Askem

PDF Fixer

PDF accessibility, fixed automatically

Your website is accessible. Your PDFs aren't. Upload a document and Askem checks it against PDF/UA and WCAG, then fixes what's broken: structure, alt text, metadata, reading order. More than 9 in 10 come back passing, ready to publish, with no manual work.

Book a 20-minute callSee what gets fixed

Last updated August 2026 · Reviewed by the Askem accessibility team

PDF remediation is the work of making an existing PDF accessible: adding the tags, structure and metadata that screen readers rely on, so the document meets PDF/UA and WCAG. Askem does it automatically. You upload the document, it fixes what's broken, validates the result against PDF/UA-1 and WCAG, and hands it back ready to publish.

Trusted by hard-working website teams

ABPICity of HelsinkiAction for ChildrenNHS
Nokian Tyres
DNA

We've spent years on website accessibility. Documents are what's left.

Public-sector organisations across Europe have been under accessibility law since the Web Accessibility Directive took effect in 2018, and the European Accessibility Act extended the same expectations to the private sector in June 2025. Monitoring reports keep landing on the same finding: the websites improved, and the documents on them didn't. Inaccessible PDFs are consistently among the most common barriers still standing, and official guidance still points teams at fixing them by hand, one file at a time.

Nobody has 500 hours

Thirty minutes a document

And that's a document you already know is broken. Finding the broken ones is on top of that.

Then somebody checks it

Manual remediation gets reviewed, because manual work makes mistakes. One file costs two people's time, every time.

And then you publish another one

The backlog is only half of it. Every new report, form and brochure starts the clock again.

PDF Fixer takes the whole step out of the routine, including the review step.

What your PDF backlog actually costs

Change any of these. The numbers are yours, not ours.

Time to fix one document you already know is broken. Finding the issues is on top of this.

Fixing that backlog by hand takes

500hours of manual work67 working days·€25,000 in staff time

Askem does the same backlog in a single run.

Book a 20-minute call about your PDF backlog

How to use it

  1. An upload area reading 'Drop your PDF here, or click to browse your files'

    Step 1

    Upload

    Choose a PDF up to 500 pages. We securely prepare it for analysis.

  2. A progress list. Document uploaded and checking accessibility are complete; applying fixes, validating the results and preparing your PDF are still to come

    Step 2

    Check & Fix

    We find accessibility issues, apply fixes and validate the result.

  3. A results panel showing 32 issues found, 0 issues remaining and 32 issues fixed, above a button reading 'Download fixed PDF'

    Step 3

    Download

    Review the results and download your accessible PDF, ready to publish.

What gets fixed

Not a subset. Every document is checked against the full standard, and everything below is repaired without anyone touching the file.

Fixed automatically

  • Document structure and tags: headings, lists, tables
  • Reading order
  • Alt text for images
  • Document metadata, title and language
  • Artifacts and untagged content
  • PDF/UA-1 and WCAG structural conformance

More than 9 in 10 documents come back passing, and you get the result for every single file, so you know exactly which ones need to be fixed manually.

Automated remediation doesn't transfer legal responsibility. What it gives you is documented, validated conformance for the documents it fixes, and a per-document record you can put in front of an auditor.

One document, or ten thousand

A single document

Drop in one PDF and get it back fixed and validated in minutes. No integration, no project, no procurement.

The whole backlog

Send up to 200,000 documents in one batch. Same fixes, same validation, same evidence for every file.

PDF accessibility FAQs

What is PDF remediation?
PDF remediation is the work of making an existing PDF accessible: adding tags, structure, alt text and metadata so a screen reader can read it in the right order. A remediated PDF meets PDF/UA and the WCAG success criteria that apply to documents, which is what accessibility legislation across the EU expects.
Does automated PDF remediation make a document legally compliant?
It doesn't transfer legal responsibility, and no tool can. What automation gives you is documented, validated conformance for the documents it fixes, and a named list of the ones that still need a person. That evidence is what an audit asks for, and producing it by hand is what takes the time.
What can't be fixed automatically?
Scanned documents with no text layer, complex tables and infographics where the meaning is ambiguous, alt text that needs knowledge of your subject, and forms with conditional logic. Askem flags these rather than guessing, so manual work goes to the handful of documents that need it instead of all of them.
Can Askem fix scanned PDFs?
A scanned PDF is an image of a page, so there is no structure to repair until the text has been recognised. Askem identifies scanned documents and separates them from the rest, so you know which files need to be rebuilt or re-exported from their source rather than remediated.
Which standards do you fix against?
PDF/UA-1, the ISO standard for accessible PDFs, together with the WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria that apply to documents. That combination is what EN 301 549, the standard the European Accessibility Act points at, currently requires. PDF/UA-2 and WCAG 2.2 are supported as they come into scope.
How do you validate the result?
Every remediated document is validated automatically against PDF/UA-1 and the WCAG success criteria that apply to documents, and nothing is handed back unchecked. You get the result per document, so you can show which files pass and which were flagged.
What languages does it work with?
All of them. Documents are processed in whatever language they are written in, and that language is set correctly in the file's metadata, which matters because a screen reader uses it to choose pronunciation.
Does PDF Fixer find the PDFs on my site?
No, and it doesn't need to. You bring the documents: upload one, or send a whole batch. PDF Fixer checks, fixes and validates what you give it, and hands the files back for you to publish. That keeps it a tool you can use today on the documents you already have, rather than a project that starts with a site audit.
Where is my document processed?
Inside the EU. Documents are processed and stored on EU infrastructure and are never transferred outside it, which is what IT and legal teams ask about first. A data processing agreement and sub-processor list are available for procurement.

Preparing for an audit? Read our guide to the European Accessibility Act →

Book a 20-minute call. Bring one of your worst PDFs.

We'll run it while you watch, and tell you honestly what came back and what didn't.

One-time cleanup or ongoing?

No obligation, and no sales script.