PDF accessibility in your browser

A score and six priority checks, in seconds

The extension checks one document at a time, in the browser. Drop a PDF into its panel, or let it pick up the PDF you are already looking at, and it returns an accessibility score from 0 to 100 with a short summary in plain language. The document is graded against WCAG and the PDF/UA standard (ISO 14289). The six checks in the free summary:

• Tagged PDF - whether the document carries a structure tree at all - the layer assistive technology reads instead of the visual layout
• Document language - whether the document declares the language its text is written in
• Document title - whether the document has a real title in its properties, so it is announced by name
• Image alt text - whether images carry a text alternative, or are correctly marked as decorative
• Reading order - the order in which a screen reader walks the content, against the order a sighted reader sees
• Color contrast - text against its background, measured against the contrast thresholds in WCAG

Prefer not to install anything? The same kind of check runs on the web in the PDF Accessibility Checker.

1. Install

   Add the extension from the Chrome Web Store - in Edge, Brave or Opera too - and pin it to the toolbar.

2. Check

   Open the panel and drag a PDF in, choose a file, or let it pick up the PDF open in your tab. The score and summary come back in seconds.

3. Connect

   Paste your EqualWeb API key into the extension, exactly as in our WordPress, Drupal, Moodle and Shopify apps.

4. Fix it

   Run the full audit of the document and fix it with AI auto-remediation - on your own account, at the platform's rates.

Connect your EqualWeb account with an API key

The quick check needs nothing. The full audit and AI auto-remediation are platform work, so they run on your own EqualWeb account - and the extension reaches it the way all our tools and plugins do: with your account's API key. One key, generated once in your account.

1. Generate the key in your EqualWeb account

1. Sign in at login.equalweb.com.
2. Open the user menu - Hello [your name] at the top right of the dashboard.
3. Choose API. Until you generate one, the page reads You don't have an API key yet.
4. Select GENERATE API KEY and copy the key from the box on the same page.

2. Paste it into the extension

Paste the key into the extension and save - the same step as connecting our WordPress, Drupal, Moodle or Shopify app. From then on, the full audit and AI auto-remediation run on your account, with your credits.

Keep the key private. It carries the permissions of your account - treat it like a password, and ask us at support@equalweb.com for a new one if it is ever exposed.

The full audit

The free summary names six priority checks. The full audit is the same report every EqualWeb PDF service produces - in our plugins and apps, in the dashboard and through the PDF Audit API - with a 0-100 score and a detailed list of what to fix. It checks against WCAG 2.1 and 2.2, PDF/UA (ISO 14289), the ADA, Sections 504 and 508, EN 301 549 and the European Accessibility Act, covering:

• Document structure and reading order - the tag tree, and the order the content is read in
• Semantic tagging - headings, lists and tables marked as what they are
• Alternative text - text alternatives for images and graphics
• Labelled form fields - every field announced with a name and a purpose
• Color contrast - text against its background

An audit tells you where a document stands against those standards. It is not a statement that the document meets them: a report is evidence, and the work that follows is what changes the document.

Fix it with AI auto-remediation

From the extension, the document goes on to AI Auto-Remediation - the same engine every EqualWeb PDF service uses, on your account, through the same API key. It works on the tag tree and structure, reading order, alternative text, fonts, contrast and metadata, and is charged per page at the platform's rate.

What it costs

The same as everywhere else on the platform. The extension uses the same report, the same remediation and the same credit rates as every EqualWeb PDF service - nothing is priced differently because a document came in through the browser. The rates are on the PDF Tools pricing page, and the current rates for your account are always in your EqualWeb dashboard, where they are updated from time to time.

• The free check

  The PDF is sent securely to EqualWeb's accessibility service to produce the report, processed transiently - not stored and not linked to any account.

• On your account

  The full audit and AI auto-remediation run on your EqualWeb account, under the retention you set there.

• What we never do

  Your files are never used to train AI.

Retention, human review and encryption are set out on the PDF security and data privacy page.

One document at a time - by design

• A whole library is a job for the integrations. To check every document where it lives - WordPress, Drupal, Moodle, Shopify, Canvas, SharePoint, Google Drive, Box - use the PDF integrations; your own system connects through the PDF Audit API.
• It checks documents, not websites. For a web page or a whole domain, see Accessibility Testing.
• The extension changes no price. Checks, AI remediation, web views and expert work cost what the PDF Tools pricing page says.
• A changed document is a new job. Work is done on the file exactly as it was sent; an edited version is checked and fixed as a new document.
• A score is a measurement, not a verdict. No report from us is a declaration that a document meets a standard.