A PDF/UA validation report is the machine-readable list of everything in a PDF that violates the PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1) standard. It's produced by a validator like veraPDF, and it does two jobs at once: it's your work queue (what to fix) and your compliance evidence (proof you checked). Here's how to read one.
What the report contains
A veraPDF report checks the document against every machine-testable rule of PDF/UA-1 and reports each one as pass or fail, with the exact ISO clause for every failure. You can run veraPDF online and get this report in about 30 seconds — three checks free, no account.
The failure categories, explained
Most failures fall into five buckets. Here's what each one actually means and why it matters:
- Missing or broken tag tree. The document has no underlying structure, so a screen reader receives a stream of text with no headings, lists, or landmarks. This is the single biggest failure — without tags, nothing else works properly. Fix: build the tag tree.
- Metadata failures. Missing document title, missing language declaration, or the "tagged PDF" flag is unset. Screen readers need the language to pick the right voice and pronunciation. Fix: set title, language, and the tagged flag.
- Figure tagging. Images present but not marked as figures, or marked figures without alternative text. Fix: tag figures and add descriptive alt text.
- Reading order. The tags exist but the order doesn't match the visual flow — common in multi-column layouts that read across instead of down. Fix: correct the document structure order.
- Tables and forms. Table cells aren't marked as headers, or form fields lack labels. Fix: mark header cells and label every field.
Prioritizing fixes
The first four categories are deterministic — a machine can fix them reliably (that's what automated remediation does). Alt-text quality is the one judgment item: a validator can tell you an image lacks alt text, but only a human can judge whether the alt text is good. On high-stakes documents (financial charts, diagrams), give judgment items a human review. See our compliance checklist for the full process.
What "passes" means — and its limits
A clean validation report means the document meets every machine-testable PDF/UA-1 rule. That covers the vast majority of accessibility barriers, and it's the bar most compliance regimes (ADA Title II, Section 508, EAA) point at via WCAG 2.1 AA. But a pass doesn't guarantee a perfect screen-reader experience — content-level issues like ambiguous link text or low contrast need human judgment. Treat a pass as "structurally sound," not "fully reviewed."
Keep the reports
Every fixed document should ship with its post-remediation validation report. If you're working to ADA Title II deadlines or responding to an audit, those reports are your good-faith compliance evidence — they show you validated against the standard and what passed.
Run your first report
Upload a PDF to the free checker and read the output. For a full walkthrough, see how to check if a PDF is accessible, and for the standard itself, our PDF/UA beginner's guide.
Sources and references
- veraPDF — Reference validator for PDF/UA-1 and PDF/A
- ISO 14289-1:2014 — PDF/UA-1
- PDF Association
- Open Preservation Foundation
How to use a validation report as compliance evidence
A veraPDF validation report is not just a debugging tool — it is an auditable artifact. Here is how to use it in a compliance workflow:
- Pre-remediation baseline. Run the report before fixing anything. This documents the document's initial state — proof that you identified and acknowledged the issues. Auditors look for evidence that you have a process, not that you started from perfect documents.
- Post-remediation verification. After fixing, re-validate. The second report shows what was fixed and when. File both reports together: the pre-remediation report shows what you found; the post-remediation report shows that you fixed it.
- Naming and storage. Name the reports consistently:
document-name-YYYY-MM-DD-veraPDF-report.xml. Store them alongside the document in your CMS or document management system. When a compliance officer, auditor, or plaintiff asks "show me the evidence," you retrieve the report by filename — not from memory. - In procurement packages. For federal contractors submitting Section 508 compliance packages, include the post-remediation report as a supporting document for each PDF deliverable. It answers the question "was this document validated, and what was the result?" with machine-checked specificity — not a hand-waving assurance.
- For ongoing compliance. Set a calendar reminder to re-validate on a fixed schedule (annually, or whenever the source template changes). A document that passed validation last year may fail this year if the source template, branding, or content management system introduced structural changes.
What a real report excerpt looks like and how to read it
A typical veraPDF PDF/UA-1 failure entry reads:
Rule: A document that contains any content shall have a Tagged PDF flag in its document catalog with a value of true.
Clause: ISO 14289-1:2014, Section 7.1, Table 2, Requirement 1
Status: Failed
Location: Document catalog
Detail: MarkInfo dictionary missing or MarkInfo.Marked is false
This single failure means the document is not tagged — and because tagging is the foundation, every downstream check on structure, order, and elements will also fail. Fix this first, and re-validate. In our step-by-step validation guide, this is the very first thing we check.