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Getting started with axesFlip

Janne Brönner
  • Updated

This article provides an overview of the axesFlip components, explains the basic workflow, and points you to the next steps.

What is axesFlip?

axesFlip automatically converts non‑accessible PDF documents into accessible PDFs. It allows you to:

  • Define document structure and accessibility rules once in a reusable template
  • Convert large sets of similar documents into accessible PDFs using that template
  • Achieve consistent results with high performance, even for large document volumes

At its core, the axesFlip system consists of two components:

  • axesFlip (available in different deployment options)
  • axesFlip Designer

Key components

axesFlip

axesFlip is the execution engine that applies templates to documents and generates accessible PDFs.

It takes two inputs:

  • Non‑accessible PDF documents
  • A template created with axesFlip Designer

axesFlip is optimized for batch processing and can convert thousands of similar PDFs with high throughput.

axesFlip is available in different deployment options:

  • CLI – for command‑line and batch processing
  • REST Server – for service‑based and application integration

Learn more to choose the best deployment option for your process: axesFlip – deployment options and usage

axesFlip Designer

axesFlip Designer is used to create templates.
A template describes the structure, semantics, and accessibility rules for a specific document type.

With axesFlip Designer, you can:

  • Analyze sample documents
  • Define document structure, reading order, metadata etc. in a template
  • Preview the template output using sample PDFs

Learn more: axesFlip Designer – fundamentals

If you are already familiar with the basics and want to dive deeper into the Designer’s building blocks, see the overview of all available nodes in Task pane "Node Library".

You can also learn more about the expression language used in axesFlip Designer to define expressions within templates.

How the axesFlip process works

The axesFlip workflow is intentionally simple and scalable:

  1. Create a template
    Use axesFlip Designer to create a template based on one or more sample documents.
  2. Test the template
    Validate document structure and accessibility in axesFlip Designer and preview the PDF output using your preferred PDF viewers before production use.
    We recommend using axesPDF to review and validate the result (also possible in demo mode).
  3. Convert documents
    Use axesFlip to apply the template to all documents of the same type and generate accessible PDFs.
  4. Optional: Check documents for PDF/UA and WCAG compliance
    Validation of documents for compliance with PDF/UA and WCAG standards is not included in axesFlip. If you want to check remediated PDFs, we recommend using axesPAC for batch processing or PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC) for individual sample documents. Learn more: Checking PDF/UA and WCAG compliance after remediation

This approach ensures consistent accessibility results even for high document volumes.

Starting and operating the components

First, download and extract the axesFlip ZIP package to your computer: Download axesFlip

This ZIP package contains the two components axesFlip (in several deployment options) and axesFlip Designer.

For details on running axesFlip Designer, refer to Starting axesFlip Designer.

How you start and operate axesFlip depends on the selected deployment option. More information:

Demo mode

If no valid license key is configured, all programs run in demo mode. You have access to all functions, but the resulting PDF files have watermarks and random color translations of individual characters.

Working with sample templates

To help you get started quickly, we provide ready‑to‑use templates for sample documents, ideal for learning and experimentation.

Open and explore the templates and documents in axesFlip Designer and run your first remediations with axesFlip.

Download axesFlip samples (.zip file)

Next steps

If you are new to axesFlip, we recommend the following path:

  1. Read the articles in the section axesFlip Designer – Fundamentals.
  2. Download our sample templates and sample documents and explore them in axesFlip Designer: Download axesFlip samples
  3. Choose the appropriate axesFlip deployment option and read the corresponding article on installation and operation:
  4. Run your first remediations with axesFlip.