Course Accessibility Checklist: Accessible PDFs

Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF

Before discussing the accessibility of PDF files, it is important to distinguish between Adobe, Acrobat and PDF. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same.

• Adobe is a company; they are the creators of Acrobat.
• Acrobat is a tool for creating, editing and viewing PDF files.
• PDF is a format or type of document. It stands for Portable Document Format. The PDF format was created by Adobe.

The terms Adobe, Acrobat, and PDF are related in the same way as Microsoft, Word, and doc.

Web AIM has information on how to convert files to PDF format and also the accessibility of these documents. Use the links below to access the Web Aim information.