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PDF guidelines

At Kivra, accessibility is a core principle. Everything we send should be easy for everyone to read and understand, whatever the recipient’s abilities or disabilities. To make sure of this, documents such as PDF files must work with assistive technologies like screen readers, braille displays, screen magnifiers and keyboard navigation.

Legal requirements for PDF documents

On 28 June 2025, the new Swedish Accessibility Act (Act on the accessibility of certain products and services) came into force. It sets a new EU-wide accessibility standard for digital products and services, including PDF documents.

If you follow the PDF/UA (PDF/Universal Accessibility) standard, your documents will be accessible to all users and meet the legal requirements.

What is PDF/UA?

PDF/UA is an international standard. It makes sure that PDF documents can be read, interpreted and navigated correctly with assistive technologies such as screen readers and braille displays.

Read more about PDF/UA

What is PDF/A?

PDF/A is an international standard for the long-term archiving of PDF documents. It makes sure a document can be opened and looks the same, even many years from now. Everything needed to display it, such as fonts and colour profiles, is embedded in the file itself. The standard also doesn’t allow content that may stop working over time, such as JavaScript, audio, video and external resources.

Läs mer om PDF/A

How to create an accessible PDF

Do as much as possible in the source document, for example in Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign. You can also make some adjustments afterwards in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Colour contrast

  • Make sure the contrast ratio between text and background is at least 4.5:1.

Images and alt text

  • Make sure images, charts and image-based figures have alt text (alternative text) so screen readers can interpret the content.
  • Embed all images in the PDF so the document doesn’t rely on external resources that may change or become unavailable over time.

Language and title metadata

  • Always set the document language. This lets screen readers and other assistive technologies interpret and pronounce the content correctly, which makes the document much easier to read.
  • Screen readers often present the PDF to the user by its document title instead of its file name. A clear, descriptive title tells the user right away what the document is about.

Document structure and tags

PDF tags are invisible markers that define the document’s structure, such as headings, paragraphs and tables. They let screen readers navigate the content, for example by recognising a heading or a link. A sighted user can see these things at a glance.

Make sure the source document is exported as a tagged PDF. If the PDF has no tags, or the tags are wrong or badly structured, it’s usually best to go back to the source document and fix the tags there. You can also start over and create new tags from scratch.

If you create the document in Microsoft Word, use the built-in heading styles to tag headings. This gives the document a clear, logical structure.

Common tags

There are different types of tags, and it’s important to use the right one. Here are some of the most common:

Heading tags

  • H1, H2, H3 = Heading

Use only one unique H1 per document. Don’t skip heading levels. Follow a logical hierarchy: H1 → H2 → H3 and so on.

General tags

  • P = Paragraph
  • Figure = Figure: images, charts and image-based figures
  • Caption = Caption
  • L = List
  • LI = List item: each item in a list goes inside an L tag
  • Link = Link
  • Artifact = Artifact: decorative or non-essential elements, such as page numbers or visual details

Table tags

  • Table = Table
  • TR = Table row
  • TD = Table cell
  • TH = Table header

Tagging headers and footers

There are no dedicated tags for headers or footers. Tag them as paragraphs or artifacts, depending on their function and context.

  • Example: A company name in the header should be tagged as a paragraph on the first page, and as an artifact on the following pages to avoid unnecessary repetition.
  • Always tag page numbers as artifacts, since screen readers can announce page numbers themselves.

Reading and tab order

The content must follow a logical order so everyone can take it in, including people who use screen readers, screen magnifiers or keyboard navigation. Normally this should be set to “Use Document Structure”, but sometimes you may need to make manual adjustments.

  • Screen reader reading order

Screen readers follow the document structure and read the content in the order the tags set. The tags must be in the right sequence so the content makes sense and is easy to follow.

In Acrobat Pro, you can review and adjust the reading order in the Accessibility Tags pane.

  • Tab order

In documents with interactive elements, such as form fields or links, the tab order must be logical and follow the reading flow. This makes keyboard navigation easier and more predictable.

Machine-readable text

A machine-readable PDF doesn’t just contain an image of the text, like a scanned page. It contains real text that can be selected, copied, searched and read aloud by assistive technologies and other software.

  • Use Unicode text Write the text in Unicode (standard digital text) so it can be extracted. Don’t turn each letter into an image (vector), because assistive technologies can’t read it.

  • Embed fonts in the document If fonts aren’t embedded in the PDF, the system may replace them automatically, which can affect both layout and appearance.

    In Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can check that fonts are embedded under File > Properties > Fonts.

  • Avoid CIDFontType0 for European languages This font encoding often causes problems across operating systems, browsers and printers.

  • Choose the right font format for the best compatibility Use standard formats such as PostScript, TrueType (TTF) or OpenType (OTF). They’re widely compatible and minimise the risk of display problems.

  • Use descriptive link text Avoid phrases like “read more”, “click here” or “link”.

Testing

Run both automated and manual accessibility tests to find and fix any issues. Manual testing is necessary because automated tools have limits. For example, they can’t tell whether an image’s alt text is accurate or useful, or whether the right tag has been used for each element.

Automated tools for testing your PDF

File size

We recommend keeping PDF files under 1 MB so users can open them without problems.

Avoid external dependencies

PDF files should be fully self-contained, with no external dependencies for images, fonts or other elements. This means the document looks exactly the same, even years later. External resources can change or disappear over time, which makes them unreliable for long-term archiving.

Alternatives to PDF documents

As well as the PDF, you can choose to send the content in responsive HTML through Kivra. The content then adapts to whatever device it’s viewed on, whether that’s a phone, tablet or computer.

Kivra has so many different content types available, here you can read more.