Drupal PDF Accessibility Review
In January 2024, the US Access Board published a final rule updating accessibility requirements for information and communication technology (ICT) covered by Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Document accessibility on publicly facing campus webpages is an ongoing concern addressed by this refresh. Ensuring the accessibility of PDF files on our SF State websites is crucial for creating an inclusive and equitable digital environment for all users, including individuals with disabilities. The SF State Disability Programs and Resource Center has developed a comprehensive PDF accessibility scanning process to help Drupal content managers determine which PDFs hosted on their respective domains should be reviewed and remediated for accessibility. By addressing the accessibility issues in these documents, we not only comply with legal requirements but also demonstrate our commitment to providing equal access to vital information and resources. This initiative enhances the user experience, supports our university's mission of inclusivity, and ensures that all members of our community can fully participate in and benefit from our digital content.
The following information will help you nagivate PDF accessibility reports generated by the DPRC.
The SF State ATI will provide access to Equidox, an easy to use PDF remediation platform sponsored by the CSU Chancellor's office.
Learn how to identify if a PDF needs to be remediated.
Please review the content accessibility requirements as established by the ADA Title II update.
email access@sfsu.edu to schedule a consultation.
Report
The DPRC has produced a comprehensive PDF conformance scan of each drupal domain.
By domain excel reports: https://sfsu.box.com/v/sf-state-pdf-scans
Comprehensive HTML report: https://sfsu.box.com/s/yeuaygibygpov7m8dsxtrcjc3j8r6brr
These reports are only available to Box users with SF State accounts.
Scans are updated monthly or upon request.
Getting Started
With so many PDFs hosted on SF State websites, determining which PDFs to remediate can be confusing. However, not all PDFs scanned for accessible conformance will need to be remediated. By law, State governments are allowed to prioritize content.
Categories:
- High Priority
- Low Priority
- Broken Links
High Priority:
These documents are subject to accessibility requirements under ADA Title II (public services) and ADA Title I (employment practices), and must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA by the April 2026 deadline. Files in this category are actively used, essential to public service or employee tasks, or serve as gateways to critical university processes.
High-priority documents include:
- PDFs that support university business processes such as registration, financial aid, accommodations, employment, or academic advising
- Forms, policies, procedures, deadlines, or instructions required to complete services, programs, or employment-related tasks
- Flyers, announcements, and promotional materials advertising upcoming events, timelines, or important dates
- PDFs located on high-visibility or high-traffic pages, such as department homepages, program overview pages, or student service portals
- Box.com-hosted PDFs that are not downloadable, as they cannot be scanned or accessed by assistive technologies (must be made downloadable or replaced with an accessible version)
- Internal PDFs necessary for employee functions, including HR documents, onboarding materials, benefit information, internal forms, and required staff communications (Title I compliance)
Low Priority:
Low priority PDFs are those that do not currently support active services, are not required for public or employee access, or may be eligible for archive exemption under ADA Title II. While these files still fall under accessibility regulations, they may not require immediate remediation if clearly identified and properly managed.
Low-priority documents include:
- PDFs containing outdated information that is no longer in use or referenced by current services
- Documents that are duplicative of accessible HTML content already available on the site
- PDFs found on auto-generated or legacy pages (e.g.,
/node/or/index.php/URLs) - Materials maintained solely for reference, research, or recordkeeping and that meet all four archive exemption conditions:
- Created before the April 2026 compliance deadline
- Retained only for archival/reference purposes
- Not updated or modified since being archived
- Clearly labeled or stored as part of an archive section
These documents may be ignored, removed, or addressed at a later phase, as long as they are not actively used and do not interfere with current access to university services.
Broken Links:
- Broken links to PDFs that no longer exist should be removed.
Upon review of a Drupal site PDF report, a content manager will be asked to decide how to proceed regarding the state of a PDF.
- Ignore: This PDF is either already accessible or does not qualify has high priority. PDFs highlighted in blue can be ignored.
- Remove: This PDF is no longer relevant and should be removed from the site.
- Remediate and replace: This PDF is not sufficiently accessible and should be remediated and replaced.
The final column in each excel report allows a content manager to indicate if a given PDF is high or low priority. As the DPRC can not determine if a PDF is high priority, we ask that content managers update his information as they review a report. This information will be collected by the DPRC and encorporated into successive scans.
The Drupal PDF Scans are available here.
A comprehensive html report is available here.
