working with inaccessible pdfs gaeir dietrich director high tech center training unit of the...
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Working with Working with Inaccessible PDFsInaccessible PDFs
Gaeir DietrichDirectorHigh Tech Center Training Unitof the California Community Collegeswww.htctu.net
PDF DefinedPDF Defined
Portable document format (PDF) Reads the same on any computer Looks like the book May be text-based (searchable) or
graphical (e.g., a scan)
Types of PDF DocumentsTypes of PDF Documents
Text-based Text can be selected Searchable
Graphical Picture of text (i.e., a graphic) Text cannot be selected
Use text-select tool to tell the difference
How Accessible Is It?
Accessible PDFs will be… Text-based (searchable) Tagged Have logical reading order
Where Did It Come From?
If PDF documents are being generated from Word, Open Office, or InDesign, learn first to work with the tools built into those programs
A well-crafted document should have little to no remediation required
Tips
When creating a PDF from another program create alt text for all graphics that are not simply “decorative” Mark decorative elements when create the
Before doing additional work within the PDF, make sure the document is final
Make a LIST
In originating program… L: name links logically I: briefly describe images S: use styles and logical structure T: label the header row in tables
The run the “make accessible wizard”
How Do You Want to Use It?
Read with screen reader? May be better off extracting text
Read with TTS and follow along in book? May be better off extracting text
Keep the Look of the Page?
PC: Use Kurzweil or ClaroRead—no remediation necessary These programs both run OCR on PDFs
Adobe reader: Need to make accessible Mac: Built-in reader; may need to look at
reading order
Tools for Processing PDFsTools for Processing PDFs
Adobe Acrobat Professional Check on College Buys for discount
Good OCR program Abbyy FineReader Nuance OmniPage
IF you are a Kurzweil campus, you will also need Kurzweil
Non-Adobe Alternative
Foxit Lots of good reviews Does OCR Easy to use www.foxitsoftware.com
Adobe ToolsAdobe Tools
Adobe Reader Free Useful for students who need minimal
accessibility features http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/
Adobe Acrobat Professional Essential for alt media specialists Extract text, create accessible PDFs, enabled
Adobe Reader features www.uscollegebuy.com Discounted Price
Acrobat ReaderAcrobat Reader
Reads aloud But does not highlight or track
Enlarges text Nice reflow feature
Changes text/background colors Text highlighting, sticky notes, and
comments Access for text-based PDFs
Production Features in Reader
Really designed for reading, not reformatting
Export PDF Subscription service (about $20/year) New DC version has many subscription
levels Upload PDF file, service auto-converts to
Word, download
Enhancing Accessibility
Accessibility wizard Add alt text Touch-up reading order Mark header rows (table editor)
Check out WebAIM www.webaim.org
When to Remediate
Want file format to be PDF
File available to a broad audience
When Not to Remediate
Will be running OCR on the PDF
Reading in Kurzweil or ClaroRead
Screen reader user prefers a Word or TXT-type document
Using PDF to print
Remediation of Searchable PDFs
Small chunks of text Does not allow for easy reading of line /
paragraph Works fine with “read all” command
Often solved just by running accessibility wizard
More Remediation of Searchable PDFs
Incorrect reading order Improper reading order creates great
chaos
Start with accessibility wizard and tagging, may also need to touch up reading order (TURO)
Fixing Tables
Tables not properly formatted
Use table editor to mark header rows / header columns and ensure cells are properly distinguished
Remediation of Graphical PDFs
No text available PDF is only a picture of text
Only remediation is to run OCR
Manipulating the PDFManipulating the PDF
Cropping Enlargement for printing Tiling Extracting/deleting pages Combining/inserting pages Text extraction
Works best with text-based PDF Does have built-in OCR capability
Customize Quick Tools
Click on the “gear”
View > Show/hide > Toolbar Items > Quick Tools
Quick Tools Menu
Customize
Please Note
To enable single-key shortcuts Open Preferences dialog box Ctrl + K Under General > select Use Single-Key
Accelerators To Access Tools (first checkbox under Basic Tools)
Cropping
Tools > Pages > Crop
Shortcut: C (Please note: This shortcut brings up the
mouse-driven cropping tool—must double click to open the dialog box!)
