PDF/UA checks

PDF/UA defines what a conforming document must contain; these are the 82 individual checks EqualWeb runs against a PDF to test it. Each one maps to a clause of ISO 14289-2, and most map to a WCAG 2.2 success criterion as well. Open any check for what it means in plain language, why it matters, and a step-by-step fix.

56 of them describe something an author can fix in the source document or in Acrobat. The remaining 26 are marked advanced: they describe defects inside the file's font and encoding internals, where the practical remedy is almost always to regenerate the PDF from a toolchain that produces conforming output rather than to edit the file.

Category

Severity

Fixable by

Search checks

PDF/UA checks, with the check identifier, what it means, severity, category and the WCAG success criteria it maps to.
Check	What it means	Severity	Category	WCAG 2.2
`CHARACTER_UNICODE`	Every character must map to Unicode	Critical	Fonts & text encoding	1.3.1 (A)
`CHOICE_FIELD_OPT_TEXT`	Dropdown options need text	Critical	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`CONTENT_FONT_EMBEDDING`	All fonts must be embedded	Critical	Fonts & text encoding	—
`CONTENT_IS_TAGGED`	All real content must be tagged, decoration marked as artifact	Critical	Page content	1.3.1 (A)
`DOC_ACCESSIBILITY_PERMISSIONS`	Security settings must not block assistive technology	Critical	Document level	1.3.1 (A)
`DOC_LOGICAL_ORDER`	Reading order must follow the visual order	Critical	Document level	1.3.2 (A)
`DOC_TAGS`	The document must be a tagged PDF	Critical	Document level	1.3.1 (A)
`FIGURE_ALT_TEXT`	Images need alternative text	Critical	Figures & images	1.1.1 (A)
`FORM_FIELD_DESCRIPTION`	Form fields need labels	Critical	Forms	3.3.2 (A), 4.1.2 (A)
`FORMULA_ALT_TEXT`	Formulas need alternative text	Critical	Figures & images	1.1.1 (A)
`IMAGE_OUTSIDE_FIGURE`	Images must be tagged as figures	Critical	Figures & images	1.1.1 (A)
`MULTIMEDIA_ALT_DESCRIPTION`	3D and rich media need alternative descriptions	Critical	Annotations	1.1.1 (A)
`SCREEN_ANNOT_CONTENTS`	Embedded media needs a text description	Critical	Annotations	1.1.1 (A)
`TABLE_DATA_ASSOCIATION`	Data cells need to be linked to their headers	Critical	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_HEADER_SCOPE`	Header cells need a scope	Critical	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_HEADERS_EXIST`	Tables need header cells	Critical	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`XFA_FORM_PRESENT`	XFA forms are not allowed	Critical	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`ANNOT_DEPRECATED_TYPE`	Remove deprecated annotation types	High	Annotations	—
`ANNOT_TAB_ORDER`	Pages with annotations need a tab order	High	Annotations	2.4.3 (A)
`ANNOT_TAGGED`	Annotations must appear in the tag tree	High	Annotations	1.3.1 (A)
`CODE_ALT_TEXT`	Code blocks need alternative text	High	Structure & other	1.3.1 (A)
`COLOR_CONTRAST`	Text needs sufficient contrast against its background	High	Page content	1.4.3 (AA)
`CUSTOM_TAG_MAPPING`	Custom tags must be role-mapped	High	Structure & other	1.3.1 (A)
`DOC_LANG`	The document needs a primary language	High	Document level	3.1.1 (A)
`FILEATTACHMENT_METADATA`	File attachments need a description and relationship	High	Annotations	—
`FONT_CIDSYSTEMINFO_COMPAT`	CIDSystemInfo must agree between font and CMap	High	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_CIDTOGIDMAP`	Embedded CIDFontType2 fonts need a CIDToGIDMap	High	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_CMAP_EMBEDDED`	Custom CMaps must be embedded	High	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_TRUETYPE_NONSYMBOLIC_ENCODING`	Non-symbolic TrueType fonts need a valid encoding	High	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_UNICODE_INVALID_VALUES`	ToUnicode maps must not use reserved codepoints	High	Fonts & text encoding	1.3.1 (A)
`FORM_LBL_STRUCTURE`	Visible form labels need an Lbl element	High	Forms	1.3.1 (A), 3.3.2 (A)
`FORM_XOBJECT_MCID_MULTIREF`	Tagged Form XObjects must be referenced once	High	Structure & other	1.3.1 (A)
`H_TAG_USAGE`	Use numbered headings, not the generic H tag	High	Headings	1.3.1 (A)
`HEADER_NESTING`	Heading levels must not skip	High	Headings	1.3.1 (A)
`LINK_PARENT_LINK`	Link annotations belong inside a Link element	High	Links	1.3.1 (A)
`MARKUP_ANNOT_PARENT_ANNOT`	Markup annotations belong inside an Annot element	High	Annotations	1.3.1 (A)
`MEDIA_CLIP_ALT`	Media clips need an Alt entry	High	Annotations	1.2.1 (A)
`NOTE_TAG_USAGE`	Use FENote instead of Note	High	Structure & other	—
