Question 1

What is PDF accessibility?

Accepted Answer

PDF accessibility refers to making PDF documents usable by people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers, have visual impairments, or have motor difficulties. An accessible PDF has a proper document structure (tags), reading order, alternative text for images, and other features that enable assistive technologies to interpret and present the content correctly.

Question 2

What is WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance?

Accepted Answer

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1 Level AA is an internationally recognized standard for digital accessibility. Level AA compliance means your document meets a comprehensive set of accessibility criteria that make it usable by the widest range of people with disabilities. This includes requirements for text alternatives, adaptable content, distinguishable content, keyboard accessibility, and more.

Question 3

What is PDF/UA?

Accepted Answer

PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) is the ISO standard (ISO 14289-1) for accessible PDF documents. It specifies technical requirements for PDF files to be accessible to people with disabilities. PDF AA Compliance remediates documents to meet PDF/UA standards, ensuring maximum compatibility with assistive technologies.

Question 4

What types of documents can PDF AA Compliance process?

Accepted Answer

PDF AA Compliance can process most PDF documents including reports, brochures, forms, presentations, and documents with text, images, tables, and lists. We support files up to 24MB in size. Scanned documents (image-only PDFs) may have limited remediation as they require OCR processing first.

Question 5

How long does remediation take?

Accepted Answer

Most documents are processed within 1-5 minutes, depending on the size and complexity. A 10-page document typically takes about 1-2 minutes. Larger documents with many images may take longer as each image requires AI analysis for alt text generation.

Question 6

What does the compliance certificate prove?

Accepted Answer

The compliance certificate serves as documented evidence that your PDF has been processed for accessibility and has passed our validation checks. It includes the document name, compliance score, standards met (PDF/UA-1, WCAG 2.1 AA), issue date, and a unique verification code. Anyone can verify the certificate authenticity using the verification code on our website.

Question 7

Can anyone verify my certificate?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Each certificate includes a unique verification code. Anyone can visit pdfaa.ai/verify and enter the code to confirm the certificate is authentic and view the compliance details. This provides transparent proof of accessibility compliance for auditors, clients, or regulatory bodies.

Question 8

Is automated remediation as good as legacy remediation?

Accepted Answer

Automated remediation handles the majority of accessibility requirements effectively and consistently. For most standard documents (reports, brochures, simple forms), automated remediation achieves excellent results. However, complex documents with unusual layouts, mathematical formulas, or intricate tables may benefit from additional human review. Our AI continuously improves, and we recommend reviewing the compliance report to identify any areas that might need attention.

Question 9

What AI technology do you use?

Accepted Answer

PDF AA Compliance uses Cloudflare Workers AI with advanced vision and language models including Llama 3.2 Vision for image analysis and alt text generation, and Llama 3.1 for text classification and language detection. This ensures fast, accurate, and cost-effective processing entirely within a secure cloud environment.

Question 10

Is my data secure?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Your documents are processed securely using Cloudflare's global network with enterprise-grade security. Files are encrypted in transit and at rest, processed in isolated environments, and you can delete them at any time. We do not share your documents with third parties or use them to train AI models.

Question 11

How does page-based pricing work?

Accepted Answer

Purchase a page pack upfront and use pages whenever you need them. Each page of your PDF counts as one page from your pack. Unused pages remain in your account until they expire (or never for large enterprise packs of 50,000+ pages).

Question 12

Do pages expire?

Accepted Answer

Individual packs (up to 2,500 pages) are valid for 12-24 months. Enterprise packs (5,000-50,000) are valid for 36 months. Packs of 50,000+ pages never expire, protecting your investment.

Question 13

Can I try PDF AA Compliance before purchasing?

Accepted Answer

Public signup is paid self-service. Approved enterprise campaign recipients can use a private 50-page launch coupon to test the workflow with their own documents.

Question 14

How much can I save compared to legacy remediation?

Accepted Answer

Organizations typically save 60-85% compared to traditional remediation services. For example, a university processing 50,000 pages per year could save over $197,000 annually. See our Savings page for detailed comparisons.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do we need accessible documents?

What is PDF accessibility?

What is WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance?

What is PDF/UA?

Why do I need accessible PDFs?

How does PDF AA Compliance remediate documents?

What types of documents can PDF AA Compliance process?

How long does remediation take?

How do you test and certify that remediated PDFs are compliant?

What does the compliance certificate prove?

Can anyone verify my certificate?

Is automated remediation as good as legacy remediation?

Why is the compliance threshold set at 70%?

Can I provide my own alt text for images?

What AI technology do you use?

Is my data secure?

Why might a document fail remediation?

Are there any image formats that are not supported?

How does page-based pricing work?

Do pages expire?

Can I try PDF AA Compliance before purchasing?

How much can I save compared to legacy remediation?

Still have questions?