E-mail List Archives

Search E-mail List Archives for

Number of posts in this thread: 8 (In chronological order)

From: Lisa Goldberg
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 10:20AM
Subject: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible formats
No previous message | Next message →

Hi everyone,

Let's say you have a scenario where end users (like clients) have to
convert their Word, Powerpoint and Excel files to PDF or other
accessible formats. I'm not just talking about simple Word docs, but
also Word forms and PPTs with multimedia components.

Is there a tool that you would recommend for this job?

Thanks,
Lisa



--

Buy Mabel's Labels and Support the AIDS Foundation of Chicago:
http://aidsmarathonchicago.mabel.ca

From: Moore, Michael
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 10:30AM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files toPDF or other accessible formats
← Previous message | Next message →

Adobe Acrobat Professional. Just be sure that the source documents are
developed properly using styles so that heading, table and list
structure are transferred to the pdf. The source document should also
have alternative text added to images contained within the documents
through the properties dialog. Some clean up will probably be necessary
using the tools built into Adobe Pro or through a 3rd party plug-in like
common look.

mike

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 10:50AM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible formats
← Previous message | Next message →

Lisa,

I support Mike's suggestion to use Adobe Acrobat Professional to do this
conversion. With Office 2003, I have used other PDF conversion programs
(free or shareware) and I do not think they produced accessible documents
even if the original document was accessible (ALTs for images, etc.). The
Acrobat Professional has an "accessibility wizard" that will test the
document and provide a play-by-play description on how to fix the file to
pass the accessibility test. This works with MS Office 2003 and newer. Some
PDF conversions will "pass" without having to do anything else, some will
not, and in my experimentation, it seems the older the document, the greater
the chance it would NOT pass and need additional tweaking.

I recently updated to MS Office 2007 (and I am sorry I did, but that's
another story) and the Acrobat Professional plug-in automatically installed
into the Office 2007 suite. It seems to work just fine.

There is, however, a free download from MS that supposedly allows you to
convert Office docs to PDFs (see
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-
B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en ) But I have not used this so I do not know
if it will produce accessible docs -

Anyone out there using this who can share their experiences?

BTW, the most difficult documents to make accessible are those created with
desktop publishing software, like MS-Publisher and Adobe PageMaker. Not sure
if the newer versions work better - I'm still testing - but if content is in
columns or moved around the document (e.g., continue on page 5 types of
layout) it will be difficult to create an accessible document. PageMaker was
better at this than Publisher 2003.

~j

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com

From: Cliff Tyllick
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 11:00AM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible form
← Previous message | Next message →

Does it have to be Acrobat Pro 8 to work this smoothly? Or is 7.0 good
enough?

>>> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = 12/11/2007 11:42:51 AM >>>

Lisa,

I support Mike's suggestion to use Adobe Acrobat Professional to do
this
conversion. With Office 2003, I have used other PDF conversion
programs
(free or shareware) and I do not think they produced accessible
documents
even if the original document was accessible (ALTs for images, etc.).
The
Acrobat Professional has an "accessibility wizard" that will test the
document and provide a play-by-play description on how to fix the file
to
pass the accessibility test. This works with MS Office 2003 and newer.
Some
PDF conversions will "pass" without having to do anything else, some
will
not, and in my experimentation, it seems the older the document, the
greater
the chance it would NOT pass and need additional tweaking.

I recently updated to MS Office 2007 (and I am sorry I did, but that's
another story) and the Acrobat Professional plug-in automatically
installed
into the Office 2007 suite. It seems to work just fine.

There is, however, a free download from MS that supposedly allows you
to
convert Office docs to PDFs (see
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4D951911-3E7E-4AE6-
B059-A2E79ED87041&displaylang=en ) But I have not used this so I do not
know
if it will produce accessible docs -

Anyone out there using this who can share their experiences?

