Your options on macOS
- This checker. Runs in the browser, free, no account. Checks the text layer, tagging, heading order, figure alt text, table header cells, language, title, bookmarks and encryption, with the WCAG or PDF/UA clause for each finding. It checks; it does not fix tags.
- Adobe Acrobat Pro. Has a built-in accessibility checker on Mac and the tools to fix what it finds. Paid subscription.
- veraPDF. Free, open-source, runs on Java on macOS, and validates against PDF/UA-1. Thorough, but the reports are written for specialists.
- PAC in a Windows virtual machine. Works, but you need a Windows licence and a VM on your Mac.
- Web checkers that upload your file. Convenient, but the PDF goes to someone else's server. That can rule them out for student, patient or citizen records.
macOS Preview has no accessibility checker.
Making the PDF accessible on a Mac
If the checker reports problems, fix them where the document was written. In Word for Mac, use heading styles and alt text, then File, Save As, PDF and choose "Best for electronic distribution and accessibility". In InDesign, export with "Create Tagged PDF" checked. Printing to PDF from the macOS print dialog produces an untagged file, so avoid it for anything that has to be accessible.
Then test by listening: VoiceOver is built into macOS (Command-F5 turns it on) and will show you whether headings, alt text and reading order make sense.
What this checker cannot tell you
No automated tool, on any platform, decides whether reading order is logical, whether alt text is accurate, or whether colour contrast is sufficient. Treat a clean result as "nothing structural is obviously broken", then review by hand. If the only failure is missing bookmarks, the TOC generator on this site can build them from your headings; everything else is fixed in the source file or a remediation tool.
Last updated