What this service is
The PDF Accessibility service helps organizations identify, fix, and maintain accessible document libraries that comply with WCAG 2.1/2.2, ADA Title II/III, Section 508, and PDF/UA standards. Most clients publish PDFs continuously—agendas, reports, policies, forms, archived materials—without any accessibility review. The result is a growing backlog of documents that screen reader users cannot access and that create measurable legal exposure.
Northwoods offers a clear progression: a free automated site crawl that inventories every publicly accessible PDF and scores a sample, a paid deep audit with prioritized remediation guidance, a full remediation engagement where Sydney’s team corrects the documents themselves, and an ongoing retainer that monitors new documents as they are published and applies remediation from the client’s backlog budget.
Why clients care: A scanned PDF with no OCR layer is completely invisible to a screen reader—a resident cannot read a city council agenda, a student cannot access a course syllabus, a patient cannot review discharge instructions. Inaccessible documents are actionable under ADA Title II (government) and Title III (private), and have been the basis of numerous DOJ enforcement actions and civil complaints. Most clients have no idea how many non-compliant documents they are publishing each month.
High-interest audiences: Government agencies, municipalities, and school districts face the most acute compliance pressure—DOJ’s 2024 Title II rule sets hard WCAG 2.1 AA deadlines for public entities. Healthcare organizations (HIPAA-adjacent compliance culture) and higher education (Section 508 / Clery Act) are close behind. Any organization publishing more than ~50 PDFs per year is a viable prospect.
SS
Sydney Shimko
Accessibility Compliance Practice Lead
Sydney leads Northwoods’ document accessibility and compliance practice. She specializes in WCAG and ADA document requirements, large-scale remediation programs, and accessibility monitoring frameworks. Sydney works with government agencies, municipalities, school districts, and healthcare organizations to design scalable workflows that bring document libraries into compliance while controlling remediation costs. At M-tier, Sydney leads the remediation engagement directly. At L-tier, her team monitors new documents as they are published and applies remediation hours from the client’s elected backlog budget.
Service tiers — F / S / M / L
F — Free / Quick Scan
PDF Inventory Scan
Free
Agent-automated • Full site crawl • 10-doc sample audit
- ✓ Crawl site for all publicly accessible PDFs
- ✓ Total document count and file size inventory
- ✓ Accessibility check on up to 10 sample documents
- ✓ Tagged PDF detection (pass / fail)
- ✓ Scanned / image-only PDF flag (OCR needed)
- ✓ Language attribute check
- ✓ Document title metadata check
- ✓ Compliance maturity estimate (Level 1–5)
- ✓ Remediation effort estimate
Scope: Full site crawl • 10-doc sample • No credentials needed • Agent: pdf-scanner (planned)
S — Paid Deeper Scan
Full Library Audit
$500–$1,500
Full audit report • Prioritized remediation plan
- ✓ Everything in PDF Inventory Scan
- ✓ Audit of full document library (up to 100 docs)
- ✓ Tag structure review per document
- ✓ Reading order and heading hierarchy audit
- ✓ Image alt text audit
- ✓ Table header structure check
- ✓ Form accessibility review
- ✓ Prioritized remediation plan (by risk & volume)
- ✓ Remediation cost estimate per document tier
Scope: Up to 100 docs • 4–8 hrs effort • Sydney review included
M — Remediation Engagement
Bulk Remediation
$2,500–$5,000
Full manual remediation • QA tested • Delivered accessible
- ✓ Everything in Full Library Audit
- ✓ Manual tag structure correction
- ✓ Proper heading hierarchy established
- ✓ Reading order corrected
- ✓ Alt text added to images and charts
- ✓ OCR applied to scanned documents
- ✓ Form fields made accessible
- ✓ Screen reader QA on all remediated files
- ✓ Delivery of validated, accessible PDFs
Scope: Priority document backlog • Per-document pricing also available ($3–$9/page) • Sydney-led
L — Retainer
Ongoing Compliance Program
Retainer
Continuous monitoring • New doc remediation • Dashboard KPIs
- ✓ Everything in Bulk Remediation
- ✓ Automated monitoring for newly published PDFs
- ✓ Non-compliant new docs flagged within 24–48 hrs
- ✓ Remediation hours from client backlog budget
- ✓ Monthly compliance dashboard and report
- ✓ Quarterly compliance review with Sydney
- ✓ Publishing workflow recommendations
- ✓ Staff guidance on accessible document creation
Scope: Ongoing • Full library + new docs • Monthly monitoring • Dashboard KPIs
Per-page vs. retainer pricing: M-tier remediation can also be scoped per page ($3–$9/page depending on document complexity) for clients who prefer project-based billing. Retainer pricing at L-tier is better for organizations with continuous publishing workflows—the monitoring and backlog model prevents the library from re-accumulating issues.