Crop Tool
Crop Toolbox
Enlarging
Choose paper size/printer File > Print > Size…to Fit
Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through)
Tip: Crop document before enlarging
Print to Fit
Tiling
Choose paper size/printer File > Print > Poster > Tile Scale and
Overlap
Shortcut: Ctrl + P (tab through)
Tip: Crop document before tiling
Enlarge with Tiling
Extracting Pages
Tools > Pages > Extract
Delete Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + D Extract Pages Shortcut: Alt V + T + P
(opens Pages pane; F6 focuses in pane and can arrow down)
Extraction Tool
Tips for Extracting Chapters
Crop on complete file before extracting Work on a copy!!!!! Extract from end toward front! Use table of contents to help Place focus on first page of chapter to
extract (beginning with last)
Starting from the Back
Combining
File > Pages > Insert
OR
Create > Combine files
Inserting Pages
Combining Pages
Auto Extracting Text
File > Save As > MS Word Retains styles and paragraphs
File > Save As > More options… Text (Accessible)
Lose styles, places hard returns at end of line Text (Plain)
Lose styles, keeps paragraphs
Shortcut: Alt F + A
Save As Options
Better Text Extraction
OCR programs analyze text and structure Acrobat Pro has built-in OCR, but other
programs provide more control Can control which text to include
More Control over Text
For graphical PDFs Or To maintain more control over extracting
text from text-based PDFs Use an OCR program!
Processing Graphical PDFsProcessing Graphical PDFs
Must run optical character recognition (OCR) Computers cannot read pictures OCR programs recognize the “characters” in the
picture
How you process the file depends on the end format the student wants!
Want to Stay in PDF?
Sometimes students do want a text-based PDF
Can OCR in Adobe Pro Tools> Recognize Text
Under Tools
Want Text OutWant Text Out
OmniPage or FineReader FineReader generally easier to learn Save to Word or HTML or Text based on student
preference
Use virtual printer with Kurzweil Create KESI files
R&W, ClaroRead Save as Word
Which One When?Which One When?
Want a Word file? Best choice is OmniPage or FineReader
Want a Kurzweil document? Use Kurzweil to process the PDF
For students to do themselves? Whichever program they prefer
Why?Why?
OCR programs are designed to make extraction and editing easy
Document readers (R&W, Kurzweil, etc.) are designed to make reading easy…NOT editing.
NEVER!!!NEVER!!!
Do NOT run OCR with FineReader or OmniPage…save to PDF…and then take into Kurzweil, R&W, etc.
Kurzweil, R&W, WYNN will run their own OCR on the PDF! Wastes time, adds error to do OCR twice
OCR ProgramsOCR Programs
Treat PDFs the same as a TIFF If you OCR scanned documents, use the
same process
Load image file Select zones Create templates as needed
OCR Process Details
Crop before loading into OCR engine Turn on multiple languages as needed
If doing math, turn on Greek Only turn on the languages you need
Edit in the OCR program Some OCR programs have font matching features
Save to Word
Captions and Such
For students who want audio or who are using screen readers Separate the main body of the text and the
“ancillary text” (captions, sidebars, footnotes)
Create two documents 00 Chapter and 00A Chapter
Allows the student to hear main text uninterrupted
Two Doc Workflow
Open PDF in OCR Program Analyze layout for entire document
Save a copy On one copy…delete all ancillary text
Save to Word as 00 Chapter On other copy…delete all main body text
Save as 00A Chapter Keep page numbers in both documents!
Once in Word
Learn to use “show hidden” Ctrl + Shift + 8
Beware of the optional hyphen Search and replace to delete Search for ^- replace with nothing Run spell check
Use styles to structure files for braille program
Converting Files
Magic Conversion Tool
Calibre Converts to and from many formats Fairly intuitive Free!
http://calibre-ebook.com/
Another Conversion Tool
TechAdapt http://www.techadapt.com/
TechAdapt Accessible Media Center (TAMC) For converting NIMAS and DAISY
DAISY to… RTF HTML
File Transfer
Can use DropBox or Box to transfer files for most readers
Kindle and iPad can often use e-mail
Resource InfoResource Info
Gaeir Dietrich [email protected] 408-996-6047
www.htctu.net Alt media listserv Manuals online