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You can work with PDF documents or convert documents to and from PDFs in many ways. Adobe Acrobat is available for download for all Swarthmore community members, as well as installed on all of the computers in our public computing labs.

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Google Docs

How to download a Google Doc

  1. Click the File menu.

  2. Choose Download.

  3. Choose PDF Document (.pdf).

  4. Choose a location on your computer to save the PDF version.

  5. Click Save.

Using Grackle to check accessibility

  1. Go to Extensions.

  2. If installed, you will see "Grackle Docs" in the list.  If not installed, go to Add-ons.

  3. Go to Get add-ons.

  4. There you should see extensions under "Approved for You" and in that list is Grackle.

  5. Engage the Install button.

  6. Associate Grackle with your Swarthmore account.

  7. Agree to the terms.

  8. When you are ready to check a document created in the Google Suite, go to Extensions.

  9. Choose Grackle.

  10. Choose Launch.

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Exporting directly from Google Docs to PDF is not your most accessible option.

The most accessible option is to export the document into Microsoft Word first, and then follow those steps to make your PDF accessible. However, you can make your Google Doc more accessible by using Grackle. Grackle is a plugin that acts as an accessibility checker.

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Common Grackle Error

Chrome can get confused when there is more than one user logged in to a browser, and it causes add-ons to hang. Visit Grackle not responding for possible solutions.

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Microsoft Office 365 Word, Online version

  1. Click the Review menu.

  2. Run Accessibility Checker.

  3. Fix any issues found.

  4. Click the File menu.

  5. Choose the Save As option.

  6. Choose Download as PDF.

  7. Click Download.

  8. Choose a location on your computer to save the PDF version.

  9. Click Save.

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Pages

  1. Click the Print menu.

  2. Choose Save as Adobe PDF.

  3. Choose a location on your computer to save the PDF version.

  4. Click Save.

You will need to do a number of things once a Pages file is moved to PDF, including:

  • In Adobe Acrobat, you will need to run the Accessibility Check and use the results to fix the tagged PDF issue.

  • In Adobe Acrobat, you will need to run the Accessibility Check and use the results to fix the primary language check issue. Language set in Pages does not carry over to Adobe PDF. See Changing the global language of an Adobe PDF | Swarthmore ITS Solutions.

  • In Pages, you should be able to set the title. However, you will still need to “fix” it in the Accessibility Check. In Adobe Acrobat, you will need to run the Accessibility Check and use the results to fix the title check issue.

  • In Adobe Acrobat, you will need to run the Accessibility Check and use the results to fix the figures alternate text issue. Alternative text set in Pages does not carry over to Adobe PDF.

Exporting directly from Pages to PDF is not your most accessible option.

The most accessible option is actually to export the document into Microsoft Word first, and then follow those steps to make your PDF accessible.

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LibreOffice

  1. Click the Tools menu.

  2. Click Check Accessibility.

  3. Resolve any issues that come up.

  4. Click the File menu.

  5. Choose Export As…

  6. Export As PDF.

  7. A PDF Options window will open. Make sure one of the two options is selected:

    1. Tagged PDF (add document structure) and Export bookmarks are checked.

    2. Universal Accessibility (PDF/UA).

  8. Click Export.

  9. Choose a location on your computer to save the PDF version.

  10. Click Save.

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Creating accessible PDFs doesn’t have to be difficult. We cover how to create accessible PDFs for everyday content in this section. However, if you are doing something more involved, we strongly recommend the LinkedIn Learning course titled Creating Accessible PDFs by Chad Chelius. LinkedIn Learning is a free learning resource available to everyone at Swarthmore.

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Important Note: Avoid creating forms in using the tools noted below. Creating accessible PDF forms can be extremely challenging. If you need to create an accessible form, please contact ITS Support for help.

There are several elements in PDFs that are required to make PDFs accessible. These include:

  • Preparing the original document, regardless of the tool you use (e.g. Word, Sheets, scanned document) for optimal accessibility.

  • Ensuring text is text and not a picture of text. To test this, copy a few sections of what should be text and paste it into a simple text editor such as Notepad. See: Quickly Check a Scan Using Copy/Paste.

  • Providing tags or structure.

  • Providing meaningful alternative text for all images that are not marked as decorative.

  • Testing reading order.

  • Providing a title in the metadata. See: Changing the title of an Adobe PDF in ITS’ Solutions.

  • Identifying the global language of the material in the metadata. See: Changing the global language of an Adobe PDF in ITS’ Solutions.

You can check each of these individually, or you can use one of Acrobat’s built-in tools to help. The tool we have found to be most helpful is the Make Accessible tool. For whatever reason, it is a little hard to find right out of the box, but you can easily find it using the following steps:

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You may wish to scan material for a course or other purpose. Follow the steps on the University of Washington’s Creating High Quality Scans to prepare the material. There is a direct correlation between the quality of the document to be scanned and the accuracy of the conversion to text.

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SensusAccess for Document Conversion

Use SensusAccess to convert documents to accessible formats like tagged PDFs, audio, Braille, or e-text. This service is useful when dealing with non-text-based PDFs.

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  • Prepare source content: Prepare the original document, regardless of the tool you use (e.g. Word, Sheets, scanned document), for optimal accessibility.

  • Avoid PDF Forms: Creating accessible PDF forms can be extremely challenging.If you need to create an accessible form, please contact ITS Support for help.

  • Use HTML for Web Content: HTML is inherently more accessible than PDFs. If possible, provide content in an HTML format or offer a web version of your document.

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