On May 21, we held our eLeDia.summit as part of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Over the course of a day, we explored accessibility in digital learning through a series of webinars. Read helpful information about accessible learning here.
Accessibility Check: Why Only 9% of PDFs Pass the Test
At the eLeDia.summit on accessibility, Nico Maikowski from the Pfennigparade Business. Inklusiv. Foundation offered a sobering assessment of the current state of affairs—while also demonstrating how much can be improved through simple measures.
We now take it for granted to talk about accessible websites. But we talk far too little about accessible documents. Yet documents—PDFs, Word files, scripts, training materials—are still the area that creates the most barriers. This was precisely the focus of the fourth presentation at the eLeDia.summit: Nico Maikowski, Team Lead for Digital Accessibility at Pfennigparade Business. Inklusiv., shared statistics, tools, and practical tips. What remains is a clear picture: The path to accessible documents is achievable—if you know the right steps to take.
The number of people involved is significantly higher than many realize
About ten percent of the population in Germany holds a severe disability card—that’s roughly 8 million people with a disability rating of 50 or higher. This figure is impressive enough. But, according to Maikowski, it’s only half the story. The other half consists of situational impairments that can affect anyone: the father talking on the phone with one hand while holding a child. The retiree with age-related vision loss who is supposed to fill out an official PDF form online. Students who, after a long day staring at a screen, would rather listen than read. Everyone benefits from structured, clearly marked-up documents.
We recognize this logic from architecture as the “curb-cut effect”: the lowered curb was built for people in wheelchairs—today, it also helps parents with strollers, travelers with suitcases, and cyclists. The same is true for digital documents. A well-structured PDF with tags and alternative text helps screen reader users—and everyone else—because it is more searchable, easier to copy, and usable over the long term.
The current situation: a sobering 9 percent
A recent study by the BFIT-Bund (2026) examined nearly 70,000 PDF documents from public agencies. Maikowski summarized the findings without sugarcoating them:
- Only 9% of the documents examined are PAC-compliant—meaning they pass the automated validation process of the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC).
- In 53% of cases, the auditor finds specific errors that hinder use.
- 37% have no tags at all—making them virtually inaccessible to screen readers.
- The rate has hardly improved over the past five to six years. While the absolute number of accessible documents is growing, their percentage remains in the single digits.
The fact that these figures represent more than just an administrative problem becomes particularly apparent in educational settings: training materials, course handouts, and manuals are often PDFs—and this is precisely where the biggest gap lies in the otherwise well-established commitment to inclusion. “Documents are the area that causes the most headaches—and where the most errors occur,” says Nico Maikowski, describing the situation.
The most common mistakes—and why they would be so easy to avoid
What is striking about Maikowski’s analysis is that the most common errors are hardly technically challenging. They are routine oversights that could be avoided with just a few minutes spent on each document:
- The document title is missing. Instead of a descriptive title, the PDF reader displays only the cryptic filename—screen readers read exactly that aloud.
- The text contrast is too low. Shades of gray and yellow are particularly popular in design, but they are often illegible to people with visual impairments. This single issue accounts for 35% of complaints.
- The document's language is not specified. Without a language attribute, the screen reader will attempt to read a German document aloud in English—or vice versa. This renders the content unusable.
- The document lacks any structure whatsoever. Headings are not actually headings, but merely text formatted in bold. Lists are not lists. Tables have no headers. As a result, the document loses its navigational structure.
- Alternative text is missing or meaningless. Images without alt text are invisible to screen readers; the same goes for images described as “grafik1.jpg.”
- PDFs are created using the "Print" option instead of "Export." When printing to PDF, Word discards the entire semantic structure—the resulting PDF is an empty, visually identical container without tags.
Here's how to do it right: Start with Word
The good news is that the vast majority of educational materials are created in Word—and Word already has everything you need to create an accessible PDF. It’s less about specialized knowledge and more about consistently using the built-in tools.
