PDF/UA-1 · CLAUSE 7.16
Encryption blocks assistive technology
The file is encrypted and the permission bit that allows text extraction for accessibility is not set.
Why it matters
Screen readers are refused access to the text outright, which makes the document unusable regardless of how well it is tagged.
How to fix it
- Re-apply security with the 'Enable text access for screen reader devices' permission allowed.
- Prefer no encryption at all for documents intended for public distribution.
- Check permissions after any post-processing step: some tools re-encrypt with default flags.
What the standard says
An encrypted conforming file shall contain a P key in its encryption dictionary (ISO 32000-1:2008, 7.6.3.2, Table 21). The 10th bit position of the P key shall be true
Check your own PDF
Validate a file against PDF/UA-1 and see whether this rule fails in your document.
curl -sS -X POST "https://api.ua1.dev/api/validate?format=compact&profile=ua1" \ -F "file=@document.pdf"