Digital Accessibility Tip: Reviewing Your Scanned PDFs

Looking to expand your knowledge of digital accessibility and learn quick strategies that you can easily integrate into your workflow? CATL’s blog post series on digital accessibility catalogues some helpful tips and tricks we’ve shared in our Teach Tuesday e-newsletter!

In this tip, we’ll discuss the digital accessibility of a scanned PDF and how to tell if it has been run through an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) scan, a process which converts images of text into selectable, readable content for screen readers.

What is a Scanned PDF and How to Tell if Your PDF Has Been OCR Scanned?

A scanned PDF is typically created by taking a photo or scan of a printed page. What you end up with is essentially an image of text, not actual text. This means screen readers and other assistive technologies cannot interpret the content.

To determine if your PDF has been processed with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), try selecting or highlighting the text in the document. If you can click and drag your cursor to highlight individual words or sentences, the file likely has OCR. If not, the text/content is just an image and can’t be read by assistive tools.

Conducting an OCR Scan: Video Guide

Watch the video below to learn more about how to check your PDFs documents and run an OCR scan on a PDF in Adobe Acrobat in about 2 minutes!


It is important to acknowledge that OCR scanning is not perfect and can misinterpret characters, especially if the scan is blurry, the lighting is uneven, or the original print is faded or handwritten. It’s important to always review the OCR output and correct any errors in Adobe Acrobat before sharing the document with students. UWGB Staff and faculty have access to Adobe Acrobat through Creative Cloud.

Please also note that OCR should not be used for larger scanned works that may infringe copyright. If in doubt, it is better to find a web alternative or an accessible online version through our library’s online databases.

Looking for More Tips?

Explore even more quick tips in our Digital Accessibility Tips post, where you’ll find a growing list of strategies to help make your course materials more accessible.

Further Accessibility Training

Ready to dive deeper into digital accessibility? Essentials of Accessibility for Faculty and Staff is a free, self-paced, online course that will teach you the basics of digital accessibility and accessibility best practices for several key applications that UW-Green Bay employees may use in their daily work. We encourage you to self-enroll in the course to learn practical approaches for remediating digital accessibility issues in a variety of use cases and applications.

Connect with CATL

You are not alone in your accessibility journey! While CATL cannot advise on the legal specifications of Title II, instructors are always welcome to schedule a consultation with us or stop by our office (CL 405) to discuss the accessibility of your teaching materials.

Event Follow-Up: Improving Accessibility in Learning Materials

On Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2024, CATL teamed up with Assistant Professor of Humanities, Kristopher Purzycki, for a workshop on improving the accessibility of educational resources shared in courses and on campus. This session explored common accessibility pitfalls in crafting digital learning materials, covering tasks like creating and sharing PowerPoint presentations, PDFs, and Canvas elements such as media and syllabi. As a continuation of this workshop, we’ve compiled practical accessibility tips and demonstrations for instructors to incorporate when creating learning materials.

Prioritizing Accessibility Matters for Student Success

Meeting certain accessibility standards is not just about compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act; it is also crucial for enhancing student success and engagement. Accessibility (specifically digital accessibility) proactively eliminates barriers during the design and creation phase of materials.

In cases where accessibility measures still pose challenges for learners, students can work with Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to seek formal accommodations, and instructors will work with SAS to fulfill the accommodation request. Many students may not disclose their disabilities to their university or face other obstacles hindering them from receiving formal accommodation. Consequently, academic success often relies on students’ individual efforts and faculty commitment to accessible learning materials. While not proposing a complete overhaul of course materials, CATL hopes to promote simple steps to enhance the accessibility of educational learning materials, all in the pursuit of student success.

  • Make course updates in order of the perceived severity of accessibility issues.
  • Learn and adapt based on experiences and student feedback.
  • Use the UWGB library as a resource to help refresh and update your class materials/readings.
  • Use the Accessibility Checkers available to you in Microsoft Office (like Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and Canvas).

Canvas Accessibility Tools to Help Review Your Course

Expand the titles below to learn how to use the accessibility tools and checks available to you in Canvas.

How to Use the Canvas Accessibility Checker – Video Demo

Validate Links in Your Canvas Course – Video Demo

Note: This video is a demonstration from Arizona State University Learning Experience (LX) and displays their specific instance of Canvas. While UWGB’s Canvas may operate and look different, the link validator works the same. Need more info? View the Canvas guide on Validating Links in Canvas.

 

Using the Canvas Course Accessibility Checker UDOIT – Video Overview

Learn even more with UWGB's Knowledgebase guide on using the UDOIT Cloud Accessibility tool to check your Canvas course accessibility.

Video Accessibility with Kaltura My Media and Automatic Closed Captions

Expand the titles below to learn how to upload your own course videos to Kaltura My Media. This allows for automatic machine-generated closed captioning, caption editing, and transcription addition for videos in your Canvas courses or those shared with students.

How to Upload Videos and Add Captions with Kaltura My Media 

View this instructional guide on how to edit captions in Kaltura My Media from UW System.

How to Embed Videos and Add Transcripts with Kaltura My Media – Video Demo

Review this step-by-step guide on how to embed Kaltura videos in Canvas. New recordings that are uploaded to Kaltura use a v7 video player which allows the option for students to toggle on a transcript when viewing your videos embedded in a Canvas course.

If your videos use the old player, you will need to upgrade those embeds to use the v7 video player. For more information about how to update your Kaltura video player embeds, see this blog post on Upgrading Outdated Kaltura Players in Canvas.

PDF Accessibility with Adobe Acrobat – Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Scanning

Expand the title below to learn how to enhance the accessibility of your PDFs by using OCR  scanning. While OCR scanning doesn’t guarantee full accessibility for assistive technologies like screen readers, Adobe Acrobat Pro offers additional tools to improve accessibility before sharing PDFs digitally.

How to Use OCR Scanning with Adobe Acrobat Pro for PDFs – Video Demo

Before creating your own PDF documents and PDF scans of readings, contact the UWGB library and ask if they already have a digital resource available.

Image Accessibility and Informative Alt Text

Expand the title below to learn more about writing helpful alt text for images with specific examples, such as when you are creating your syllabus.

How to Add Alt Text in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint – Video Guide