CyberNative

What your PDF's tags give a screen reader

Before you post a PDF, see what its tags give a screen reader: the headings, the pictures and whether they have a description, the tables, and the order the tags put everything in, page by page.

or drop it here

Your file stays on this computer. It is read inside this browser tab and is never uploaded.

Example of the result: each page beside a numbered list of what its tags say, in the file's order.

Reading the file in this tab


Tags are the hidden structure in a PDF that reading software can follow: they mark what is a heading, a list, a table or a picture, and the order to read it all in.

What's missing

    This shows what the tags give reading software. It is not a check against the ADA Title II web rule.

    Which posted PDFs that rule covers: our guide

    One file, free

    We tag one of your PDFs free

    Send us a link to one PDF your organization already posts on its public website. We tag it and send back the tagged PDF and our check report, free and with no obligation.

    • One free file per organization.
    • The file has to meet our conditions, among them: typed, up to 35 pages, no scanned pages, not a form, map or drawing. If it doesn't, we say why and you can send another link.
    • We reply within one business day.
    • After that, tagged PDFs are USD 4 per page, with a minimum of USD 100 for each order.
    • We don't say whether a file complies with any law or standard (our Terms).
    Email us a PDF link

    This opens an email to hello@cybernative.ai, subject “Free tagged PDF request (screen reader check)”, with these lines to fill in:

    1. Organization:
    2. Your role:
    3. PDF title or file name:
    4. Page it is posted on (title):
    5. Link to the PDF:

    How this is read

    • The file is read by pdf.js, the PDF engine built into Firefox, inside this tab. This is what the file's tags give reading software. It is not a recording of any screen reader, and screen readers and PDF apps differ in what they do with the same tags.
    • Each page lists the tagged items that have text or a picture on that page, in the file's order. A table or paragraph that crosses a page break appears on both pages.
    • If a file's tags place an item far from its page (for example a page-1 picture tagged at the very end), software that follows the whole file meets it later than shown here.
    • Screen readers that follow the tags skip text marked as decoration. Apps that ignore tags may still read it. Under each page: in a red box, visible words in the page body marked that way; in grey, words near the top or bottom edge marked that way (usually headers, footers and page numbers). Text with no tag at all is listed in red after the tagged items.