WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Locked PDFs

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From: Michael.Moore@dars.state.tx.us
Date: Jun 20, 2011 8:24AM

It is possible to lock the document to prevent copying or printing but still allow screen reader access. It sounds like they have locked the document and failed to choose to allow access by screen readers. A quick test would be to attempt to use read-out-loud in Adobe reader. You can find read out loud under the view menu. If you can't read the content that way I would be fairly confident in saying that it is unlikely that some can access the content with a screen reader.

Michael Moore

-----Original Message-----
From: <EMAIL REMOVED> [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On Behalf Of Gloriane Peck
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 9:14 AM
To: ' <EMAIL REMOVED> '
Subject: [WebAIM] Locked PDFs

I'm reviewing an online research database, and it uses locked PDFs, which I haven't encountered before. In the Document Restrictions Summary, "Content Copying for Accessibility" is set to "not allowed." Looking online, it appears this setting would prevent screen readers from accessing this content, but I am having a hard time finding anything definitive. Could anyone comment on this or suggest a resource with information on this topic?

Thank you,
Gloriane Peck
Chicago Public Library