Why slide PDFs are uniquely broken
Presentations are built visually: floating text boxes, layered graphics, SmartArt, charts, and decorative flourishes. When a deck is exported to PDF, the reading order follows the order objects were created, not the order a human reads them — so a screen reader might announce the footer, then a label from a chart, then the title. Visuals that carry the entire message ("revenue up 18%") often have no description at all.
Decks published as PDFs — training materials, public meeting slides, annual presentations — fall under the same Section 508, ADA, and European Accessibility Act obligations as any other published document.
What our remediation includes
- Reading order rebuilt slide by slide: title → content → notes, the way it's meant to be read
- Written descriptions for every chart, diagram, and infographic that carries meaning
- Decorative elements marked as artifacts so they don't clutter the listening experience
- Slide titles tagged as headings, giving screen-reader users a navigable outline
- Tables on slides rebuilt with real table semantics, not text fragments
- Document language, title, and bookmarks set; validated to PDF/UA, HSS, WCAG 2.0 / 2.1 / 2.2 in PAC 2024
- Delivered with an issue report and a signed ACR/VPAT
Rebuilding reading order slide after slide is precisely the repetitive work our in-house DeepTag software speeds up — so the human effort goes into descriptions and judgement, not mechanics.
Frequently asked questions
Does PowerPoint's "accessible PDF" export solve this?
It helps, but it only preserves whatever order and alt text the source deck had — which is usually incomplete. Charts, SmartArt, and layered visuals almost always need manual reading-order repair and written descriptions to actually meet PDF/UA.
What happens to charts and infographics?
Each gets a meaningful description that conveys the data or message — never just "chart". Purely decorative visuals are marked as artifacts so screen readers skip them; complex data can be supplemented with an accessible table.
We publish decks every month — can this be ongoing?
Yes. Retainer arrangements cover recurring publications with agreed turnaround SLAs, and we'll coach your team on building decks that need less fixing each time.
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