Scanned PDFs are inaccessible. This means that the text cannot be read by a screen reader because it is an image. To make the PDFs accessible, run the OCR (Optical Character Recognition) feature in Acrobat.
1. Open the PDF in Acrobat.
2. Under Tools, locate the Scan & OCR icon under the Create & Edit category.
3. When the Scan & OCR bar opens, select Recognize Text > In This File > Recognize Text.
The result will be a PDF that is no longer an image, but a text-based document. The accuracy of the text recognition depends on the clarity of the original image.
Once you save this file, then go to the document Creating Accessible PDFs with Acrobat to complete the accessibility of the file.
Created by UNTHSC Division of Academic Innovation
Last updated October 24, 2022