When PDFs Multiply: How Institutions Can Get Accessibility Back Under Control

Every college and university has them. They accumulate over time—across departments, shared drives, websites, and inboxes. Before long, they're difficult to track, harder to maintain, and nearly impossible to govern.

Over time, this can become unwieldy. No one knows how many there are, who owns them, or which version is current. Then comes the realization: every single one needs to be accessible.

The humble PDF.

Anyone who’s managed a digital ecosystem in higher ed knows how PDFs proliferate. They preserve formatting and are easy to share, but before long, every department has its own collection, and every brochure, handbook, policy, form, or set of meeting minutes becomes another document to maintain.

PDFs are easy to publish, but hard to govern at scale. As they accumulate, so does the burden of making them accessible.

Accessibility requirements are more explicit than ever. By April 2027, public colleges and universities must ensure that published content—including PDFs—meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards under the DOJ’s Title II rule. While private institutions aren’t subject to the same deadline, they remain responsible for providing accessible content under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

To help institutions meet this challenge, Modern Campus held a webinar with Dr. Jacqueline Kunkel, Web Manager at Butler Community College. In that session, Dr. Kunkel shared how Butler tackled thousands of PDFs as part of its accessibility overhaul. The response made it clear that institutions everywhere are grappling with the same problem.

Dealing with a sprawling PDF library can feel like an overwhelming lift. But it doesn’t have to be.

Understanding the Challenge

While PDFs aren’t inherently inaccessible, content creators don’t always build them with accessibility in mind. That’s especially true of legacy PDFs created before accessibility became an institutional priority.

Unlike web pages, which rely on structured HTML, PDFs require additional structure for assistive technologies to interpret them correctly. A document that looks perfectly usable to a sighted reader can be difficult or even impossible to navigate with a screen reader.

Building an accessible PDF requires intentional structure behind the scenes. That includes searchable text, proper semantic tags, meaningful alternative text, accessible forms and links, and appropriate document metadata.

Step One: Take Stock and Establish Ownership

Any PDF remediation project begins with a full inventory of the PDFs in an institution’s Content Management System (CMS). There may be hundreds or thousands. It may feel like the Wild West, with no folder organization or naming convention.

Generate a centralized inventory of every PDF (in Excel or another database) and use a simple system, such as color coding, to determine which ones are still in use, who owns them, and what action each one requires.

It’s likely that many PDFs are no longer actually live on a web page. Some Content Management Systems (for example Modern Campus CMS) allow users to identify these “orphaned” files through a report. Often, they make up most of the inventory.

Step Two: Prioritize and Remediate

This is where collaboration becomes essential. Work with document owners to determine whether each PDF still serves a purpose, and if so, what form it should take.

Once ownership is established, determine the right action for each PDF:

• Some PDFs can be archived, and others deleted if they no longer serve a purpose.
• Some can be transitioned into web pages, where they’re easier to maintain and can be checked for accessibility before publication.
• PDF forms can be rebuilt in formats with accessibility baked in. (For example, Microsoft Forms has a built-in accessibility checker).
• For the PDFs that remain, consider rebuilding them using standardized, accessible templates.

As the list of PDFs gets smaller, the focus shifts from inventory to decision-making. Work with departments to determine the best long-term home and format for each piece of content. This takes time, but it often creates partnerships across campus that can support accessibility long after the project is complete.

At this stage, it’s also very satisfying to have a heavy finger on the recycle button.

Step Three: Make Accessibility an Operating Model, Not a One-Time Project

The DOJ’s compliance deadline may be what brought the PDF problem into focus. But a remediation project is about more than tackling today’s accessibility debt. It’s about making sure that tomorrow’s backlog never has a chance to multiply.

That means folding accessibility into everyday publishing practices and building on the relationships developed throughout the project. Give content owners the support they need before they publish, instead of after the fact. Create accessible templates and require an accessibility check before uploading if the CMS supports it.

Pair those guardrails with practical training and accessibility becomes part of the publishing process instead of another remediation project.

Remediating PDFs is more than a web and communications project. It’s an institution-wide initiative that requires shared ownership and clear governance across campus.

Thankfully, progress doesn’t require perfection. With the right approach, even the most sprawling PDF library can become the foundation for a more accessible digital experience. For many institutions, PDF remediation becomes the catalyst for broader conversations about accessibility across campus.

For a more detailed look at how Butler Community College tackled their PDF remediation project, check out the webinar recording.

Whatever stage your institution is at in its accessibility journey, learn how Modern Campus CMS helps institutions improve accessibility through better content governance and publishing practices.

Last updated: July 21, 2026