The Moodle Filescan tool checks the accessibility of PDF files in a Moodle class and provides a report on the accessibility of each file.  The status is either pass, fail, or check.  A PDF file fails if it does not contain any text.  A file is marked as "Check" if the file has text but does not have other accessibility elements.  A PDF passes if it meets all the accessibility checks.   

Has Text

If a PDF file does not "Have Text" it means the file has been scanned as an image and screen readers will not be able to read any text.  To fix this problem, use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to extract the text from the image of the document.  More information: https://www.swarthmore.edu/academic-advising-support/accessible-course-materials.

Has Title

A PDF file stores metadata about the document, including the title of the document, which is different than the filename.   If the title is missing from the metadata fields, the PDF will fail this test.   Use Adobe Acrobat to set the Title of the document: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/pdf-properties-metadata.html.  

Has Language

A PDF file stores information about the language of the document which is used by screen readers to ensure proper pronunciation.  Use Adobe Acrobat to set the Language of the document:   https://www.adobe.com/accessibility/products/acrobat/pdf-repair-set-document-language.html

Has Outline

The outline of a PDF file allows screen readers to easily navigate a document.  For instance, if every section of a chapter is tagged, a user can quickly jump from one section to the next.  Microsoft Word documents created using the built-in heading styles (e.g. Heading 1, Heading 2) can be used to create tagged PDFs than contain an outline.  PDF created from a scanned document usually do not have outlines because the scanner cannot distinguish between chapters or sections with a document.  It can be complex to tag PDF files.  Please contact accessibility@swarthmore.edu to learn more about the outlining process.