For local governments, schools and anyone who publishes PDFs
Check your PDFs for accessibility problems.
Drop in a PDF and see the common problems that make it hard to use with a screen reader, with a plain-English fix for each one. Your files never leave your computer.
Check a PDF
Free: one PDF at a time
What it checks
These are the problems that most often stop people using screen readers from reading a PDF. Each one maps to a WCAG 2.1 success criterion.
Tags
Tags tell assistive technology what's a heading, a paragraph, a list or a table. Untagged PDFs are read as one long blur of text. (WCAG 1.3.1)
Real text
Scanned pages are pictures of text. Screen readers can't read them until text recognition (OCR) is run. (WCAG 1.1.1)
Title and language
A document title and a set language help people find the file and let screen readers pronounce it correctly. (WCAG 2.4.2, 3.1.1)
Image descriptions
Every meaningful image needs a short text description (alt text). (WCAG 1.1.1)
Form field labels
Fillable fields need a name, so people know what to type in each one. (WCAG 4.1.2)
Bookmarks and security
Long documents need bookmarks to move around, and security settings must not block screen readers. (WCAG 2.4.5, 1.1.1)
A PDF can pass every check here and still be hard to use: reading order, table structure, color contrast and the quality of alt text need a person to review. Treat these results as a first pass, not a final verdict.
Why governments are checking their PDFs now
Under the US Department of Justice's ADA Title II rule, state and local government websites, including the PDFs posted on them, need to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. The deadlines were extended by a year: April 2027 for governments serving 50,000 people or more, and April 2028 for smaller ones.
Agendas, minutes, forms and reports often make up most of a small government's website. Checking them in batches is the fastest way to see how much work is ahead. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Pricing
Free: check one PDF at a time, with every result and fix.
$49 one-time: check as many PDFs as you like at once, and download a report (CSV) to track the work. Unlocks this browser; restore it anywhere with your email.
Questions
Are my PDFs uploaded anywhere?
No. The checks run inside your browser using the open-source pdf.js library. Your files stay on your computer.
If a PDF passes, is it accessible?
Not necessarily. These checks catch the most common problems a computer can detect. Reading order, tables, contrast and whether alt text actually describes the image still need a person to review.
What do I need to fix the problems?
Most fixes are quickest at the source: export again from Word, Google Docs or InDesign with tagging turned on. Adobe Acrobat Pro can fix titles, language, tags and alt text in an existing PDF. Each result explains where to look.
Is there a limit on file size?
Very large files are slow because your own computer does the work. For documents over 50 pages, we check the first 50 pages for text, images and form fields.