Fixing Scanned and Untagged PDFs

Scanned and/or untagged PDFs often get a 0% accessibility score from accessibility checkers because they cannot be read by assistive technology. Here are a few tools available to all faculty and staff to help improve the accessibility of their PDFs. 

In this article:

1. In Brightspace: Yuja Panorama Alternative Formats
   • Short Video of Brightspace steps
2. Adobe Acrobat Pro
3. Sensus Access

In Brightspace: Yuja Panorama Alternative Formats

The accessibility tool in Brightspace, YuJa Panorama, offers an automated OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and tagging engine to generate a tagged version of a document. Generate an OCR Tagged format to replace the inaccessible original PDF

1. Identify the Inaccessible PDF

• Locate a PDF with a 0% score, indicated by a dark red accessibility icon in Brightspace.

• These files are typically "scanned" (images of text) or "untagged" (selectable text but no structural headings or paragraphs).

2. Generate the OCR Alternative Format

• Click the dark red accessibility icon next to the file to open the Alternative Formats menu pop-up.

• Navigate to the OCR Formats category, near the bottom

• Hover over the OCR Overlaid PDF option and click "generate". This process recognizes scanned text and adds structural tags layer to the document, making it readable for screen readers. See the image below. 

• Once the alternative format has been generated, you will see the options to "View" or "Download" when you hover over a given format. If you want to replace your local,saved copy, download the new accessible version.

3. Replace the Original File

• Open the YuJa Panorama Accessibility Report for that document and look for the Update Document panel near the bottom of the sidebar.

• You can update the document in two ways. 

  1. If you downloaded the alternative format in the previous step, you can either drag and drop the file where it says to, or you can use the file explorer to navigate to it. The file will be uploaded and you can choose to replace your inaccessible original with the new version. The accessibility score will update automatically. 

  2. If you did not download the alternative format you generated, click the three dots (more options) in the top right of Update Document panel and choose Replace with alternative format. (See image below.) Select the OCR overlaid tagged PDF you just generated from the list that appears, and click Replace. Your accessibility score will update automatically.

4. Clean up any remaining errors

• If the score is not 100%, you can use the "Fix Issue" buttons in the report to further refine the document. Aim for a score of at least 90%. If you have tried all the fixes you can but the accessibility score is still below 90%, you may submit this PDF to ITS for remediation. 

 Watch a short video of the steps above: Fixing scanned and untagged PDFs in Brightspace

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Adobe Acrobat Pro offers a number of ways to improve the accessibility of your PDF. 

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Acrobat Pro can turn scanned images of text into real text. 

1. Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

2. Click on the All tools menu (top-left corner).

3. Select Scan & OCR from the list.

4. In the left-hand pane that appears, click Recognize text and choose In this file.

5. (Optional) Click Settings to select your document language and "Output style" (e.g., Searchable Image to keep the scan look or Editable Text to convert it to a font).

6. Click the blue Recognize Text button.

Auto-tagging a PDF

1. Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

2. Go to the All tools menu and select Prepare for accessibility.

   • Note: If you don't see it, click "View more" at the bottom of the list.

3. In the left-hand tool pane, select Autotag Document.

4. Acrobat will analyze the document and apply tags to headings, paragraphs, and figures.

5. Run the Accessibility Check to find any remaining accessibility issues. 

Sensus Access Accessibility Conversions

SensusAccess is an online document conversion system that transforms text and image-based file types into different formats. Students, staff and faculty can upload files through a web interface and select from a variety of output options.

Sensus Access can OCR and auto-tag a scanned or untagged PDF. 

1. Go to the Sensus Access conversion page.
2. Keep "File" selected at the top. Upload the file you wish to convert from your computer. 
3. In step 2, choose "Accessibility Conversions"
4. In step 3, choose the format you would like. If you want to keep your file as a PDF, choose "pdf - Tagged PDF (image over text)." You can also use this tool to convert a PDF into an editable Word document. 
5. Enter your email, and the file will be sent to you within 15-20 minutes. Use the returned file to replace the inaccessible one you started with.