Adobe Acrobat

Accessibility Settings of PDF Tools - Part 3

Saving PDF As Text File

Adobe Acrobat allows saving a PDF file as a basic formatted text file. This option is valuable to individuals who are using a text browser or who do not have a screenreader that is compatible with Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.

  1. Start Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader.
  2. Open a PDF file.
  3. Go to the 'File' menu and select 'Save As.'
  4. Use the 'Save as type' drop-down box and select 'Text'.
  5. Name the document in the 'Object name' textbox.
  6. Select 'Save' to finish.

Read Out Loud Function

Individuals who are blind or have low vision may use screen readers or refreshable Braille systems to interact with the computer. Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) is a programming interface designed to help facilitate communications between screen reader software and other software programs. Adobe Reader 6.0 and Adobe Acrobat 6.0 work with MSAA to expose important information about a PDF file, such as structure and alternative text, to screen readers and many other current assistive technologies.

Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader offer a Read Out Loud function, which synthesizes text in PDF files into speech using standard Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X capabilities. Additionally, Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat provide support for screen reader capabilities which can include PDF form navigation and toggling between table and text reading modes.

Acrobat Read Out Loud Function

To Set Preferences for Read Out Loud:

  1. 1. Start Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
  2. Do one of the following to open the Preferences dialog box:
    • Press the combination of 'Control (Ctrl)' + 'K' keys.
    • From the Edit Menu, select 'Preferences.'
  3. In the dialog box, select 'Reading' from the left column.
  4. For the Read Out Loud Options, select the desired settings for Volume, Voice, Pitch, and Words Per Minute.
  5. 5. You can also choose to deliver data to the accessibility interface one page at a time for long documents. For Screen Reader Options, select the checkbox next to 'Deliver Data in Pages When Document Exceeds', and then enter the number for the amount of pages to download (default is 10 pages).
  6. Select 'OK' to close the dialog box and save the settings.
User Preferences for Read Out Loud
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