What the agent checks
| Check |
F — Free |
S — Audit |
M — Remed. |
| Document Structure |
| Tagged PDF (structure tree present) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Heading hierarchy and logical reading order | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bookmark / navigation structure | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Correct use of structural tags (lists, paragraphs) | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Content Accessibility |
| Alternative text for images and charts | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Table header structure and relationships | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Form fields with accessible labels | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Link descriptions (not "click here") | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document Metadata |
| Document title attribute present | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Document language attribute set | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Author and subject metadata | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scanned Documents |
| Scanned / image-only PDF detected | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR text layer accuracy | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR text layer correction and re-tagging | — | — | ✓ |
| Screen Reader Validation |
| PAC 3 / axe-core automated validation | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manual screen reader testing (NVDA / JAWS) | — | — | ✓ |
✓ Included — Not included
PDF accessibility maturity model
Every engagement begins with a maturity assessment. This gives clients a clear benchmark, a gap to close, and a basis for measuring progress over time. Most organizations enter at Level 1 or 2 and do not know it.
1
Reactive
PDFs published with no accessibility checks. Issues addressed only after complaints.
2
Aware
Organization understands obligations but has no process. Audits begin.
3
Managed
Remediation workflows established. Priority backlog being addressed.
4
Scalable
Automated monitoring. Standard remediation pipeline. Staff guidance in place.
5
Proactive
Accessibility built into publishing. New documents accessible by default.
Most clients enter at Level 1–2 and target Level 3–4 within the first retainer year. Level 5 requires process changes to document authoring—a governance conversation for M–L tier engagements.
Sample output — PDF Inventory Scan (F tier)
This is representative of what a prospect receives from the free automated crawl. The scan discovers every publicly accessible PDF on their site and audits a 10-document sample—no credentials required.
Scanned: www.example-municipality.gov — April 10, 2026 — Full site crawl • 10-document sample audit
✓
PDFs Discovered
347 publicly accessible documents found
✗
Scanned / Image-Only PDFs
89 documents (26%) have no readable text layer
✗
Tagged PDFs (Structure Tree)
61 of 347 documents are tagged (18% pass rate)
!
Document Title Metadata
204 documents missing title attribute
✗
Language Attribute
Only 34 documents have language set correctly
!
Sample Audit — Alt Text (10 docs)
7 of 10 sampled docs have images with no alt text
✗
Sample Audit — Heading Structure (10 docs)
9 of 10 sampled docs have no heading hierarchy
Estimated Compliance Maturity
Level 1 / 5 Reactive — significant backlog
What happens next: The prospect receives a one-page PDF summary showing their total document count, the percentage that are image-only (unreadable by screen readers), the sample audit results, and a rough remediation estimate. The CTA offers a Full Library Audit ($500–$1,500) that covers up to 100 documents with a prioritized, per-document remediation plan and cost estimate.
Sample output — Remediation plan (Full Library Audit)
The Full Library Audit produces a prioritized remediation plan categorized by risk, regulatory exposure, and document visibility. Example below is based on a typical municipality engagement.
High
Remediate 89 scanned/image-only PDFs (no OCR layer)
These documents are completely unreadable by screen readers. Legally indefensible under ADA Title II. Remediation: OCR processing + tagging. Complexity: Medium — pipeline approach recommended for volume. Estimated: $3–$5/page.
60 days
High
Add structure tags to high-traffic untagged documents (priority 50)
Untagged PDFs cannot be navigated by keyboard or screen reader. Prioritize documents linked from the homepage, forms, and service pages. Complexity: Medium-High (manual tagging required). Estimated: $5–$9/page.
90 days
Medium
Add alt text to images in 204 documents missing language attribute
Language attribute is required for correct screen reader pronunciation. Low complexity per document—can be addressed in bulk via Acrobat batch processing. Complexity: Low.
90 days
Medium
Establish accessible document templates for future publishing
Without author-side changes, new inaccessible documents will continue to be published. Provide Word/InDesign templates that export to tagged PDFs by default. Complexity: Low — one-time setup. Prevents backlog recurrence.
120 days
Low
Add bookmark navigation to reports >10 pages
Long documents without bookmarks are technically accessible but harder to navigate by keyboard users. Address after high and medium items are resolved. Complexity: Low.
