PDF Accessibility Checker

About this tool

PDF Accessibility Checker — Check and Fix PDF/UA

Check a PDF against PDF/UA-1 and the Matterhorn Protocol, see what blocks screen readers and fix what can be fixed safely. Everything runs locally in your browser — no upload, no sign-up, no watermark and no file size limit.

PDF/UA Checks With Page Numbers

Tags, document language, title, PDF/UA identifier, alt text of figures, table and heading structure, untagged content, embedded fonts, Unicode mapping, tab order, form field and link descriptions, encryption and scanned pages — each marked passed, failed or warning, with the pages concerned.

Safe Fixes in One Click

Set the document language (detected from the text), the title shown in the title bar, the tab order, form field tooltips suggested from the field names, link descriptions and alt text for existing figures, which you write next to a crop of each figure.

An Honest PDF/UA Claim

The PDF/UA identifier is only added once every other check passes, because assistive technology and validators trust it. Structure is never guessed: an untagged PDF is reported with the steps to export it again with tags.

Who Needs Accessible PDFs

Public bodies, universities and, under the European Accessibility Act, many businesses must publish documents that screen readers can use. Checking before you publish catches a missing language, an empty title or figures without alt text while they are still quick to fix.

How to use it

1. Drop the PDF you want to check.
2. Read the report: every check says whether it passed, what is wrong and on which pages.
3. Confirm the language and title, review the suggested form field tooltips and describe the figures.
4. Click Improve accessibility, then download the improved PDF.

Frequently asked questions

Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?

No. Toolula processes the document inside your browser tab with pdf-lib and WebAssembly, so the file never leaves your device.

Does a passing report mean my PDF is fully accessible?

No. The tool runs the checks a machine can decide. Whether alt text describes the figure well, whether headings make sense and whether the reading order is right still needs a person, as the Matterhorn Protocol itself says.

Why doesn't it add tags to an untagged PDF?

Guessed structure misleads screen readers more than none at all. Export the PDF again from the source app with tags turned on, for example in Word with Save as PDF, Options, Document structure tags for accessibility, and check it here.

Does it help with the European Accessibility Act?

It checks PDFs against PDF/UA-1, the standard commonly used to show that PDF documents are accessible, and fixes common faults. It is not a legal assessment; documents still need a human review.

What about scanned PDFs?

Scanned pages are images without text, which screen readers can't read. The report lists them and links to OCR, which adds a text layer first.

Can it check a signed or encrypted PDF?

Encrypted files are only checked for whether assistive technology may read them, because their content can't be inspected. Signed files are checked but not changed, since any fix would break the signature.