PDF Accessibility Checker Now Generates Enterprise Audit Evidence

Enterprise-Grade Accessibility Audits, Free and Private

If you've ever needed to prove PDF accessibility compliance for legal, procurement, or regulatory requirements, you know the challenge: most tools give you a pass/fail result, but no forensic evidence to support it.

The PDFlys Accessibility Checker now solves this with enterprise audit evidence — complete with document hashing, compliance verdicts, confidence scoring, and JSON exports for CI/CD integration. All processed entirely in your browser.

What's New: Audit Evidence for Compliance Teams

Document Forensics

Every accessibility report now includes:

• SHA-256 document hash — cryptographic fingerprint proving exactly which file was audited
• Unique report ID — UUID for tracking and archival
• ISO 8601 timestamp — precise audit time in standardized format
• PDF type detection — identifies digital PDFs, scanned documents, or hybrid files

Compliance Verdicts

The checker now provides clear pass/fail/partial verdicts for two major standards:

• WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance — the global web accessibility standard
• PDF/UA compliance — the ISO standard for accessible PDFs (ISO 14289-1)

Each verdict is color-coded in the report and backed by specific check results.

Confidence Scoring

Not all accessibility checks require analyzing every page of a 500-page document. The new confidence scoring system tells you how thorough the audit was:

• Based on page sampling ratio (pages checked vs. total pages)
• High confidence for comprehensive scans
• Medium/Low confidence for partial scans on large documents

This transparency helps compliance teams understand the audit's scope and decide when to run deeper analysis.

Dual-Format Export

Every report can now be downloaded in two formats:

1. PDF report — human-readable audit document with verdict badges and check details
2. JSON export — machine-readable data for CI/CD pipelines, automated workflows, and archival systems

The JSON format includes all audit evidence, check results, and metadata in a structured schema.

How to Generate an Accessibility Audit with Evidence

Step 1: Open the Accessibility Checker

Navigate to the PDFlys Accessibility Checker. No signup or upload to a server required — everything runs in your browser.

Step 2: Load Your PDF

Drag and drop your PDF file or click to browse. The file is processed entirely client-side — it never leaves your device.

Step 3: Run the Accessibility Scan

Click "Check Accessibility" to start the audit. The engine analyzes document structure, tags, metadata, reading order, color contrast, and more.

For large documents, you can choose to sample pages for faster results. The confidence score will reflect the sampling ratio.

Step 4: Review the Audit Evidence

Once the scan completes, scroll to the Audit Evidence section. You'll see:

• Document hash, report ID, and timestamp
• PDF type (digital, scanned, or hybrid)
• WCAG 2.1 AA verdict with color-coded badge
• PDF/UA verdict with color-coded badge
• Confidence score based on pages analyzed

Step 5: Download the Report

Click the download button to get both formats:

• PDF report — share with stakeholders, attach to procurement responses, or archive for compliance
• JSON file — integrate into automated testing pipelines or store in compliance databases

Why Audit Evidence Matters

Legal and Regulatory Compliance

Many industries require documented proof of accessibility compliance:

• Government contracts — Section 508 in the US, EN 301 549 in the EU
• Education — ADA Title II requirements for public institutions
• Financial services — AODA in Canada, DDA in the UK
• Healthcare — patient-facing documents must meet accessibility standards

A report with a cryptographic document hash, timestamp, and compliance verdict is far more defensible than a simple checklist.

Procurement and RFP Responses

When responding to RFPs that require accessibility compliance, you need evidence that your documents meet the standard. The PDFlys audit report provides:

• Clear pass/fail verdicts for WCAG and PDF/UA
• Detailed check-by-check results
• Confidence scoring to show thoroughness
• Timestamped proof that the audit was conducted

CI/CD Integration

The JSON export enables automated accessibility testing in your build pipeline:

# Pseudocode example
run_accessibility_check document.pdf > audit.json
if [ $(jq '.auditEvidence.wcagVerdict' audit.json) != "pass" ]; then
  fail_build
fi

Teams can now enforce accessibility standards before publishing documents.

Privacy-First Accessibility Auditing

Unlike cloud-based accessibility checkers, PDFlys processes your documents entirely in your browser. Your files never touch a server. For sensitive documents — HR files, financial reports, medical records — this is critical.

The audit evidence (hash, timestamp, report ID) is generated locally. You control the data.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between WCAG and PDF/UA?

WCAG 2.1 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is a broad accessibility standard covering web content and documents. Level AA is the most common compliance target.

PDF/UA (ISO 14289-1) is a PDF-specific standard focused on proper tagging, reading order, and metadata. A PDF can be WCAG-compliant but not PDF/UA-compliant if its internal structure is flawed.

The PDFlys checker evaluates both, giving you a complete picture of accessibility compliance.

Are my files safe?

Yes. PDFlys processes all files entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your documents never leave your device, and no data is uploaded to a server. The audit evidence (hash, report ID, verdicts) is generated locally on your machine.

Is it really free?

Yes. The Accessibility Checker with enterprise audit evidence is completely free. No account required, no file limits, no hidden costs.

What does "confidence score" mean?

The confidence score reflects how thoroughly the document was analyzed. For example:

• High confidence — all pages scanned
• Medium confidence — 50-99% of pages scanned
• Low confidence — less than 50% of pages scanned

Sampling is useful for large documents when you need a quick result. For compliance purposes, a full scan is recommended.

Can I use the JSON export in automated tests?

Absolutely. The JSON export includes all audit evidence, check results, and metadata in a structured format. You can parse it with jq, Python, or any JSON-compatible tool to integrate accessibility checks into your CI/CD pipeline.

Related Tools for PDF Compliance Workflows

If you're working on document accessibility, you might also need these tools:

• Redact PDF — remove sensitive information before sharing accessibility reports
• Protect PDF — password-protect audit documents for secure distribution
• Add Text to PDF — add alt text descriptions to images in PDFs

All PDFlys tools are free and browser-based, so you can build complete PDF workflows without uploading files to third-party servers.

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Ready to audit your PDFs for accessibility compliance? Try the updated Accessibility Checker with enterprise audit evidence — no signup required, no file uploads, and no cost.