PDF scanner rules

Understand which PDF usability standards are covered by PDF Scanner.

PDF Scanner uses an open-source PDF rule engine to validate PDF documents against established accessibility standards.

PDF Scanner validates documents against the following accessibility standards:

• WCAG 2.2 (A and AA levels)
• ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1)
• ISO 14289-2 (PDF/UA-2)

WCAG PDF technique coverage

The WCAG PDF techniques are a set of techniques for making PDF documents accessible. PDF Scanner covers a subset of these techniques through machine-checkable rules. Other techniques require manual testing to validate conformance.

The following table lists the WCAG PDF techniques covered, along with its coverage status and any relevant notes.

PDF/UA-1 coverage

You can find the updated list of rules validated under ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1) on this open source profile.

The following are the key areas covered under ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1):

• Conformance Requirements (6.x) - file structure, metadata, embedded files

• Content Rules

  • 7.1 General structure and tagging

  • 7.2 Text content tagging

  • 7.3 Graphics and drawing objects

  • 7.4 Headings (numbered / unnumbered)

  • 7.5 Tables

  • 7.6 Mathematical expressions

  • 7.9 Notes and references

  • 7.10 Optional content

  • 7.11 Embedded files

  • 7.15 XFA content

  • 7.16 Security restrictions

  • 7.18 Annotations

    • Types, tab order, forms, links, media, PrinterMark

  • 7.20 XObjects

  • 7.21 Fonts (composite fonts, embedding, metrics, encodings, .notdef glyph)

PDF/UA-2 coverage

You can find the updated list of rules validated under ISO 14289-2 (PDF/UA-2) on this open source profile.

The following are the key areas covered under ISO 14289-2 (PDF/UA-2):

• Logical Structure and Tagging

  • 8.2 Structure types and hierarchy

  • 8.4 Text representation and natural language declaration

  • 8.6 Text string objects

  • 8.7 Optional content groups

  • 8.8 Intra-document destinations

  • 8.9 Annotations (semantics, tab order, alt descriptions)

  • 8.10 Forms - field structure, context, and metadata

  • 8.11 Metadata - general and interactive aspects

  • 8.14 Embedded files - inclusion and usage validation