PDF Guidelines

When to use a PDF

The web content you create in WordPress is HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and it has accessibility built in. HTML uses tags that are understandable by humans, automated web crawlers, and screen readers. You still need to use headings appropriately, use descriptive text for links, and add alternative text for images, but if you use the editing tools in WordPress, you’ll most likely create accessible web content. 

PDFs are NOT always accessible to screen readers and automated web crawlers, though. You’ll need to go through several steps to make sure any PDFs you upload to the web are accessible. Because PDFs naturally introduce barriers, they should never be your default choice. Instead, treat HTML as the standard format, and reserve PDFs exclusively for documents that require a fixed, print-ready layout or unalterable legal formatting. 

Three conditions suited for PDF format

• Legal & certified documents (including secure forms) – Content legally mandated to exist in an unalterable fixed format. This includes signed legal contracts, official certificates, certified financial reports, and official government or tax forms (e.g., an IRS W-9) where input fields must not shift the page layout. (Note: For standard web forms, including surveys, contact pages, or sign-ups, always use HTML forms.)
• Fixed-layout print media – Materials explicitly created for physical printing where margins, page breaks, and bleed lines must remain pixel-perfect. Examples include posters, brochures, static graphic maps, and physical worksheets. Because these layouts are especially hard to make accessible, you should also publish the same content as an HTML page. 
• Self-contained offline documents – Large, comprehensive files that users need to download as a single, portable unit to read or archive without an active internet connection. This might include whitepapers, technical blueprints, long handbooks, and academic research papers. 

Quick test: Does the reader need to print, sign, or archive the exact layout? If not, use HTML.

If your content doesn’t meet one of these conditions, you should put the information on an HTML web page instead of uploading it as a PDF. Because PDFs are considered web content, they must meet accessibility guidelines. This means if a PDF exists in your WordPress Media Library, it must meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards. This includes PDFs created by other people and PDFs uploaded in the past, so review them regularly, and remove any that are outdated or unnecessary.

Essential PDF accessibility checklist

If you determine that a PDF is truly necessary, it must meet the following requirements before you publish. Since most PDFs start from Word documents, you should make your source document accessible first, before completing checks in Adobe Acrobat. Note: some of these are easy to do but others can be quite difficult and time-consuming. 

Required for every PDF

• Descriptive document title: This is not the filename. You must manually set this by opening your PDF, going to File > Properties, and filling out the Title field. On the Initial View tab, also set “Show” to “Document title” so the title appears in the window’s title bar. 
• Document language: While often automated, verify that the correct language is set in the document’s advanced properties, so screen readers know how to pronounce the text.
• Tagged PDF Structure: Tags tell assistive technology what each part of the document is (heading, paragraph, list, table, image). Without tags, a screen reader can’t interpret the PDF, and alt text, reading order, headings, lists, and tables all depend on them. If you are exporting from Word, check “Document structure tags for accessibility.”
• Real text, not images of text: Screen readers can’t read scanned pages or images of text. If your PDF was scanned, run optical character recognition (OCR) in Adobe Acrobat so the text is readable and searchable.
• Alternative (alt) text: Provide clear alt text for images, charts, and graphs within Adobe Acrobat. If an image is purely decorative, explicitly mark it as an “artifact” so screen readers skip it.
• Headings, lists, and tables: Use real heading styles, list formatting, and table structure, rather than bold text, typed bullets, or tab spacing. Tables should be used for data (not for layout) and must include a header row. 
• Color and contrast: Text must have enough contrast against its background (at least 4.5:1 for regular text and 3:1 for text larger than 18 point or 14 point bold) and color cannot be the only way you convey meaning. 
• Reading order: Use Adobe Acrobat’s reading order tool to ensure a screen reader reads your content from top-to-bottom and left-to-right, rather than jumping erratically around the page.
• Security settings: If you must password-protect a PDF, you must explicitly give assistive technology permission to bypass the restriction. Look for the Permissions section in Adobe Acrobat and check the box that says, “Enable text access for screen reader devices for the visually impaired”. 

Required if your PDF includes links or forms

• Links inside PDFs: Use descriptive link text, just as you would on a web page. Avoid “click here” and bare URLs. 
• Form Fields: Every fillable field needs a label, and the tab order must follow the visual order of the form. 

Required for long documents

If your PDF is long (more than 20 pages), you must also include navigation. However, even shorter multi-page documents, especially if they contain multiple sections, can benefit from navigation. 

• Mandatory: Generate document bookmarks: Create a clickable sidebar index in Adobe Acrobat so users can jump straight to specific headings.
• Recommended: Build a linked Table of Contents: This is not strictly mandatory, but it is a usability best practice for long pieces. Construct a clear Table of Contents (ideally in Microsoft Word before exporting). Once in Acrobat, verify that each item links properly to its corresponding page.

Run Accessibility Checker

Run the Accessibility Checker in Adobe Acrobat and fix every issue it reports. Note that the checker cannot tell whether alt text is meaningful or whether the reading order makes sense, so you will need to check those manually. 

Before uploading your PDF to WordPress

Once you’ve confirmed that a PDF is necessary, and you’ve followed the accessibility checklist, follow these guidelines so it’s both useful to every user and easy to maintain. They cover file naming, linking, and replacing files on your site.

1. Name your PDF files without dates

When choosing a file name for a PDF, do not include dates or time markers in the name. For example, save “Fall 2026 Schedule of Events” as “schedule-of-events”, with dashes between words. This way, the file can be updated to reflect a newer version using the file replacement tool tutorial , and the URL will stay the same. You can include a date or version number in the document itself, rather than in the filename. 

Keeping file names timeless and consistent provides at least three benefits:

• The new file will replace the old file automatically.
• Every link to the document points to the updated file.
• Outdated, duplicate versions of the same file won’t clutter your Media Library folders. 

2. Link to PDFs clearly

Use descriptive link text for every PDF link. Avoid “click here”. End the link text with “(PDF)” so users know the link opens a PDF.

Example: Instead of “click here to learn more about usability tips” try “Learn more about usability tips (PDF)“

3. Update PDFs with the file replacement tool

Always use the file replacement tool to update a PDF. It prevents broken URLs and removes outdated files from your Media Library. Files left in the Media Library can still be found through search or a bookmarked URL, even after you remove the link from the live page.

Read our tutorial for using the file replacement tutorial, and please reach out to webcontent@liberty.edu if you have any questions.