What's the best tool for making PDFs accessible?
It's the question we get constantly, and the honest answer might surprise you.
There isn't one.
In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax break down how the "best" accessibility tool depends entirely on your starting point. Are you working in Word, InDesign, PowerPoint, Google Docs, or Canva? Do you have a tagged PDF, an untagged PDF, or a scanned document? Each scenario changes the strategy.
We discuss why "born accessible" is always better than heavy remediation, when Adobe's auto-tagging can actually help, why tools like MadeToTag and Access Word continue to be game changers, and how platforms like CommonLook, PDFix, PREP, and Grackle fit into the workflow. We also talk about handling scanned PDFs, the realities of screen reader testing, and why bookmarks aren't the navigation solution many people think they are.
If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to choose the right accessibility tool, this episode will help you stop chasing a magic solution and start making smarter decisions based on context.
Every other week, we unravel accessibility so you can build more inclusive, compliant, and practical documents.
Screen Readers
NVDA
JAWS
https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/jaws
Apple Voice Over
https://www.apple.com/accessibility/vision
Color Checkers
TPGi Color Contrast Analyzer
https://www.tpgi.com/color-contrast-checker
WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker
8-Shapes Contrast Grid
https://contrast-grid.eightshapes.com
Microsoft Color Simulations
https://www.microsoft.com/design/color
Sim Daltonism
https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism
Daltonizer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Color.Adobe
Acrobat Plugins
CommonLook PDF
Callas PDFgoHTML
https://www.callassoftware.com
MS Word Plugins
CommonLook Office
axesWord
Google Extension
Grackle Docs
InDesign Plugins
MadeToTag
https://www.axaio.com/madetotag
PDF Remidiators
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Adobe Bridge
axesPDF
Abby Fine Reader
PDFix
Responsive Table Generator Tool
https://ianrmedia.unl.edu/website-resources/responsive-table-generator-tool/
Grackle PDF
https://www.grackledocs.com/grackle-pdf
Vengage
PREP (Continual Engine)
https://www.continualengine.com/prep
PDF Checker
PAC Checker 2026
https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org
CommonLook Validator
https://netcentric.allyant.com/accessibility-software/pdf-validator/
InDesign Scripts
Keith Gilbert InDesign Scripts
Virtualization for Mac
Parallels Desktop
Windows OS
https://www.microsoft.com/windows
Karabiner-Elements
https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org