The One Remediation Tool You Should Have...

What's the best tool for making PDFs accessible? It's the question we get constantly, and the honest answer might surprise you. There isn't one. In this episode of Chax Chat, Chad and Dax break down how the "best" accessibility tool depends entirely on your starting point. Are you working in Word, InDesign, PowerPoint, Google Docs, or Canva? Do you have a tagged PDF, an untagged PDF, or a scanned document? Each scenario changes the strategy. We discuss why "born accessible" is always better than heavy remediation, when Adobe's auto-tagging can actually help, why tools like MadeToTag and Access Word continue to be game changers, and how platforms like CommonLook, PDFix, PREP, and Grackle fit into the workflow. We also talk about handling scanned PDFs, the realities of screen reader testing, and why bookmarks aren't the navigation solution many people think they are. If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to choose the right accessibility tool, this episode will help you stop chasing a magic solution and start making smarter decisions based on context. Every other week, we unravel accessibility so you can build more inclusive, compliant, and practical documents. Screen Readers NVDA https://www.nvaccess.org JAWS https://www.freedomscientific.com/products/software/jaws Apple Voice Over https://www.apple.com/accessibility/vision Color Checkers TPGi Color Contrast Analyzer https://www.tpgi.com/color-contrast-checker WebAIM Color Contrast Checker https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker 8-Shapes Contrast Grid https://contrast-grid.eightshapes.com Microsoft Color Simulations https://www.microsoft.com/design/color Sim Daltonism https://michelf.ca/projects/sim-daltonism Daltonizer https://play.google.com/store/apps/ Adobe Illustrator https://www.adobe.com Adobe Photoshop https://www.adobe.com Color.Adobe https://color.adobe.com/ Acrobat Plugins CommonLook PDF https://commonlook.com Callas PDFgoHTML https://www.callassoftware.com MS Word Plugins CommonLook Office https://commonlook.com axesWord https://www.axes4.com Google Extension Grackle Docs https://www.grackledocs.com InDesign Plugins MadeToTag https://www.axaio.com/madetotag PDF Remidiators Adobe Acrobat Pro DC https://www.adobe.com/acrobat Adobe Bridge https://www.adobe.com axesPDF https://www.axes4.com Abby Fine Reader https://www.abbyy.com/ PDFix https://pdfix.net Responsive Table Generator Tool https://ianrmedia.unl.edu/website-resources/responsive-table-generator-tool/ Grackle PDF https://www.grackledocs.com/grackle-pdf Vengage https://venngage.com PREP (Continual Engine) https://www.continualengine.com/prep PDF Checker PAC Checker 2026 https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org CommonLook Validator https://netcentric.allyant.com/accessibility-software/pdf-validator/ InDesign Scripts Keith Gilbert InDesign Scripts https://gilbertconsulting.com Virtualization for Mac Parallels Desktop https://www.parallels.com Windows OS https://www.microsoft.com/windows Karabiner-Elements https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org