To create a PDF/UA-compliant document from a Word document, with the help of axesWord, it must fulfill certain requirements:
- The Word document needs a meaningful document title (defined in the Word document properties).
- Figures, tables, text boxes, headers and footers all have a suitable role assigned.
- Each element has a fixed position in the logical order of the document structure (in simple terms, this corresponds to the read-aloud order). This is especially important for anchored elements like images or text boxes.
- Images have an alternative text or are marked as purely decorative. The technical term for a purely decorative image marked as such, is an artifact.
- Formulas have an alternative text, which as a general rule should reflect the linearized form of the formula.
- Tables are real data tables and not images.
- Column and row headers in tables are formatted with their own styles, and these styles have also been assigned special roles in the axesWord document settings.