DLS Tutorials

Creating Accessible PDFs

Willamette has collected materials about creating accessible documents, see them at MyWillamette > Creating Accessible Materials. 

Creating Accessible Materials

Editing Scanned Readings for Accessiblity and Clarity using Adobe Acrobat

Checking Accessibility

Most pdfs that you get from the library or a database are probably already accessible. To check, you can open a pdf in Adobe Acrobat and attempt to highlight or underline words. If this is successful, your pdf is probably accessible. 

Using Scan & OCR

Click on the "All tools" menu in the top left corner.

Click on “Scan & OCR” from the drop down menu.

In the new menu that appears, select "Enhance file," and "Enhance scanned file."

A pop-up window will appear. You can choose to enhance all pages, current page, or page range. Set your selection, then click the blue button reading "Enhance."

A progress bar will appear in the lower right corner of your Acrobat window while the file is being enhanced. It will disappear when the process is complete. 

Don't forget to save your document! If you want to keep an unedited copy of your scan, select "Save As..." and give the remediated file a new name. 

Finally, in the left column under the menu heading "Recognize text," select "In this file." You can recognize text in multiple files if you prefer. 

Modifying your PDF

Once you have enhanced your PDF and recognized text, you can modify page elements to ensure clarity when reading. This can include:

• Removing negative space on the bottom of the reading.
• Removing the spine of a book.
• Correcting the angle of the scan (this is an automatic feature when you edit your PDF’s
• image)
• Correcting any text that was cut off in the scanning process.

After enhancing the file and recognizing text in Acrobat, select "All tools" from the main menu at the top left. 

Next, select "Edit PDF" from the menu that appears. 

You will now see dashed boxes around key elements in your reading. This may include:

• Chapter or section names
• The body of your PDF
• Images in your PDF.

Acrobat will create several text boxes for various sections (see screenshot below). 

For scans like the one above, you can click on a dashed box or the background image to remove the selection, unwanted text or imagery (like the spine of the book and negative space in the scan).

Once selected, press backspace or delete to remove the unwanted text or selection. The screenshot below shows the edited version of the scanned PDF with the previous chapter's text, book spine, and negative scanned space removed.

Finally, if your scanned text was cut off or mis-scanned, click on the appropriate box. You will be able to modify text to reflect the correct word or letter. 

Be sure to save your document! If you would like to keep an original version of your PDF, select "Save As..." and give your edited PDF a new title. 

For additional questions regarding accessible documents, please reach out to Accessible Education Services (AES) at accessible-info@willamette.edu, or 503-370-6737.