`REFERENCE_XOBJECT`	Reference XObjects are not allowed	High	Structure & other	—
`STANDARD_TYPE_REMAPPED`	Standard tags must not be re-mapped	High	Structure & other	1.3.1 (A)
`TEXT_FIELD_RV_REQUIRES_V`	Rich-text fields need a plain-text value	High	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`WIDGET_PARENT_FORM`	Form widgets belong inside a Form element	High	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`ANNOT_INVALID_PARENT`	Annotations must not hang off headings or the document root	Medium	Annotations	1.3.1 (A)
`FENOTE_NOTETYPE`	FENote elements should declare their note type	Medium	Structure & other	—
`FIGURE_BBOX`	Figures need a bounding box	Medium	Figures & images	—
`FONT_CHARSET_COMPLETE`	Type 1 CharSet must list every embedded glyph	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_CIDSET_COMPLETE`	CIDSet must list every embedded CID	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_GLYPH_WIDTH_CONSISTENT`	Declared glyph widths must match the font program	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_TRUETYPE_SYMBOLIC_ENCODING`	Symbolic TrueType fonts must not declare an encoding	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FONT_WMODE_CONSISTENT`	CMap writing mode must be consistent	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	—
`FORM_FIELD_HIDDEN`	Form fields must not be hidden by ancestor alt text	Medium	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`INTRA_DOC_STRUCTURE_DEST`	Internal links should target structure, not page numbers	Medium	Document level	—
`LINK_DESCRIPTION`	Links need a meaningful description	Medium	Links	2.4.4 (A)
`LIST_PARENT_ELEMENT`	List items must sit inside a list	Medium	Lists	1.3.1 (A)
`MARKUP_ANNOT_DESCRIPTION`	Markup annotations need a description	Medium	Annotations	1.1.1 (A)
`MARKUP_ANNOT_TAGGED`	Markup annotations must be tagged	Medium	Annotations	1.3.1 (A)
`MEDIA_CLIP_CT`	Media clips need a content type	Medium	Annotations	—
`MULTIPLE_H_IN_PARENT`	Only one generic H per parent	Medium	Headings	1.3.1 (A)
`OCCD_AS_KEY`	Automatic layer state is not allowed	Medium	Structure & other	—
`OCCD_NAME`	Layer configurations need a name	Medium	Structure & other	—
`OUTLINE_ACTION_ENTRY`	Bookmarks must actually go somewhere	Medium	Document level	2.4.5 (AA)
`POPUP_IN_STRUCTURE`	Popup annotations must stay out of the tag tree	Medium	Annotations	—
`PRINTERMARK_ARTIFACT`	Printer marks must be artifacts	Medium	Annotations	—
`PUA_CHARACTER_USAGE`	Avoid Private Use Area characters for real text	Medium	Fonts & text encoding	1.3.1 (A)
`RADIO_BUTTON_UNIQUE_NAMES`	Radio groups need distinct field names	Medium	Forms	4.1.2 (A)
`TABLE_DATA_STRUCTURE`	TD cells must sit directly inside a row	Medium	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_HEADER_STRUCTURE`	TH cells must sit directly inside a row	Medium	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_LEGALITY`	Tables need valid row and cell structure	Medium	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_REGULARITY`	Tables must have a consistent column count	Medium	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TABLE_ROW_STRUCTURE`	Rows must sit inside the table or a row group	Medium	Tables	1.3.1 (A)
`TOCI_REF_ENTRY`	Table-of-contents entries need a target	Medium	Structure & other	1.3.1 (A)
`XMP_TEXT_PUA`	Metadata must not contain private-use characters	Medium	Metadata	2.4.2 (A)
`DOC_BOOKMARKS`	Long documents need bookmarks	Low	Document level	2.4.5 (AA)
`DOC_PDF_STANDARD`	The file should declare PDF/UA conformance	Low	Document level	—
`DOC_TITLE`	The document needs a title	Low	Document level	2.4.2 (A)
`FIGURE_ALT_TEXT_EXPOSURE`	Ancestor alt text is shadowing a figure	Low	Figures & images	1.1.1 (A)
`FIRST_HEADER_LEVEL`	The first heading should be an H1	Low	Headings	1.3.1 (A)
`LINK_ALT_TEXT_EXPOSURE`	Nested link tags hide the link description	Low	Links	2.4.4 (A)
`LIST_BODY_ELEMENT`	List item content needs an LBody	Low	Lists	1.3.1 (A)
`METADATA_DISPLAY_TITLE`	Viewers should show the title, not the file name	Low	Metadata	2.4.2 (A)
`METADATA_EMBEDDED_FILE_SPECS`	Attachments need a Unicode filename	Low	Metadata	—
`TABLE_SUMMARY`	Complex tables benefit from a summary	Low	Tables	—

Where these come from

These are the checks behind an EqualWeb PDF accessibility report, so a finding in a report and a row in this table are the same thing. For hands-on practice, the Learn section covers the defects most documents actually fail: accessible documents & PDF, tables in PDF, links & annotations, and headings, lists & tag semantics.