Comparison of Free PDF Software
This section will review some of the free PDF convertors and readers currently available and look at whether they offer any accessibility benefits for users.
Convertors
Readers
Convertors
A document created using Microsoft® Word, structured using the inbuilt styles and headings and incorporating images (with alternative text) was converted to PDF using each of the convertors below. The resulting document was then checked in Adobe® Reader for a number of the accessibility benefits that the format can offer.
Cute PDF Writer
Downloadable software or web-based service? Download.
Are there any print preferences? No.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? No.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? No, blocks of text are merged into one another and images are merged into the main text.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order).
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
Other comments: A commercial version (CutePDF Professional) is also available with additional functionality.
Cute PDF Writer
Pdf995
Downloadable software or web-based service? Download; this is a suite three programmes (Pdf995, PdfEdit995 and Signature995) each offering slightly different functionality.
Are there any print preferences? No.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? No, but bookmarks can be inserted using PdfEdit995.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? No, blocks of text are merged into one another and images are merged into the main text.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order).
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
Other comments: Can upgrade to a commercial version; the free version contains pop up adverts.
Pdf995
PrimoPDF
Downloadable software or web-based service? Both software download and web-based services available.
Are there any print preferences within the downloaded software? Some relating to image properties.
Are there any accessibility options available in the web-based service? No.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? No.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? No.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes (but affected by reading order).
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Document colours can be changed.
PrimoPDF
Do PDF
Downloadable software or web-based service? Download.
Are there any print preferences? Yes, scale and resolution can be changed.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? No.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? No.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
DoPDF
Doc2PDF
Downloadable software or web-based service? Web-based.
Are there any accessibility options? No.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? Yes.
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? Yes.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes, but with some of the text merges incorrectly.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
Doc2PDF
GoogleDocs
Downloadable software or web-based service? Web-based.
Are there any accessibility options? No.
Is text recognised as text? Yes.
Are bookmarks transferred? Yes (if created in GoogleDocs originally).
Is the document structure (e.g. headings) maintained? Yes but may require some correction.
Is the reading order maintained when the text is reflowed? Yes.
Is the alternative text for images maintained? No.
Can the document be read using the Read Out Loud function? Yes.
Can the accessibility preferences be changed? Yes, document colours can be changed.
Other comments: Some images were missing from the PDF produced.
Google Docs
Readers
We tested a number of free PDF readers using a document created in Adobe® Professional 8.0 to see whether any of functions that could potentially have accessibility benefits were available.
Adobe® Reader
Were there any accessibility preferences that could be changed? Yes.
Could the document be navigated using bookmarks? Yes.
Could the text be reflowed? Yes.
Was there a facility to have a document read out loud? Yes.
Could the document scroll automatically? Yes.
Adobe® Reader
Foxit
Were there any accessibility preferences that could be changed? In paid version only.
Could the document be navigated using bookmarks? Yes.
Could the text be reflowed? No.
Was there a facility to have a document read out loud? No.
Could the document scroll automatically? No.
Foxit
PDF X-Change Viewer
Were there any accessibility preferences that could be changed? No.
Could the document be navigated using bookmarks? Yes.
Could the text be reflowed? No.
Was there a facility to have a document read out loud? No.
Could the document scroll automatically? No.
PDF-XChange Viewer
eXPert PDF Reader
Were there any accessibility preferences that could be changed? No.
Could the document be navigated using bookmarks? Yes.
Could the text be reflowed? No.
Was there a facility to have a document read out loud? No.
Could the document scroll automatically? No.
eXPert PDF Reader
Sumatra
Were there any accessibility preferences that could be changed? No.
Could the document be navigated using bookmarks? No.
Could the text be reflowed? No.
Was there a facility to have a document read out loud? No.
Could the document scroll automatically? No.
