No. A green checkmark in the PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) or in Eye-Able’s PDF check is an important indicator of compliance with ISO standards, especially DIN ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA).

However, automated checks have their limits. An accessibility checker can confirm that alternative text exists, but it can’t judge whether that text actually describes the image meaningfully. The same applies to correct heading levels or a logical reading order in complex tables, these aspects often require manual review to validate real accessibility in practice.

Adobe Acrobat Pro is a valuable tool for editing PDFs, but it quickly reaches its limits when it comes to accessibility. Creating fully accessible, PDF/UA-compliant documents requires extensive expertise and many manual steps making the process time-consuming, costly, and hard to scale, especially for large document volumes.

That’s where Eye-Able comes in. Eye-Able integrates into your existing systems and automates many testing and remediation steps. Instead of complex manual work on each file, you get a guided, efficient process that stays manageable, even when dealing with large numbers of PDFs.

Software can detect technical tagging, but it can’t assess content quality. Manual review is essential to evaluate qualitative requirements such as:

• Are interactive form fields and buttons clearly labeled for assistive technologies?

• Do all hyperlinks work correctly, and is full keyboard navigation supported?

• Are language settings correctly defined for foreign-language text sections?

If needed, Eye-Able supports you with hands-on PDF remediation including expert assistance from qualified accessibility specialists.

Free tools such as PAC or PAVE are well suited for one-off checks and spot analyses. Like Eye-Able, they test against the same standards (e.g. PDF/UA, WCAG, EN 301 549), and the scope of automated checks is comparable. However, these tools present results differently and are limited when it comes to ongoing, organisation-wide accessibility work.

Eye-Able is designed for companies that want to embed PDF accessibility into their processes long term:

• Integration into existing workflows (e.g. SharePoint)

• GDPR-compliant processing with servers located in Germany

• Built for large volumes of documents

• Combination of automated testing and targeted expert support

• Additional training and services to establish PDF accessibility sustainably

This turns accessibility from a one-off task into a permanent, scalable part of your document workflows.