Alternate text, language and title: quick accessibility wins
Set alternate text for each figure, the document language and title in PDF by Zaweba, or run Make accessible and let the setup assistant guide you.
Three settings make a surprising difference to how accessible a PDF is, and none of them takes long. Alternate text tells a screen reader what each picture shows. The document language makes sure the right voice and pronunciation are used. The title gives the document a proper name. PDF by Zaweba has tools for all three, and a way to run them together.
Alternate text, figure by figure
Every figure gets its own alternate text, a short description read aloud in place of the picture. Set it figure by figure, looking at each one.
Good alternate text says what the picture contributes. For a chart, give the point it makes, such as sales rising each quarter, not "a chart". For a photo of a building on a page about a new office, the building's name may be enough. Keep it short. A sentence is usually plenty.
Some pictures add nothing to the meaning: a decorative border, a background pattern, a stock photo used to break up the page. Mark those Decorative. A screen reader then skips them, which is kinder to the listener than reading out "decorative swirl" a dozen times.
Document language
Setting the document language tells assistive technology which language the text is in. Without it, a screen reader may read an English document with the wrong pronunciation rules, which can make it very hard to follow. It takes a moment to set and fixes one of the most common failures in an accessibility check.
Document title
Setting the document title gives the PDF a real name. Once it's set, the window shows the title rather than the file name, and so do many other readers. A screen reader announces it when the document opens, so the listener knows where they are. "Annual Report 2026" is far more helpful than a file name full of underscores and version numbers.
Make accessible
Make accessible runs the built-in action, then alternate text and the check, one after another. It's the quickest route for a document that needs the basics done. The action does the general preparation, then you're taken through alternate text, and finally the accessibility check tells you what, if anything, is left.
Make accessible is also one of the built-in Actions, so if you have a folder of documents that all need the same treatment, you can run it on all of them.
The setup assistant
If you'd rather be led, a setup assistant guides you through the steps. It's a good way to learn the process the first time, and a reassuring one if accessibility is new to you. After a few documents you'll probably know the routine well enough to do it directly.
Fitting it into your work
Get into the habit of setting the title and language on every document before it goes out, accessible or not. They help everyone. Add alternate text as soon as figures are tagged, while you remember what each picture is for. Then run the check. If the document wasn't tagged, tag it automatically first, since alternate text needs figures to be tagged to attach to.
These small settings are where accessibility starts, and in PDF by Zaweba they take minutes, offline, on your own PC.
