AccessibilityPDF — Martin Schrammel AB

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AI-assisted PDF accessibility.

We are building a PDF accessibility service that combines AI, technical checks and human review.

Learn about accessible PDFs

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What tags change in your PDF

Your PDF looks the same after our work. What changes is what assistive technology can read: the tags, the reading order and the text alternatives. Switch views to see one example page the way different readers meet it.

This is what most readers see. Without tags, a screen reader has to guess what is a heading, which column comes first and what the chart shows. The page may then be read like this:

Example Region Annual report 2025 12 Water quality in 2025 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 92 95 90 86 Area Samples Met target North 120 94% Nine out of ten samples met the South 96 88% target value in 2025. Read the method description

How the service is designed to work

  1. Accept the agreement and upload

    No registration. Accept the upload terms, plus a DPA before uploading personal data. Up to 5 PDFs per order, each up to 50 pages and 25 MB.

  2. Assessment and one fixed quote

    AI reviews the text and page images to assess scope and complexity. You then get one fixed quote for all your documents, or a note that a file needs further review. The minimum price applies once per order. If you like, we email you a link when the quote is ready.

  3. You approve the quote

    Work starts only when you approve the fixed quote and confirm your email address. The delivery date is an estimate until we have confirmed the schedule.

  4. Remediation, review and checks

    An AI agent and a person work on structure, reading order and text alternatives. A separate review and technical checks follow. A person makes the final release decision.

  5. Sample and report before payment

    Review a tagged sample and the check report, including any limitations. The complete files become available once you have approved and paid.

The finished, tagged PDF

Our tests

The report names the exact file, tools, versions and results.

  • veraPDF, PDF/UA-1 profile
    What it shows
    Whether the complete file and the sample meet the machine-verifiable requirements of PDF/UA-1.
    What it cannot show
    Whether the alternative texts are meaningful or the reading order makes sense.
  • Content and rendering comparison, Our own tool
    What it shows
    That the text and every rendered page still match your original.
    What it cannot show
    Anything about accessibility. It only shows that nothing visible was lost or changed.
  • Logical reading text, Our own review view
    What it shows
    The whole document's text in actual tag order, next to each page image, with table headers and alternative texts.
    What it cannot show
    Exactly what a particular screen reader will say. It is diagnostic evidence, not a recording.
  • Independent AI review, Separate from the producing agent
    What it shows
    Problems a second reviewer finds when comparing the result with the original, page by page.
    What it cannot show
    A final verdict. It supports the human review but does not replace it.
  • PAC, PDF/UA, WCAG and quality checks
    What it shows
    Technical results and warnings reviewed for the complete file and sample.
    What it cannot show
    Full WCAG conformance or whether all content is understandable.
  • Screen reader test, Adobe Acrobat Reader with NVDA on Windows
    What it shows
    How content and navigation work in the reading tasks tested. The report states the pages, tasks and results.
    What it cannot show
    That every screen reader and PDF reader behaves the same. How table headers are announced varies, for example.
  • Human release decision, Human reviewer
    What it shows
    Whether the evidence, the sample and the report together meet the agreed scope. Nothing is released automatically.
    What it cannot show
    Whether your organisation meets its legal requirements. Remaining limitations are listed before you pay.
From a check report (example)
File checked
SHA-256 9c41…e07b
veraPDF 1.30.2 · PDF/UA-1
Complete file: passed · Sample: passed
Content and appearance
Unchanged from the original
Design limitation, page 4
Light grey text on white, contrast below 4.5:1. Reported, not changed.
Not tested
Pronunciation in screen readers

Standards and what the service covers

  • WCAG 2.2

    W3C Recommendation

    The question it answers: Can people perceive, operate and understand the content?

    • Our part (WCAG 2.2)

      We work on the applicable A and AA criteria that can be met without redesign, and report the rest.

    • How it is used (WCAG 2.2)

      Success criteria at levels A, AA and AAA that most accessibility requirements build on. Written for the web; W3C's WCAG2ICT guidance describes how they apply to documents.

