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Finalizing PDFs to EERE Standards

This page describes the best practices for finalizing PDFs to EERE's standards. Once your PDF has been created, follow these steps to make it fully compliant with EERE standards.

  • Choose File >Document Properties >Fonts to verify that all fonts are Embedded or Subset.

    • Times/Times New Roman, Arial/Helvetica, Courier or Symbol fonts are considered 'Base 14' fonts. These fonts generally fare well with Adobe's font substitution.

    • Avoid subsetting when merging multiple PDFs together.

    • If all fonts are not embedded, then be sure to inspect for substitution impacts such as garbled/missing characters, or boxes for symbols. Select Advanced and make sure Use Local Fonts is unchecked. This forces substitution so you can view the effects of substitution.

  • Proof the PDF

    • Scroll through and LOOK at every page. Look for missing items from charts such as legends and axis titles which sometimes disappear due to incorrect object re-ordering which can result from the tagging process for accessibility.

    • Look for PDF distortions, such as patterns and shading that differ from the native file; the pattern differences may affect the content intent.

    • Look for slow-loading graphics – usually a raster image with a transparent background or a chart with complex blends or patterns.

    • Links to a different drives will default to absolute links…make sure files reside on same network drives.

    • Select the Link tool and verify that all link boxes are in the appropriate places. Verify that link URLs and files are valid.

    • Verify that bookmarks are valid and meaningful.

  • Open the Pages panel and (conditionally) Embed All Thumbnails.

    • Embed thumbnails for documents that open to Pages Panel and Page.

    • Create bookmarks and open to Bookmarks Panel and Page for larger documents that exceed 16 pages or that contain a Table of Contents, such as technical papers and research reports. Do not embed thumbnails for documents that open to Bookmarks Panel and Page.

  • Set Document Properties - Initial View
    • Set Initial View to either "Pages Panel and Page" or "Bookmarks Panel and Page" as appropriate

      • "Bookmarks Panel and Page" for documents that exceed 16 pages and/or have a Table of Contents

      • "Pages Panel and Page" for documents under 16 pages.

    • Set Magnification to "Fit Page" if document is a screen-sized presentation.

    • Set Magnification to "Fit Width" for all other documents

    • Set Page Layout to "Single Page"

  • Enter Meta field information into the Document Summary window

    • Enter Title exactly as it appears on the document

    • Enter in the Subject field a summarized description of the document contents of at least 71 characters (including spaces), not to exceed 200 characters. The most important words should be in the first 150 characters.

  • Verify accessibility for Section 508 compliance by opening the document properties dialog box (File>Document Properties) and verifying the "Tagged PDF" option displays Yes. If not, use Acrobat to tag the PDF, following the steps below.

    • Save the untagged PDF prior to using this function.

    • Select Advanced>Accessibility>Add Tags to Document.

    • If the procedure completes without an error, carefully review the PDF again for any new anomalies occurring from the process.

    • Possible errors include URL links truncating at the pound sign and corrupt layer order on graphics and charts, so elements appear to be missing or covered by something else.

    • If there are anomalies which you are unable to repair or if the process produces an error screen, Revert back to the saved PDF.

    • These changes are irreversible, so be sure not to overwrite the previous file until you are certain the PDF survived the tagging process!!

  • Optimize the PDF
    • Quite simply, do Save As to re-optimize the file. Clicking Save only does incremental saves and unused objects are not removed.