Report Overview
Domain PDF scans are available in the form of an Excel document with two sheets:
- Scanned PDFs
- Failure
Deciding which PDFs to remediate will be challenging. To make this decision easier for non-technical users a refined selection of PDF UA failure conditions are aggregated.
| Column | What It Means |
|---|---|
| PDF URI | The link to the PDF file |
| Parent | The Page containing the PDF |
| Violations | The number of unique PDF/UA failure types (e.g., missing alt text, untagged lists). |
| Tagged | Indicates whether the PDF has a tagged structure. Untagged PDFs are not accessible to screen readers. |
| PDF Text Type | Shows how text is encoded in the file: • Text = More Accessible • Image over text or Image only = Likely inaccessible |
| Has Form | Marks whether the PDF contains form fields. These are always considered high priority for remediation. |
| Errors/Page | A higher value suggests a more problematic document. |
| High Priority (yes/no) | Defaults to Yes. Select no if no remediation conditions apply. |
| DPRC Will Remediate | Defaults to No. If this is a high priority PDF, the DPRC may remediate it for free, depending on resources. |
Red Rows = Inaccessible
Blue Rows = It is ok to ignore
Report Refresh:
A full site scan will be run monthy. We will look for new PDFs and remove PDFs that report HTTP 404 (you've removed them). A single site scan be be requested at any time.
Self Remdiation
Understand Accessibility Requirements:
- Familiarize yourself with the PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) standards and the specific requirements under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
- The key aspects include ensuring the document is tagged properly, has a logical reading order, provides text alternatives for images, and is navigable.
Use Accessibility Tools:
- Utilize tools like Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, which offers comprehensive features for checking and fixing accessibility issues in PDFs.
- Other tools such as the PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker) can be used to validate the compliance of your documents with PDF/UA standards.
- Request an account for Equidox. Please email access@sfsu.edu to make a request.
Basic Remediation Steps:
- Add Tags: Make sure your PDF is tagged. Tags are essential for screen readers to interpret the content correctly.
- Text Alternatives: Provide text descriptions for non-text content like images, charts, and graphs.
- Reading Order: Check and adjust the reading order to ensure it matches the logical flow of the content.
- Forms: Ensure form fields are interactive and have clear labels. Use the “Prepare Form” tool in Adobe Acrobat to add necessary form tags.
- Headings and Structure: Use proper headings to create a structured and navigable document.
Check Your Work:
- After making the necessary changes, use the accessibility checker in Adobe Acrobat or another tool to ensure that all issues have been addressed.
- Pay attention to the “Errors/Page” metric in your report to identify and prioritize documents with the most significant issues.
Training and Resources:
- Take advantage of online tutorials and resources to improve your understanding and skills in PDF accessibility. Websites like the WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) provide excellent guides and tips.
- The SF State Disability Programs and Resource Center (DPRC) may also offer workshops or training sessions on PDF accessibility.
- Adobe offers an excellent training series: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/document-cloud-learn/acrobat-learning/advanced-tasks/accessibility-series/accessibility-series
Testing:
- Test the remediated PDF using screen readers like NVDA or JAWS to ensure that users with disabilities can access the content effectively.
Submit to DPRC
The DPRC will accept PDFs for accessibility remediation and will issue a chargeback to recover costs. PDFs remediated by the DPRC will be returned to you in their respective reports box.com domain folder. When requesting PDF remediation through the DPRC, please specify the domain hosting these PDFs. Simply copy/paste the location from the report and the DPRC will begin the remediation process. Please allow 2 weeks for delivery.
Rough Cost Estimate:
- Basic $5 per/page
- Simple Forms $50 per/page
- Rush +50% over base price
Please email access@sfsu.edu to make a request.
Request a Consultation
If you would like consultation regarding a report. Please email access@sfsu.edu.
Remove or Replace the PDF
In some cases, it may be more practical to remove or replace a PDF rather than remediate it. Consider the following options:
Remove the PDF:
- Outdated Content: If the PDF contains outdated information or is no longer relevant, it may be best to remove it from the website.
- Broken Links: If the PDF link is broken or the document no longer exists, update or remove the link from your site to improve user experience.
Replace the PDF:
- Alternative Formats: Consider using alternative formats such as HTML pages or Qualtrics/Drupal forms, which are inherently more accessible and easier to maintain.
- Updated Documents: If you have an updated version of the document, ensure it is accessible before uploading it to replace the old version.