Problem

A JAWS/ZoomText/Fusion user is given an Adobe PDF document but have doubts or problems with its accessibility. 

Detail

• PDF documents consist of a graphic and text layer. If the document contains a text layer in addition to the visual graphic layer it can be made accessible to end users with AT products however there are some requirements to be met depending on the nature of the document. The document must be:
• Professionally produced with a text layer available.
• Where text layer has been permissions must be allowed to make it accessible to AT products.
  

Resolution

The below methods are ways to either check or work around issues of PDF accessibility.

Method 1 - Check Adobe document properties for correct permissions

1. Open Adobe Reader with the target document loaded.
2. Click File > Properties or press the keyboard shortcut CONTROL+D.
3. In the dialogue click Security or press CONTROL+TAB to switch to that page and observe the permissions in the resulting dialogue page.  

The above example shows a document that has all relevant security permissions allowed.

4 Examine the details and check the following permissions are "Not Allowed":

• Printing - will disable OCR access with Fusion
• Content Copying for Accessibility - Will disable screen reader access with JAW/ZoomText/Fusion products. The only resolution would be to request from the author/publisher an unlocked copy of the file or in another more accessible format.