  • PDF/UA-1

    ISO 14289-1

    The question it answers: Is the PDF built the way assistive technology needs?

    • Our part (PDF/UA-1)

      Our technical target. veraPDF checks the machine-verifiable part, and people review the rest.

    • How it is used (PDF/UA-1)

      Technical rules for tagged PDF. The Matterhorn Protocol lists 136 ways a file can fail PDF/UA-1. Software can check most of them; the rest, such as whether a description fits the image or the reading order makes sense, need human judgement.

  • EN 301 549

    European standard (ETSI, CEN, CENELEC)

    The question it answers: Which accessibility requirements apply to ICT in Europe?

    • Our part (EN 301 549)

      The report describes the PDF checks performed. A complete EN 301 549 assessment or legal compliance assessment is not included.

    • How it is used (EN 301 549)

      Referenced for the Web Accessibility Directive and used in public procurement. Clause 10 covers documents and follows WCAG. Version 4.1.1 (September 2026) is aligned with WCAG 2.2.

Requirements

Included

Part of the standard service.

  • Headings, paragraphs and lists

    Tagged to match the visible structure. The heading levels are checked across the whole document.

    WCAG 2.2 1.3.1, 2.4.6

  • Reading order

    We adapt and review the order through columns, captions, footnotes and page breaks. Remaining problems are reported.

    WCAG 2.2 1.3.2

  • Tables

    We associate header cells with data cells and review relationships across page breaks. The report states the scope and results of screen reader tests.

    WCAG 2.2 1.3.1

  • Images and charts

    Text alternatives for meaningful images; decoration is marked so that it is skipped. Complex charts may need your source data.

    WCAG 2.2 1.1.1

  • Title and language

    The document title is shown in the reader, the main language is set and changes of language are marked.

    WCAG 2.2 2.4.2, 3.1.1, 3.1.2

  • Links

    Ordinary internal and external links are tagged and keep their destinations. Existing bookmarks are preserved. The report states which navigation tasks were tested.

    WCAG 2.2 2.4.4

Reported

Assessed and reported. The design is not changed.

  • Colour and contrast

    Colours and layout are left as they are. Problems we find are reported with page and impact.

    WCAG 2.2 1.4.1, 1.4.3, 1.4.11

  • Zoom and reflow

    Depends on the layout and PDF reader. Any tests performed and remaining limitations are stated in the report.

    WCAG 2.2 1.4.4, 1.4.10

Not included

Outside the standard service.

  • Scanned pages and images of text

    Scanned pages that require OCR are not included in the standard service.

    WCAG 2.2 1.1.1, 1.4.5

  • Forms, audio, video and maths

    Interactive form fields, media and mathematical notation are not part of the standard service.

    WCAG 2.2 1.2, 2.1.1, 3.3

What a passed test shows

A passed test shows that the file meets exactly the requirements that test checks, for this version of the file. veraPDF, for example, confirms the machine-checkable rules of PDF/UA-1, and a screen reader test shows how the content is read aloud. Together with our review of the pages, the results show where the structure works. Some WCAG criteria need human judgement, and design choices such as low contrast cannot be fixed without a redesign, so the report names them. We describe a document as meeting WCAG 2.2 AA only when every applicable criterion has been assessed and met.

Which requirements apply to you?

That depends on your organisation, your country and how the document is used. Public sector websites and apps are covered by the Web Accessibility Directive, including documents published on them, with some exceptions for older files. Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act has applied to certain products and services, such as e-commerce and consumer banking. We do not give legal advice.

Sources

Guides to PDF accessibility

What makes a PDF accessible?

Structure, reading order and the checks that matter.

PDF accessibility for everyday documents

Reports, guides, brochures and learning materials.

PDF accessibility requirements in Europe

Find the official accessibility requirements.

Prepare your PDF for accessibility work

Prepare a PDF for accessible reading and navigation.

Questions about the service?

Email Martin about what you need help with or would like to know before we open.

martin@accessibilitypdf.com