file
5. OK (and you're done)

There is a MAJOR problem with creating PDFs this way: the PDF version
of the resulting file is 1.2 ... or "compatible with Acrobat 3". PDFs
produced to this version of the spec do not support tagging, which (I
believe) is a fundamental requirement to make them accessible.

So, since it isn't accessible, why would I mention this method? It's
possible that this is how Birkir's colleagues produce the PDFs that
have been giving him so much trouble.

I am also interested in finding a "save as accessible PDF" plug-in and
am watching this conversation quite closely.

Thanks!

Kurtis Kroon
WebBiz | California Franchise Tax Board
916.845.5603


-----Original Message-----
From: John E Brandt [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 2:49 PM
To: 'WebAIM Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Accessible "save as PDF" plug ins for Word on OSX

Just a heads up for a point of clarification: that there seems to be two
conversations going on here. The initial question was directed at
MS-Office
for the Mac. However, some folks have been discussing the Windows
version of
MS-Office. These have been two very different products that do not work
the
same way. There have been a number of things in the Mac versions that
are
dramatically different from the Windows version.

In the Windows version of MS-Office there have been several PDF
conversion
plugins over the years including one that was produced by Adobe and that
only got installed when you installed Adobe Acrobat AFTER you have
installed
MS-Office.

My experience with both MS-Office v2007 and v2010 - both in Windows -
has
shown that the native "Save as PDF" worked just fine in converting a
Word
.docx file to an accessible .pdf file if the original Word document is
correctly created with all of the appropriate accessibility guidelines
met.
I note that files that were from the older version of Word (v2003 and
using
.doc extension) did not convert smoothly.

None of the files created in MS-Office for Mac 2009 were able to create
an
accessible Word or PDF file because you cannot add ALT descriptions to
images.

John E. Brandt
www.jebswebs.com
<EMAIL REMOVED>
207-622-7937
Augusta, Maine, USA