How to Make a Scanned PDF Accessible with OCR
A scanned PDF looks like a document but is really just a photograph of each page. There is no selectable, searchable text underneath — so a screen reader has nothing to read, and the content is completely inaccessible. This is one of the most common and most serious accessibility problems.
Step one: OCR to create real text
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) analyzes the scanned image and produces an invisible layer of real, selectable text behind it. This is the foundation — without real text, none of the other accessibility steps are possible.
- 1In Acrobat Pro, choose All tools > Scan & OCR > Recognize text > In this file.
- 2Let Acrobat process every page, then proofread the recognized text — OCR makes mistakes, especially with unusual fonts or poor scans.
- 3Correct any misrecognized words so the text layer matches the image.
Step two: tag the document
OCR gives you text, but not structure. The document still needs to be tagged — headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, and alt text on any real images — before it is accessible. Auto-tag, then correct the structure and reading order.
The best fix for a scanned document is to find or recreate the original digital source. A born-digital file is far easier to make accessible than a scan, and its text is reliable.
Verify the result
After OCR and tagging, run an accessibility check and confirm the text is selectable and reads in order. Upload your scanned PDF here to confirm whether it has a real text layer yet.