How to check a PDF for accessibility on Mac
If you publish documents for a school, a public body, or any organisation with accessibility obligations, this turns an unknown into a checklist.
Most PDFs are inaccessible, and most of the people publishing them do not know it. The check turns “I hope this is fine” into a list of specific things to fix.
The accessibility check is part of Premium, so it carries a small lock in the document actions panel and in the menu bar. The lock is a label rather than a barrier — you can open the feature and see what it does before deciding to unlock it. Reading and every page operation stay free.
Run the check, step by step
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Open Accessibility Check
From the document actions panel, under Read & Review.
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Read the report
It lists what the document has and what it is missing, in plain terms rather than as error codes.
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Fix the big things first
Real text rather than pictures of text is worth more than everything else combined. A document that is a scan fails at the first hurdle, and running recognition over it fixes most of the report in one step.
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Re-run it
Confirm each fix landed before moving on.
What it looks for
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Does the document contain real text? | A scan gives a screen reader nothing at all. This is the single most important item on the list. |
| Does it have a title? | The title is what assistive technology announces when the document opens. Without one, it announces a filename. |
| Does it have a navigable outline? | It lets someone move through a long document by section rather than page by page. |
| Is the language declared? | A screen reader needs to know what language to pronounce. |
| Do images have alternative text? | An image with no description is silence in the middle of a document. |
| Is the reading order sensible? | A two-column page read straight across is unintelligible. |
An automated check finds the things a machine can see. It cannot tell whether your alternative text actually describes the image, whether your headings are in a sensible hierarchy, or whether the document makes sense read aloud. A clean report means the obvious problems are gone, not that the document is accessible. If you have a legal obligation, treat this as the start of the work.
Fixing the common failures
The document is a scan
Run Make Searchable. This is by far the highest-value fix: it turns a document that offers nothing to a screen reader into one that can be read at all.
There is no title
Set one in the document's details. It takes ten seconds and it is the first thing anyone using assistive technology hears.
There is no outline
A long document without an outline forces page-by-page navigation. Adding one is real work, and it is the thing that most improves a long report for everybody, not only for people using a screen reader.
Images have no description
Describe what the image conveys, not what it looks like. A chart's alternative text should say what the chart shows; “bar chart” tells the reader nothing they could not have guessed.
What makes a document inaccessible in the first place
- Scanning it. The most common cause by a distance.
- Flattening it. Flattening turns pages into pictures, which undoes accessibility completely. If a document must be both flattened and accessible, those requirements conflict and something has to give.
- Exporting it as images. Same problem, more deliberately.
- Using colour alone to carry meaning. Pair every colour with a label or a symbol.
- Building a table with spaces instead of a real table. It looks the same and reads as nonsense.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check whether a PDF is accessible?
Run the accessibility check in Verso. It reviews the document against the things that make it usable with a screen reader and tells you what is missing.
What makes a PDF inaccessible?
Most often being a scan, so there is no text at all. After that: no title, no outline, no alternative text on images, and a reading order that does not match the page.
Does a clean report mean my document is accessible?
No. An automated check finds what a machine can see. It cannot judge whether your alternative text is useful or whether the document makes sense read aloud. Treat it as the start of the work.
What is the single most valuable fix?
Running text recognition over a scanned document. It turns a document that offers nothing to a screen reader into one that can be read at all.
Does flattening affect accessibility?
Badly. Flattening turns pages into pictures, which removes the text entirely. If a document must be both flattened and accessible, those requirements are in conflict.
Why does a PDF need a title?
It is what assistive technology announces when the document opens. Without one, the reader hears a filename.