Overview
Some PDFs don’t cooperate. Complex layouts, multi-level tables, academic formatting, and documents created without accessibility in mind require advanced remediation skills that go beyond running the Accessibility Checker. This course teaches specialists to handle the difficult cases—documents that require manual intervention, expert judgment, and thorough testing.
You’ll tackle complex reading order problems, remediate irregular and nested tables, work through academic and policy document challenges, perform manual screen reader testing, and validate your work with PAC 3. If your accessibility work involves documents that others gave up on, this course gives you the advanced skills to finish the job.
Format: 1 Day | VILT
Who Should Attend
- Accessibility specialists handling complex PDF remediation
- Document remediation professionals expanding their skills
- Teams responsible for large-scale accessibility compliance
- Anyone who encounters PDFs that resist standard remediation
What You’ll Learn
- Resolve complex reading order issues in multi-column and mixed layouts
- Remediate multi-level and irregular tables
- Handle academic documents with footnotes, citations, and references
- Perform manual screen reader testing for verification
- Use PAC 3 for PDF/UA validation
- Develop efficient workflows for high-volume remediation
Course Outline
Module 1: Complex Layout Remediation
- Multi-column reading order challenges
- Sidebars, callouts, and floating elements
- Mixed content: text, images, and graphics
- Manual tag tree manipulation techniques
Module 2: Advanced Table Remediation
- Multi-level header tables
- Irregular and merged cell structures
- Nested tables and table-within-table layouts
- Tables spanning multiple pages
Module 3: Academic and Policy Documents
- Footnotes and endnotes
- Citations and reference lists
- Table of contents and index accessibility
- Mathematical notation and formulas
Module 4: Manual Screen Reader Testing
- Testing with NVDA: navigation and reading
- Testing with JAWS: forms and tables
- VoiceOver testing for Mac compatibility
- Documenting test results and findings
Module 5: PAC 3 Validation
- Understanding PDF/UA requirements
- Running PAC 3 validation
- Interpreting PAC 3 results
- Addressing PDF/UA failures
Module 6: Efficient Remediation Workflows
- Assessing document complexity and estimating effort
- Deciding when to remediate vs. recreate
- Batch processing and automation opportunities
- Quality assurance and sign-off processes
Prerequisites & Technical Requirements
- Experience remediating accessible PDFs
- Adobe Acrobat Pro installed (latest version recommended)
- PAC 3 installed (free download)
- Screen reader software for testing (NVDA recommended)
Customization Options
This course can focus on your most challenging document types—academic publications, government reports, financial documents, or technical manuals. Bring your problem documents, and we’ll work through remediation strategies together.