Style sheets instead of visual tricks
The most important principle is simple: Headings are headings because they are formatted as “Heading 1,” “Heading 2,” and so on—not because they appear in bold or larger font. It is the style sheet that ultimately gives the PDF the tag structure (H1, H2, etc.) that screen readers use to navigate the document. The same applies to lists (true bulleted lists, not indented dashes), paragraphs, and quotes. Anyone who consistently uses the Word tools here has already taken the biggest step.
Images, tables, hyperlinks
Three specific points that are most frequently checked in practice:
- Images: Right-click and enter "Alternative text"—one or two sentences, ideally under 150 characters; one sentence is recommended. If you're using the "Tooltip" feature in the Office version, be sure to fill that in as well, since it will also be included in the PDF's alt text.
- Tables: Define the first row as a header row, and the first column as well if necessary. Consistently avoid nested tables (tables within tables)—they disrupt keyboard navigation.
- Hyperlinks: Use descriptive link text (such as “BFIT Federal Study”) instead of “click here” or a plain URL. The tooltip that appears when hovering over the link can also provide additional context.
Document Properties – The Invisible Required Fields
Before converting the Word document to PDF, it’s worth checking the document properties. At least three fields should be filled in there: Title (which becomes the PDF document title), Language (crucial for correct pronunciation by screen readers), and—a point that’s often overlooked—font embedding. The latter ensures that the PDF looks the same on every computer and that special characters are displayed correctly, even if the font used is not installed on that computer.
Use Word's built-in accessibility checker
Word includes its own accessibility checker: “Review” → “Check Accessibility.” It clearly lists the most common issues (missing alt text, low contrast, empty headings) and jumps directly to the problematic section. This step should become part of your routine before every export.
And finally: Export, don't print
Once the Word document is ready, go to “File → Export → Create PDF/XPS Document” to save it as a PDF. It’s important to note the options that Word offers by default but sometimes hides: “Create bookmarks from headings,” “Document structure tags for accessibility,” and “Embed fonts” must be enabled. If you go via “Print” → “PDF” instead, you’ll lose all these structures—and have to start over.
After exporting: Check with PAC and Adobe Acrobat
Drag the finished PDF into the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) —this free tool checks the document against the official criteria and generates a report in seconds: green means that all technical requirements have been met, while red highlights exactly where tags are missing, which heading is empty, or which table lacks a header.
But—and this is the key point that Maikowski has emphasized repeatedly—PAC isn’t enough. The checker only verifies what can be verified technically. An empty heading that formally has a tag is technically correct, but semantically worthless. An alt text that reads “graphic” passes the test, but doesn’t help anyone. The honest conclusion is therefore: PAC is a necessary but not sufficient tool. It needs to be supplemented by a human review—ideally by someone who goes through the document using a screen reader.
For those who want to dive deeper, the Adobe Acrobat plug-in provides additional tools: it visualizes the document’s logical structure (which heading follows which, and whether all content is accessible), shows the reading order in detail, and offers a side-by-side comparison of tags and the rendered layout.
Additional Resources
Three places that Nico Maikowski highly recommends:
- BFIT-Bund Guide to Accessible Documents: Comprehensive Instructions for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and InDesign – Source of the study cited above and the standard recommendations.
- PAC – PDF Accessibility Checker: a free testing tool that checks compliance with official criteria.
- Pfennigparade Foundation – Testing and Counseling Services: A 60–70-point assessment scale and qualitative testing conducted by certified specialists (ADS, IAP).
Takeout
Accessible documents aren’t a niche topic for experts—they’re basic technical skills for anyone who creates educational content. The most important steps have long been built into Word: style sheets instead of visual tricks, alt text instead of empty images, and exporting instead of printing. Anyone who goes through this workflow a few times will soon be creating accessible documents as a matter of course—and in doing so, not only ensure that people with disabilities can learn, but also that everyone else learns better.
At eLeDia, we see this as a key component of an accessible Moodle environment: the platform, tools like ReadSpeaker, and content only truly come into their own when the documents themselves have been properly prepared. This is exactly where Nico Maikowski’s presentation began—and it dispelled the notion that all of this is some distant, unattainable goal. It’s not far off. It starts with the next lecture outline we write in Word.
You can find more information about accessibility in Moodle on our website
