Accessibility (PDF/UA)

PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) is an ISO standard (ISO 14289-1) for accessible PDF documents. It ensures that PDFs work correctly with screen readers and assistive technologies. PDF/UA compliance is required or recommended in many contexts: government documents (Section 508, EN 301 549), healthcare forms, legal filings, and any organization targeting WCAG 2.x conformance.

Enabling PDF/UA

Add pdfUa to your Document component. The title prop is required for PDF/UA compliance (it becomes the XMP dc:title metadata):

<Document pdfUa title="Quarterly Report" author="Acme Corp" lang="en">
  <Page size="A4" margin={54}>
    <Text style={{ fontSize: 24, fontWeight: 700 }}>Quarterly Report</Text>
    <Text style={{ fontSize: 10, lineHeight: 1.6 }}>
      This document is PDF/UA-1 compliant and works with screen readers.
    </Text>
  </Page>
</Document>

That single prop enables the full PDF/UA-1 structure in the output file.

What Forme Handles Automatically

When pdfUa is enabled, Forme generates the required accessibility structures without additional configuration:

Structure tree — Every element (Text, View, Image, Table, Row, Cell) is tagged with the correct PDF structure role (P, Div, Figure, Table, TR, TD, TH, etc.)
Marked content — All content streams use marked content operators (BMC/EMC) linking each painted region to its structure element.
XMP metadata — The title and author props on Document are written as XMP metadata with pdfuaid:part=1, which is required by PDF/UA.
MarkInfo dictionary — /Marked true is set in the document catalog.
ViewerPreferences — /DisplayDocTitle true so PDF viewers show the document title instead of the filename.
Language tag — The document language defaults to English. Override it with the lang prop: <Document pdfUa lang="de">.
Tab order — Each page sets /Tabs /S so interactive elements follow the document’s logical reading order.
Artifact tagging — Headers and footers inside <Fixed> elements are automatically marked as artifacts so screen readers skip them.

Alt Text on Images

Every image in an accessible PDF must have alternative text. Pass the alt prop on Image and Svg components:

<Image src="./chart.png" width={400} alt="Revenue chart showing 23% growth in Q4" />

<Svg
  width={100} height={100} viewBox="0 0 100 100"
  content='<circle cx="50" cy="50" r="40" fill="#3b82f6" />'
  alt="Blue circle indicator"
/>

If pdfUa is enabled and an image has no alt prop, Forme will still produce a valid PDF, but the image will be marked as a decorative artifact. Screen readers will skip it. Always provide alt text for meaningful images.

Reading Order

Screen readers read the PDF’s structure tree in the order elements appear in your JSX. If your visual layout uses position: 'absolute' or complex flex ordering, verify that the JSX order matches the intended reading sequence.

Validating with veraPDF

For formal compliance verification, use veraPDF — the industry-standard open-source PDF/UA validator. It checks structure tree completeness, role mappings, alt text, and metadata. Forme runs this validator itself: every commit renders a nine-document corpus (five shipped templates plus four HTML fixtures) and gates CI on all of them passing PDF/UA-1 — the compliance claim is enforced, not assumed.

verapdf --flavour ua1 report.pdf

Example: Accessible Report

<Document pdfUa title="Q4 2025 Report" author="Acme Corp" lang="en">
  <Page size="A4" margin={54}>
    <Fixed position="header">
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 8, color: '#94a3b8' }}>Acme Corp -- Confidential</Text>
    </Fixed>

    <Text bookmark="Executive Summary" style={{ fontSize: 20, fontWeight: 700 }}>
      Executive Summary
    </Text>
    <Text style={{ fontSize: 10, lineHeight: 1.6, marginTop: 8 }}>
      Revenue grew 23% year-over-year, driven by expansion in the enterprise segment.
    </Text>

    <Text bookmark="Key Metrics" style={{ fontSize: 16, fontWeight: 700, marginTop: 24 }}>
      Key Metrics
    </Text>

    <Image
      src="./revenue-chart.png"
      width={400}
      alt="Bar chart showing quarterly revenue: Q1 $2.1M, Q2 $2.4M, Q3 $2.8M, Q4 $3.2M"
      style={{ marginTop: 12 }}
    />

    <Text bookmark="Outlook" style={{ fontSize: 16, fontWeight: 700, marginTop: 24 }}>
      Outlook
    </Text>
    <Text style={{ fontSize: 10, lineHeight: 1.6, marginTop: 8 }}>
      We expect continued growth in Q1 2026 based on the current pipeline.
    </Text>

    <Fixed position="footer">
      <Text style={{ fontSize: 8, textAlign: 'center', color: '#94a3b8' }}>
        Page {'{{pageNumber}}'} of {'{{totalPages}}'}
      </Text>
    </Fixed>
  </Page>
</Document>

The bookmark props create a navigable outline, headers/footers are auto-tagged as artifacts, and the image has descriptive alt text.

Combining with PDF/A

For documents that need both accessibility and long-term archival compliance, combine both props:

<Document pdfUa pdfa="2b" title="Accessible Archival Report" lang="en">
  {/* ... */}
</Document>

This produces a PDF that satisfies both PDF/UA-1 and PDF/A-2b. See the Archival guide for PDF/A details.

PDF/UA-2 (PDF 2.0)

pdfUa2 claims PDF/UA-2 (ISO 14289-2:2024) — the successor standard, defined over PDF 2.0. Use it when your workflow targets modern PDF 2.0 tooling; pdfUa (UA-1) remains the right choice for the widest reader compatibility today.

<Document pdfUa2 title="Accessible Report" lang="en-US" fonts={standardFonts()}>
  {/* ... */}
</Document>

What changes under pdfUa2:

PDF 2.0 output is implied. Every font must be embedded — PDF 2.0 removes the standard-14 provision, so register @formepdf/fonts-standard (or your own fonts) or rendering fails with a font-by-name error.
The structure tree uses the PDF 2.0 namespace with a single Document root, and follows ISO 32005’s stricter containment rules (Forme handles this automatically).
Machine-readable graphics carry their data. A <Barcode> or <QrCode> without alt text embeds its encoded payload as the replacement text, so the figure is never silent for assistive technology. Charts and <Canvas> drawings still need an explicit alt.
Internal links and bookmarks become structure destinations — navigation targets the document structure, not just a page position.

pdfUa2 contradicts pdfUa and the 1.7-based pdfa levels (2a…3u); both combinations are refused by name. It composes with pdfa="4" for the modern archival + accessible pair:

<Document pdfUa2 pdfa="4" title="Archival Accessible Report" lang="en-US" fonts={standardFonts()}>
  {/* ... */}
</Document>

Validate with verapdf --flavour ua2. Forme’s CI renders its template corpus as pdfa="4" + pdfUa2 and pdfa="4f" + pdfUa2 and gates on veraPDF’s UA-2 profile.

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Accessibility (PDF/UA)

Enabling PDF/UA

What Forme Handles Automatically

Alt Text on Images

Reading Order

Validating with veraPDF

Example: Accessible Report

Combining with PDF/A

PDF/UA-2 (PDF 2.0)

​Enabling PDF/UA

​What Forme Handles Automatically

​Alt Text on Images

​Reading Order

​Validating with veraPDF

​Example: Accessible Report

​Combining with PDF/A

​PDF/UA-2 (PDF 2.0)

Enabling PDF/UA

What Forme Handles Automatically

Alt Text on Images

Reading Order

Validating with veraPDF

Example: Accessible Report

Combining with PDF/A

PDF/UA-2 (PDF 2.0)