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Re: Sending signed PDFs

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From: Duff Johnson
Date: Jul 12, 2016 11:35AM

> Our central office has a habit of sending out signed memos generated in Word, signed, scanned as PDF, and emailed or posted. What is best practice for accessibility? Should they run make accessible on the scan to OCR and auto tag the PDF? Or have two PDF versions, one not signed but generated from Word with tags? Or is there a better option?

"Best practice" would be to use an electronic document from end-to-end. In other words, don't print-to-sign - sign the original electronic document instead.

This approach has numerous benefits from an enterprise content management (ECM) perspective, but from an accessibility point of view it also allows the author/agency to create the document properly (with respect to accessibility) up-front, and evades the cost, hassle, file-size and marginal (if at all) accessibility of the "print-sign-scan-OCR" model.

There's some investment (certificate, capable PDF software, IT support, learning how to sign electronically), but there are so many benefits it behooves any central office to examine the option of digital signatures for their PDF documents.

Duff.