PDF Usability Checker (PUC) Instantly visualise the accessibility of your PDF documents
A free tool that complements the PAC tool, for reviewing PDF tagging through HTML rendering.
Easily check the accessibility and PDF/UA and WCAG compliance of your PDFs with a dedicated, easy-to-use tool.
Check the Accessibility of your PDF
PUC (PDF Usability Checker), a complementary tool to PAC
To be accessible, a PDF document must comply with the PDF/UA and WCAG standard. PAC is the most commonly used tool to check this compliance.
PAC may confirm that a document meets technical compliance, but inappropriate tags can still make it difficult to navigate with a screen reader.
PUC (PDF Usability Checker) offers an HTML-based view of all tags within a PDF, making manual review of accessibility and structure easier.
Illustrative example
Compliance check with PAC
In this example, PAC confirms that the document meets the PDF/UA and WCAG standards.
But does it actually ensure usability and accessibility?
Accessibility check with Acrobat Pro
Even though the document uses a variety of tags, they are uniformly rendered as pink-framed blocks.
This layout makes it difficult for non-expert users to understand the tagging structure and apply the necessary corrections.
Accessibility check with PDF Usability Checker
Differentiating tags through color and border styling enhances tag identification and facilitates analysis of the logical reading order.
In this example, the heading structure is not correctly applied: the chapter title “Race and…” is marked as an <H1>, which should be reserved for the main document title. Based on the document’s hierarchy, this heading should instead be tagged as an <H2> or <H3>.
Accessibility check with PDF Usability Checker (continued)
This view makes it easier to detect reading order problems: the paragraph is broken unexpectedly between "From the start" and "to advance racial equity and support for", due to the insertion of two <Li> tags.
The content will be read aloud by assistive technologies in the presented order, resulting in a loss of meaning and poor usability.
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PDF documents flood websites: market studies, financial reports, expert reports...
These documents, when not accessible, form barriers for disabled people: their assistive tools incorrectly relay or fail to relay the information, preventing access and comprehension.
According to DREES census data from 2024, 17% of the French population lives with a disability, totalling 11 million individuals affected by this issue.
Only correct tagging ensures compatibility with external assistive tools, providing access to information and autonomy for all users.
Easily visualise with PDF Scanner how many PDFs your website contains and their compliance.
Access PDF ScannerHow to use PDF Usability Checker?
Why use PDF Usability Checker?
Immediate clarity on tagging status and/or necessary corrections
Unlimited availability thanks to the free service provided
Facilitated compliance remediation with PDF/UA and WCAG standards
Concrete examples of results achieved
Simplified verification
Tags such as headings (H1, H2, etc.), paragraphs (P), and image alt texts are easily identified through color coding based on category.
Quick error detection
Thanks to color-coded tags and a reading order that is accurately rendered, users can quickly spot necessary corrections or tagging errors.
Carousel-type document and its tagging via PDF Usability Checker
Visualisation of a carousel-type document.
Visualisation via PDF Usability Checker of this carousel. Here, bullet lists on page 2 are identified as paragraphs (P) instead of lists (LI).
Study-type document and its tagging via PDF Usability Checker
Visualisation of the original sector-specific study document.
PDF Usability Checker visualisation indicates, for example, that the sector study is tagged as paragraph (P, in green) instead of heading (H2 or H3). PDF Usability Checker also offers immediate visualisation of non-compliance in red on the right.
PDF Usability Checker and PDF Accessible Platform: the perfect combination
DocAxess’s flagship solution, PDF Accessible Platform, quickly and easily automates accessibility remediation of your existing PDF documents using AxessTag AI, our patented proprietary artificial intelligence.
Combine PDF Usability Checker with PDF Accessible Platform to automate accessibility remediation of your existing PDFs and benefit from a comprehensive process, from initial verification to final validation.
FAQ
What is PDF Usability Checker?
A simple and intuitive tool allowing real-time checking of your PDFs’ tagging and compliance.
Which tags are supported?
Headings, paragraphs, lists, images, tables, and many other elements, whether simple or complex, are supported.
Form fields are not yet supported, but this feature is planned for a future release.
What accessibility standard is checked by PDF Usability Checker?
PUC helps ensure your PDF tags meet the PDF/UA accessibility and WCAG accessibility standards.
How much does PDF Usability Checker cost?
DocAxess offers PUC as a free tool to support users with little technical background in evaluating the accessibility of their PDFs.