Free tools · Checker
PDF accessibility checker
A PDF exported without a tag tree cannot be read by a screen reader, and the owner usually has no idea. Drop a file here and find out in about ten seconds whether yours is tagged, whether it contains real text or just a picture of text, and whether the basics are set. Your file is read in your browser and never uploaded.
Drag one here, or pick a file. It is read in your browser and never uploaded anywhere.
Nothing leaves this page
What this checks, and what it cannot
A PDF is a set of instructions for painting marks on a page. What makes it readable by a screen reader is a second, invisible layer called the tag tree, plus a handful of document settings. This tool reads the file's structure and reports on both.
What it can prove is that a marker is present. What it cannot prove is that the structure behind the marker is correct. A file can carry a complete tag tree in which somebody tagged a pull quote as a heading and wrote "chart" as the alt text for the chart carrying the whole argument. That file passes every automated check in existence and is still hard to read. Judgment about meaning needs a person, which is the same limit we document for websites on our scanners versus humans page.
Found problems? Start here
Our step-by-step tagging walkthrough covers the exact menu paths in Word, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro, and the printable checklist gives you the full 18 checks to run before you publish.
Common questions
- Is this PDF accessibility checker really free?
- Yes, and there is no signup. The check runs entirely in your browser using JavaScript, so there is no server cost to us and no upload for you.
- Does my file get uploaded anywhere?
- No. The file is read in your browser and never sent to us or anyone else. You can confirm this by opening your browser's network tab while you run a check: nothing is transmitted.
- What does this checker actually check?
- The structural markers that decide whether a screen reader can read a document: whether it has a tag tree, whether it contains real text or is a scan, whether the document language and title are set, whether the viewer shows the title, whether any alt text is present, and whether form fields carry names.
- Can it tell me if my PDF is WCAG compliant?
- No, and neither can any other automated checker. A file can carry a complete tag tree that names a pull quote as a heading and describes a chart as "chart". Structure can be verified by machine; meaning needs a person.
- How is this different from Acrobat's accessibility check?
- Acrobat runs a larger rule set and can repair what it finds, which this cannot. This is a fast first pass that needs no software, no licence, and no upload. Running both is sensible, since two checkers disagree often enough to be worth the minute.
One file down, and the rest of the folder to go.
Most sites we audit have hundreds of documents nobody has looked at in years. The PDF audit checks them properly, with a real screen reader user on the ones that matter.