180 days
Deliverables by tier
| Tier |
What the client / prospect receives |
Format |
Who produces it |
| F — Inventory Scan |
Full site PDF count, % image-only, % untagged, language/title metadata results, 10-document sample audit, compliance maturity level (1–5), remediation effort estimate |
Single-page PDF summary |
Agent (pdf-scanner — planned) |
| S — Full Audit |
Full audit of up to 100 documents: tag structure, reading order, heading hierarchy, alt text, table headers, form labels, link descriptions. Prioritized remediation plan by risk tier. Per-document cost estimate. |
Branded PDF report (15–25 pages) + spreadsheet |
Sydney (manual audit + report) |
| M — Remediation |
Manually corrected, QA-tested, screen-reader-validated accessible PDFs delivered back to client. Covers priority backlog documents. Includes accessible template for future publishing. |
Accessible PDF files + templates + QA report |
Sydney’s team (remediation specialists) |
| L — Retainer |
Ongoing monitoring for newly published PDFs (flagged within 24–48 hrs). Monthly compliance dashboard. Remediation applied from backlog budget. Quarterly review with Sydney. Staff guidance on accessible authoring. |
Client dashboard + monthly report + quarterly review |
Sydney + Agent (monitoring automation) |
How this service is delivered today
Step 1
Discovery Crawl
Automated crawl of client website identifies all publicly accessible PDFs. Documents are inventoried by URL, file size, and type. Scanned/image-only files flagged immediately.
Agent — pdf-scanner (planned)
Step 2
Audit & Prioritize
Sydney reviews sample documents manually using PAC 3 and Adobe Acrobat. Full-library audit at S-tier covers up to 100 documents. Output: prioritized remediation plan ranked by regulatory risk, user impact, and volume.
Sydney — PAC 3 / Acrobat
Step 3
Remediation
Remediation specialists manually correct tag structure, heading hierarchy, reading order, alt text, OCR layers, and form fields. All remediated files are screen-reader tested before delivery.
Sydney’s team — Acrobat / axe-core
Step 4
Monitor & Report
At L-tier, automated monitoring detects newly published PDFs within 24–48 hrs. Non-compliant documents are queued for remediation from the client’s monthly hour budget. Dashboard updated monthly.
Agent + Sydney — Retainer
F-tier automation note: The pdf-scanner agent is currently planned, not yet in production. The crawl and metadata checks are highly automatable (deterministic HTTP requests + PDF header parsing). Manual review by Sydney is required for all S-tier and above audits. Automation feasibility: HIGH for discovery and metadata; LOW for remediation (manual expert work required).
L-tier dashboard KPIs
For retainer clients, these metrics are tracked on the NWS-360 dashboard and reviewed quarterly with Sydney. They give clients a continuous, measurable view of their document compliance posture and remediation progress—critical for organizations that need to demonstrate compliance efforts to regulators or legal counsel.
| KPI |
What it measures |
| Compliance Maturity Level (1–5) |
Position on the 5-level accessibility maturity model, re-assessed each quarter. Rising level over time is the primary success signal. Most clients enter at Level 1–2 and target Level 3–4 within the first retainer year. |
| Inaccessible Document Rate |
Percentage of the total document library that fails minimum accessibility requirements (untagged or image-only). Tracked monthly. Target: declining trend toward 0%. New documents flagged within 48 hours prevent this number from growing. |
| Remediation Backlog Closure Rate |
Percentage of identified priority documents from the initial audit that have been remediated. Tracked against the original prioritized list. High-priority items (image-only, high-traffic) are flagged if still open after 60 days. |
| New Non-Compliant Documents (Monthly) |
Count of newly published PDFs detected each month that fail accessibility requirements. Target: 0. A non-zero count indicates the publishing workflow is still producing inaccessible documents—triggers a workflow guidance conversation with Sydney. |
Features & benefits
What makes this service distinctive
- Free scan inventories the entire document library—most clients don’t know they have 300+ PDFs online
- 5-level maturity model gives clients a benchmark and a measurable improvement path
- Remediation plan is prioritized by regulatory risk, user impact, and volume—not just a flat issue list
- Per-page pricing available at M-tier for clients who prefer project billing over retainer
- Monitoring at L-tier catches new non-compliant documents within 24–48 hours of publishing
- Accessible document templates prevent the backlog from re-accumulating after initial remediation
- Screen reader QA on every remediated document—not just automated tool passes
- Works on any file origin—Word exports, InDesign, scanned archives, government forms
- Dashboard documentation supports legal defensibility if compliance is challenged
Client benefits
- Know exactly how many documents are inaccessible and what it would cost to fix them
- Reduce ADA, Section 508, and WCAG legal exposure across your entire document library
- Ensure residents, students, patients, and customers can access critical documents
- Stop publishing new inaccessible documents without knowing it
- Demonstrate ongoing compliance efforts with dashboard reporting—useful in legal or regulatory contexts
Cross-service relationships
PDF Accessibility is one half of Sydney’s accessibility practice. The other half—Web Accessibility & Compliance—covers website scanning, WCAG audits, developer remediation guidance, and ongoing site-wide monitoring. Clients with both services active get a unified compliance view: website and documents tracked together on the same dashboard.
CMP / Privacy overlap: PDF documents embedded in websites can contain tracking pixels or links that interact with consent management. At L-tier, Sydney and the CMP team coordinate to ensure PDFs served via the website are flagged in cookie audits and that any embedded analytics are covered under the client’s consent framework.