Hi Hannah, Yes, PDF documents will read fine with JAWS. If you can, try the following: 1. Open Adobe Reader. You can find this on your desktop. 2. Press F1. 3. The Adobe Reader User guide will open. 4. As you'll see, JAWS will read it like a web page.However, be aware of the following considerations, which some people have already pointed out: A) Some PDFs are picture-based. In order to read these, an OCR package, like Kurzweil 1000, will be required as the document would need to be recognized first before it can be read. B) Some PDFs have security features that may prevent a screen reader from allowing you to read it. If this is the case, you would need some software that will allow you to decrypt the security features so that you can read it like you would a normal PDF document. This issue has been significantly improved in later versions of JAWS, 8 being no exception, however you may still come across documents which cannot be read by your screen reader. In order for you to tell if security has been implemented, go to the file menu and choose save as text. If JAWS says, "save as text ... unavailable", this means that the action cannot be performed on the document. These restrictions are placed by the author, and not you, since you're the one viewing it and not editing it. C) Some PDFs may not be laid out in a linear structure, causing the screen reader to read it like nonsense. If this is the case, try altering the settings from within Adobe Reader. This can be accomplished by going to Preferences, which can be accessed from the edit menu in Adobe Reader. I believe the keystroke is control K?
I hope this helps.----- Original Message ----- From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 2:13 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: General questions
Hi Hannah, In a word, "yes", but with major reservations in the sense that it's generally the latest versions of screen readers which handle them best, and then usually with Adobe Reader 8. If you can persuade them to put up the documents in both formats, it would be ideal. George. -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hannah Day Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 2:04 PM To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] General questions Hi all. i would like to know if pdf dockuments are accessible with jaws. as my vollentary work placement which it's a organisation for disabled people are in progress of making a website and they would like to know wheater they should have the damloads on the site in word or in pdf thanks hannah ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq