Setting accessibility preferences

Reader provides several preferences that help make the reading of PDFs more accessible for visually impaired and motion-impaired users, including preferences that control how PDFs appear on the screen and are read by a screen reader.

Most preferences related to accessibility are available through the Accessibility Setup Assistant, which provides on-screen instructions for setting these preferences. Some preferences that affect accessibility aren’t available through the Accessibility Setup Assistant; these include preferences in the Reading, Forms, and Multimedia categories. You can set all preferences in the Preferences dialog box.

The names shown for some preferences in the Accessibility Setup Assistant are different from the names for the same preferences shown in the Preferences dialog box. Reader Help uses the names shown in the Preferences dialog box.

For more information about accessibility features in Reader and PDF, visit the accessibility page of the Adobe website.

Set accessibility preferences with the Accessibility Setup Assistant

  1. Start the Accessibility Setup Assistant by doing one of the following:

    • Choose Advanced > Accessibility > Setup Assistant.

    • (Windows only) Start Reader for the first time while a screen reader or screen magnifier is running.

  2. Choose the option that is appropriate for your assistive software and devices.

    The assistant presents only preferences that are appropriate for your assistive software and devices, according to the option that you choose.

  3. Follow the on-screen instructions. If you click Cancel at any point, Reader uses default settings for the preferences set by the assistant (not recommended).

Set accessibility preferences with the Preferences dialog box

  1. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac OS).
  2. Set preferences as appropriate for your assistive software and devices in various panels of the Preferences dialog box.

Accessibility preferences

Accessibility preferences in Accessibility panel

Replace Document Colors

When this preference is selected, you can choose from a list of contrasting color combinations for text and background, or you can create your own. These settings correspond to the Use High Contrast Colors For Document Text option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Always Use Page Layout Style

Corresponds to the Override Page Layout Style option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Always Use Zoom Setting

Corresponds to the Override Document Zoom option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Use Document Structure For Tab Order When No Explicit Tab Order Is Specified

Improves navigation of form fields and links in documents that don’t specify a tab order. This preference corresponds to the Use Document Structure For Tab Order When No Explicit Tab Order Is Specified option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Always Display The Keyboard Selection Cursor

Select this option if you use a screen magnifier. This preference corresponds to the Always Display The Keyboard Selection Cursor option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Accessibility preferences in Documents panel

Automatically Save Document Changes To Temporary File

When deselected, this preference disables the auto-save action. Each time a PDF is saved, the screen reader or magnifier must reload the document. This preference corresponds to the Disable Document Auto-Save option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Accessibility preferences in Forms panel

Fields Highlight Color and Required Fields Highlight Color

These preferences specify what colors will be used to highlight fillable form fields. They correspond to the Field Highlight Color and Required Field Highlight Color options in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Auto-Complete

Enables Reader to automatically offer to complete some entries in form fields so that filling form fields requires fewer keystrokes. This preference doesn’t correspond to an option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Accessibility preferences in Internet panel

Display PDF In Browser

Causes PDFs linked to from web pages to open in the web browser instead of a separate Reader window. Deselect this preference for greater control when navigating a document in a screen reader. This preference corresponds to the Display PDF Documents In The Web Browser option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Accessibility preferences in Multimedia panel

  • Show Subtitles When Available

  • Play Dubbed Audio When Available

  • Show Supplemental Text Captions When Available

  • Show Audio Description (Or Video Description, Or Descriptive Video) When Available

These preferences don’t correspond to any options in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.

Accessibility preferences in Page Display panel

Zoom

Sets the on-screen magnification of documents and allows low-vision readers to read reflowed PDFs more easily. This preference corresponds to the Override Document Zoom option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Smooth Text

Controls anti-aliasing of text. To disable smoothing of text and make text sharper and easier to read with a screen magnifier, choose None. This preference corresponds to the Disable Text Smoothing option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Accessibility preferences in Reading panel

Reading Order

Specifies the reading order of documents. The reading order preferences also appear in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.

Infer Reading Order From Document (Recommended)

Interprets the reading order of untagged documents by using an advanced method of structure-inference layout analysis.



Left-To-Right, Top-To-Bottom Reading Order

Delivers the text according to its placement on the page, reading from left to right and then top to bottom. This method is faster than Infer Reading Order From Document. This method analyzes text only; form fields are ignored and tables aren’t recognized as such.



Use Reading Order In Raw Print Stream

Delivers text in the order in which it was recorded in the print stream. This method is faster than Use Infer Reading Order From Document. This method analyzes text only; form fields are ignored and tables aren’t recognized as such.





Override The Reading Order In Tagged Documents

Uses the reading order specified in the Reading preferences instead of that specified by the tag structure of the document. Use this preference only when you encounter problems in poorly tagged PDFs. This preference corresponds to the Override The Reading Order In Tagged Documents option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Page Vs Document

This preference determines how much of a document is delivered to a screen reader at a time. If a PDF isn’t tagged, Reader may analyze the document and attempt to infer its structure and reading order, which can take a long time for a long document. You may want to set Reader to deliver only the currently visible page so that it analyzes only a small piece of the document at a time. This consideration will vary depending on the size and complexity of the document and on the features of the screen reader. When Reader delivers information to a screen reader, screen magnifier, or other assistive software, it loads information into a memory buffer that is directly available to the assistive software. The amount of information that is delivered to the memory buffer can affect how long Reader takes to perform tasks, such as opening the document, advancing to the next page, changing views, and carrying out commands.

Only Read The Currently Visible Pages

This option is usually best when you use a screen magnifier. It improves performance by eliminating the need for the software to process parts of the document that aren’t visible. When Reader sends only the currently visible pages of a PDF to the memory buffer, the assistive technology has access to those pages only. It cannot go to another page until the next page is visible and Reader has sent the page information to the memory buffer. Therefore, if this option is selected, you must use the navigation features of Reader, not those of the assistive technology, to navigate from page to page in the document. You should also set the Default Page Layout option in preferences to Single Page if you choose to have Reader send only the currently visible pages to the assistive technology. Because Reader sends page information about all visible pages, the assistive technology receives information about pages that may be only partially visible (such as the bottom of one page or the top of the next), as well as those pages that are completely visible. If you use a page display setting other than Single Page, such as Continuous, and then you display the next page, the technology may not correctly track which portion of a previous page it has already read aloud. For instructions on setting the default page layout to Single Page, see Preferences for viewing PDFs.

This option corresponds to the Only Read The Currently Visible Pages option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Read The Entire Document

This option can be best if you use a screen reader that has its own navigation and search tools and that is more familiar to you than the tools in Reader. This option corresponds to the Read The Entire Document At Once option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



For Large Documents, Only Read The Currently Visible Pages

This option is selected by default and is usually best if you use a screen reader with long or complex PDFs. It allows Reader to deliver an entire small document but revert to page-by-page delivery for large documents. This preference corresponds to the For Large Documents, Only Read The Currently Visible Pages option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.





Confirm Before Tagging Documents

When selected, lets the user confirm the options that will be used before Reader prepares an untagged document for reading. Tagging can be a time-consuming procedure, especially for larger documents. This preference corresponds to the Confirm Before Tagging Documents option in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.



Read Out Loud Options

Set preferences in this section to control volume, speed, and pitch of the voice used for Read Out Loud. You can choose to use the default voice or any of the voices provided by your operating system. Select Read Form Fields to have Read Out Loud read the contents of form fields. These preferences don’t correspond to options in the Accessibility Setup Assistant.