Resources for document teams
Your PDF
workbench.
Find the PDFs you have. Understand the evidence. Plan the work and check the result. A practical library for the people responsible for documents.
One source. A useful set of distinctions.
| Document | Evidence | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Annual report | 24 confirmed pages | Review source |
| Identical copy | Same file bytes | Track both URLs |
| Application | Count unknown | Check reason |
Scroll sideways to see all columns. Use arrow keys when the table is focused.
Start with the job in front of you.
Three practical routes through the library. Follow the steps or jump to what you need.
Understand your website’s PDFs
Build a list you can trust, then turn the results into a working inventory.
Plan a remediation backlog
Choose what matters first, estimate the work and prepare a useful handoff.
Review a converted document
Compare the exact source and output before deciding what is ready to publish.
Find the next useful resource.
Choose a format, or search for the task you’re working on.
36 resources
Feature walkthroughs
8- Inventory
Count your website’s PDF pages with a clear audit trail.
See how a one-time website PDF page count separates confirmed pages, identical files, uncounted downloads and gaps in website discovery.
- Counting
Understand which PDF links point to the same file.
Understand byte-based PDF duplicates, why filenames are unreliable, and how unique page totals differ from totals across download URLs.
- Inventory
Take your PDF inventory into a spreadsheet.
Learn how to use an Excel PDF inventory report, preserve unknown page counts, filter document results and review website-request evidence.
- Inventory
Leave the scan running and return by email.
Choose an email for a PDF inventory attempt, understand partial-result notifications and distinguish provider acceptance from inbox delivery.
- Inventory
See the evidence behind a PDF profile.
Understand advisory PDF profiles for tags, form fields and sampled page types, including what an inventory cannot conclude about accessibility.
- Inventory
Know where your PDF inventory looked.
Read website coverage alongside PDF counts, understand blocked-request evidence and learn why older inventories may have no exact failed URL history.
- Inventory
Run a one-time PDF inventory without an account.
Learn the guest PDF inventory workflow: review website scope, complete one-time checkout, keep a private report link and optionally receive results by email.
- Inventory
Turn confirmed page counts into a transparent budget.
Use confirmed inventory pages to explore remediation budgets with editable rates, duplicate handling and visible limits instead of a guaranteed quote.
Practical guides
12- Inventory
How to build a more complete list of website PDFs
Combine public links, sitemaps, known download URLs and owner-held CMS records to discover website PDFs and describe the gaps honestly.
- Counting
Count pages in a folder of PDFs without hiding failures
Use a read-only local Python example to count PDF pages, export a CSV ledger and keep encrypted or failed files separate from confirmed totals.
- Counting
Why a PDF can open in a browser but fail page counting
Diagnose PDFs that open visually but fail counting: distinguish retrieval errors, password requirements, damaged structure and unverifiable recovery.
- Inventory
Why your PDF inventory can still be partial
Understand partial PDF reports by separating counting completion from website discovery, with clear examples of failed requests and unknown scope.
- Inventory
Audit PDF download links from the reader’s side
Check public PDF downloads without a signed-in session, log HTTP outcomes safely and distinguish link problems from PDF parsing failures.
- Publishing
Prioritize a PDF backlog around the tasks people need
Build a PDF remediation queue using document purpose, reader impact, current use and ownership rather than page count or sampled complexity alone.
- Publishing
Prepare a source package a PDF reviewer can work with
Package the current PDF, authored sources, required outputs and review evidence for document remediation without losing revision or layout requirements.
- Conversion
Check that PDF-to-HTML conversion preserved the meaning
Review converted PDF text against the exact source, focusing on numbers, qualifiers, links and sequence instead of relying on extraction similarity alone.
- Conversion
Verify converted tables as data, not just rectangles
Check PDF-to-HTML table conversion with cell values, units, header associations and reading context, including merged and continued tables.
- Conversion
Check reading order in multi-column PDFs
Test the intended reading sequence of multi-column PDFs, including sidebars, footnotes and forms, with an explicit sequence and revision-bound review.
- Conversion
Check OCR text against the scanned page
Verify OCR text with source-image comparisons, consequential-character checks and a defect log without treating searchable text as accurate or accessible.
- Publishing
Publish a reviewed HTML alternative alongside a PDF
Plan an HTML alternative with meaningful PDF links, exact-version review, synchronized updates and a correction route for readers.
References
6- Counting
A transparent methodology for PDF page totals
A citable PDF page-count method with definitions, byte-identity groups, formulas, a worked ledger and clear treatment of unknown files and crawl gaps.
- Conversion
PDF document types: what the evidence can tell you
Compare born-digital, scanned, OCR-layer, mixed, interactive-form and tagged PDFs with observed clues, limitations and appropriate review tasks.
- Counting
Uncounted PDFs: reasons and next actions
Look up common PDF counting failures, including refused downloads, passwords, malformed structure and processing limits, with practical owner actions.
- Conversion
Recognize the roles in a PDF tag tree
A practical PDF tag-role reference with heading, paragraph, list, table and figure examples, plus the limits of tag presence and artifact handling.
- Conversion
Map PDF meaning to useful HTML elements
Compare PDF headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, figures and forms with HTML semantics, with review questions for complex conversion cases.
- Counting
Why PDF file size cannot tell you the page count
Understand why PDF bytes and pages measure different things, with practical transfer units and examples that avoid an unreliable MB-to-page estimate.
Templates
6- Inventory · Excel + CSV
A PDF inventory template you can actually maintain
Download a free PDF inventory spreadsheet with source URLs, confirmed pages, identity groups, unknown-count reasons, owners and follow-up actions.
- Publishing · Excel + CSV
A remediation queue built around reader needs
Download an editable PDF remediation queue with reader tasks, impact and use evidence, current sources, routes, owners and next actions.
- Conversion · Excel + CSV
Keep a precise PDF conversion review log
Download an Excel or CSV conversion QA log for exact source/output revisions, text defects, tables, reading order, corrections and verification evidence.
- Publishing · Excel + CSV
Make a document handoff clear enough to verify
Download a document handoff record for source revisions, reader tasks, output requirements, constraints, acceptance checks and delivered evidence.
- Inventory · Excel + CSV
A useful log for website discovery gaps
Download a website PDF crawl issue worksheet for safe URLs, request kinds, response codes, attempts, owner actions and new retest evidence.
- Publishing · Excel + CSV
Record the document version you are actually publishing
Download a controlled document publishing worksheet with source and output revisions, format links, review coverage, open findings and update ownership.
Planning tools
4- Publishing · Interactive
Explore a PDF remediation budget with your own rates
Calculate a PDF project budget from confirmed pages, editable USD rates and contingency, with transparent formulas and no market-average or quote claim.
- Publishing · Interactive
Plan PDF project capacity with explicit assumptions
Estimate PDF project staff hours and working weeks from confirmed pages, minutes per page, review overhead and realistic team hours per week.
- Counting · Interactive
Measure repeated PDF processing you might avoid
Compare confirmed pages across PDF URLs with confirmed unique pages, using an editable rate to explore duplicate processing without claiming guaranteed savings.
- Inventory · Interactive
Calculate counting completion without overstating coverage
Calculate counted and unknown shares of discovered PDF URLs while keeping website discovery gaps separate from counting completion.
Useful enough to reuse.
The examples are fictional and the methods are explicit. Original worksheets are free to adapt under CC0, with optional citation. Technical references link to primary sources, and each page explains its limits.
For standards, authoring tools and jurisdiction-specific requirements, visit the existing accessibility guides. For published evidence, see the conversion benchmark and its methodology.