BTW, the most difficult documents to make accessible are those created
with
desktop publishing software, like MS-Publisher and Adobe PageMaker. Not
sure
if the newer versions work better - I'm still testing - but if content
is in
columns or moved around the document (e.g., continue on page 5 types
of
layout) it will be difficult to create an accessible document.
PageMaker was
better at this than Publisher 2003.

~j

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com

From: John E. Brandt
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 12:20PM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible form
← Previous message | Next message →

I have not used v 7.0, so I can't respond. But I have been impressed with v
8.0.

~j

John E. Brandt
Augusta, Maine USA
www.jebswebs.com

From: Kilcommons,Cath
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 2:10PM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible form
← Previous message | Next message →

Hi Lisa,
Acrobat Professional 7.0 works fine for this process, it even worked in 6.0...you just have to make sure you are using the MS Word menu option Adobe> Convert to PDF options rather than print as PDF.
If there are styles applied in Office 2003, headings get converted into bookmarks in Acrobat, making the pdf easier to use. If you have added alt-text to your images, and added document properties (e.g. keywords) these will all transfer to PDF. The new add-in from MS will also created tagged, bookmarked pdf from styled documents.

You may wish to reference the modules we have been developing for our demonstration grant - the near-final versions are posted at http://accessibility.colostate.edu/ahg07/pre/. (final versions will get posted at accessproject.colostate.edu: The word module is available at http://accessproject.colostate.edu/prof_dev/modules/word/mod_word.cfm .)

If styles have not been used in the creation of the documents, the resultant pdf will be text-based, but have no additional structure or support.

That said, PDF is a format that is still cumbersome and not accessible to everyone. For considerations such as student notetaking, it is not very user-friendly to the digitally inclined (I cannot take paper and pencil notes). Consider posting both the PDF format and the doc format. While MS Office formats are proprietary, the availability of such things as open office can help users who do not have MS Office.

Watch out for those new docx and pptx - the macro enabled formats that cannot be opened by OO, or 2003 without the new MS converter, and the new tendency of PowerPoint 2007 to turn text into images...

When it comes to Adobe Pro 8, the new Form Designer is very nice and user friendly and your faculty/ staff may be a preference to Word for form development. Nice tutorials at http://www.htctu.fhda.edu/trainings/manuals/web/CreatingAccessibleAA8.pdf.

Best,
Cath

From: Andrew Kirkpatrick
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 2:50PM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level toolsfor converting files to PDF or other accessible form
← Previous message | Next message →

> Acrobat Professional 7.0 works fine for this process, it even
> worked in 6.0...you just have to make sure you are using the
> MS Word menu option Adobe> Convert to PDF options rather than
> print as PDF.
> If there are styles applied in Office 2003, headings get
> converted into bookmarks in Acrobat, making the pdf easier to
> use. If you have added alt-text to your images, and added
> document properties (e.g. keywords) these will all transfer
> to PDF. The new add-in from MS will also created tagged,
> bookmarked pdf from styled documents.

Heading styles are not supported in Acrobat Pro 6. This support started
in version 7.

> If styles have not been used in the creation of the
> documents, the resultant pdf will be text-based, but have no
> additional structure or support.

This is not exactly accurate. Styles provide headings, but you would
still get tables, lists, links, and image equivalents if styles are not
used.

AWK

From: Alastair Campbell
Date: Tue, Dec 11 2007 3:40PM
Subject: Re: QUESTION: ISO end-user level tools for converting files to PDF or other accessible form
← Previous message | No next message

jeb wrote:
> I recently updated to MS Office 2007 (and I am sorry I did, but that's
> another story) and the Acrobat Professional plug-in automatically
> installed into the Office 2007 suite. It seems to work just fine.
>
> There is, however, a free download from MS that supposedly allows you
> to convert Office docs to PDFs ...
> Anyone out there using this who can share their experiences?

Yep:
http://alastairc.ac/2007/08/comparing-tagged-pdfs-from-office-and-acrobat/