Adobe Acrobat Reader Accessibility: Alternative Text

Overview

Images with text or image-only PDFs are not compatible with assistive technology. For documents that contain images, you should add alternate text describing the image for screen readers.  

Considerations

All images, charts, and graphs must have descriptive alternate text or description. Since these are non-text elements, they are shown in the Tags Panel as <Figure>. 

• Add alternate text: Give images a brief and descriptive description. 
• Avoid Repetition: Avoid giving alt text that is repetitive. If the following adding information to the alt text that is stated in the following text block. 
• Give long descriptions to complex images: for complex or large images, add a thorough description to help the visually impaired understand the information the image is supposed to convey. 
• Decorative Images: Images should not be marked as decorative unless they are style elements such as borders, spacers, headers, or footers. Decorative images are not required to have alternate text, and will be skipped over by a screen reader.

Adding Alternative Text Video 

How to Add Alternate Text

Using the Accessibility Checker

1. Under All Tools, select Prepare for Accessibility
2. Select Check for Accessibility 
3. Select Start Checking
4. Drop down the Alternate Text (X Issues)
   
5. Right click on the Figure Alternate Text - Failed, and select Fix
   
6. Enter your Alt Text and select Save and Close, or use the arrows to navigate to the next error
   

Using the Add Alternative Text Option

1. Under All Tools, select Prepare for Accessibility
2. Select Add Alternate Text, select OK
3. Delete the automatically generated description and add your own text.
   
    
   
   
   1. Or if image is Decorative, check the Decorative Figure
      
      
      
4. Use the arrows to navigate to the next image if needed.
5. Select Save and Close

Using the Accessibility Tags

1. Choose the hamburger Menu (Windows), or the View menu (macOS) > Show/Hide > Side Panels > Accessibility Tags. 
   
   
   
   
   
2. Within the Tags List right click the <Figure> that you would like to add alternate text to. It should now be outlined in purple
   
   
   
   
3. Right click the figure, and choose Properties from the option menu.
   
   
4. Add the descriptive text to the Alternate Text Box
   
5. To save, click the Close button

Additional Resources

• Free Image Alt Text Generator
• If you encounter an "Other Elements Alternate Text Failed" error, it means there are other non-text elements in your document that lack alternative text. To resolve this issue, follow this guide.