Accessible PDF Forms Made Easy | Word To PDF

Today’s post is a mini-masterclass on building a basic form in Microsoft Word, converting it to a PDF, and making it fully accessible with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. It’s a real workflow that works in practice, not just theory.

Video Guide

Starting Microsoft Word: Set Up the Document

Use Word to lay out the structure of your form. While you can’t make the form accessible in Word, you can design it in a way that makes Adobe Acrobat’s tools work better.

In our video guide, we added the following form structure elements:

• • Add a title using Heading 1 style (e.g., “Feedback Form”).

• • Type each form label (e.g., “Name:”, “Email:”) and create a line by enabling underline (Ctrl+U), then press the Tab key to add space for user input. Repeat the same process for all input areas, such as name, email, and dropdown selections.

• • Check boxes: Use the Developer tab to insert checkboxes or content controls only as visual placeholders. These are not accessible but help guide the PDF layout later.

• • Radio buttons: Type multiple-choice or scale options (e.g., “Option 1” to “Option 4”) with tab spacing between them to allow space for radio buttons.

• • Signature section: Create this using a Heading 2 style with underlined space beneath.

Save the document as a PDF by selecting “File > Save As” and choosing the PDF format.

Clean Up the Tags in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Once you open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, inspect and clean the tag structure to prepare it for accessibility work.

• • Open the Tags panel to check the structure that Adobe Acrobat generated during conversion.

• • Use “Prepare for Accessibility” > “Fix Reading Order” to select and mark visual-only elements (like blank tabs or lines) as artifacts. You can also right-click empty tags or extra containers and delete them or convert them to artifacts.

Add and Organize Fillable Form Fields

Switch to the “Prepare a Form” tool and start placing actual interactive fields over the placeholders created in Word. Our video example covers each of these step-by-step:

• • Enable auto-detection to let Adobe Acrobat place fields automatically.

• • Right-click in the tags panel and create a new tag called “forms placeholder.” Use this as a temporary home for all form-related object references.

• • Resize checkboxes and text fields to match the visual layout of your document.

• • Select multiple fields and set them to the same size for consistency.

• • Manually insert radio buttons next to each option label.

• • Use the Find feature under the tags panel to locate the untagged annotations (new radio buttons and dropdowns) and tag them under the “forms placeholder.”

• • For each field, create a parent <Form> tag inside the corresponding <P> tag (label). Move each object reference under the right parent.

Configure Fields and Set Tooltips

Make sure every form field includes the metadata and accessibility features needed for screen reader users.

• • Right-click each form element and open its Properties dialog.

• • Add a clear and descriptive tooltip for every field. Radio buttons are a special case, as shown in the video example. (Use the same tooltip for related elements in a group, and make each option/choice specific.)

• • For dropdown menus, add all selectable items in the Options tab. Allow custom input if needed.

Test the Form with the Keyboard

Before running accessibility checks, use only the keyboard to navigate through the form. Test tabbing between fields, entering text, toggling checkboxes, selecting radio buttons, choosing from dropdown menus, and reaching the signature field.

Run Accessibility Checks

Use Acrobat’s built-in accessibility checker first.

• • Open “Prepare for Accessibility” and run “Check Accessibility.”

• • Fix common issues like missing descriptions, character encoding problems, or reading order issues.

Then use the PAC 2024 checker for a deeper look.

• • Drag and drop the file into PAC 2024.

• • Confirm that the form structure passes PDF/UA or WCAG compliance checks or fix any flagged errors.

Watch Out for Word’s Developer Controls

If you use Word’s Developer checkboxes or controls, they will appear in the PDF as extra objects that create errors. These often show up as encoding problems or untagged objects in Adobe Acrobat. You can try to delete them in Adobe Acrobat, but that may break other tags or text. In some cases, you may need to re-export the document.

Final Reminders

• • Use Word only for layout and structure, not accessibility features.

• • Let Adobe Acrobat handle the form field creation and tagging.

• • Tag every object reference under a <Form> parent tag and match each one to a visible label.

• • Test using the keyboard, not just the mouse.

• • Don’t rely on checkers alone; verify structure manually in the tags panel.

This process builds a fully accessible PDF form that screen reader users can navigate and complete. It supports standards like PDF/UA and WCAG and passes validation tools when properly tagged and tested.

Let me be your champion for inclusion. I offer tailored solutions (and self-paced courses!) to ensure your documents meet and exceed compliance expectations. For more detailed insights, tutorials, and in-depth discussions on accessibility and related topics, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel: The Accessibility Guy on YouTube. Subscribe for regular updates!