axesPDF for Word empowers every MS Word user to create
a top quality accessible PDF in seconds.
Remediation is not needed anymore. Quality assurance becomes a no-brainer.
The key is to use styles and templates that are optimized for accessibility.
Everything else is done by axesPDF for Word.
axesPDF for Word is not only a tool to create PDF documents.
The maximum benefit occurs if the Word documents are already
prepared for accessibility and working with axesPDF for Word.
It is reasonable to save essential settings and converting rules in the template
so that the author (the content creator) has only a minimum of tasks to do.
Author Tasks:
- Use appropriate paragraph styles
- Use appropriate Word functions for specific elements
- for example creating captions, footnotes, table of contents,
links, references or hyphenation
- If necessary: Add further information to the used roles
- for example alternative texts for figures or formulas
- If necessary: Change the standard role in case of specific elements
What does axesPDF for Word do when converting a document?
axesPDF for Word executes a multi-level process when converting a document.
The process contains the following 3 levels:
- Creating a PDF document on the basis of an own conversion
- Analyzing the Word document
- Creating a logical structure in the PDF (PDF structure tree)
on the basis of Word functions styles and role mapping
Role Mapping
To get the best result in terms of PDF accessibility each element
of the Word document must have the correct role mapping.
Requirements on Word Documents
A Word document has to fulfill several requirements so that
axesPDF for Word can create a conformant PDF/UA document:
- Each element has an appropriate Role Mapping
- Each element has a defined position in the logical order of
the document structure (i.e. this corresponds to the Reading Order).
- Figures have an Alternative Text or are marked as decorative elements;
the latter is called Artifact in technical language.
- Formulas have an Alternate Text,
which normally is the linearized form of the formula
- Tables are data tables and not pictures
- Column and Row Hearders in tables are marked accordingly
Prepared Templates
You can use axesPDF for Word with each Word document,
also those based on the Word standard template (Normal.dotx).
However, you will get the best result if you work with prepared templates.
Such templates make the work for authors much easier when
creating accessible documents, as they just have to use
appropriate paragraph styles or quick parts.