Taggart
PDF accessibility software for macOS
Most PDF/UA tooling is Windows-only. What actually runs on a Mac, what each one can and cannot do, and how to work without a virtual machine.
The state of play on macOS
| Tool | macOS | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Taggart | Browser | Check, remediate, reading-order editor, right-to-left repair, report |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro | Native | Check, tag, edit reading order — slowly |
| veraPDF | Native, free | Check only, PDF/UA-1 clause level |
| PDFix Desktop | Native | Check free; its own Pro edition remediates |
| ocrmypdf | Native, free | OCR for scanned input |
| axesPDF | ✗ | Windows only |
| CommonLook | ✗ | Windows only, Acrobat plug-in |
| PAC | ✗ | Windows only |
The three absences at the bottom are the ones that push Mac users into a VM. PAC in particular is what most auditors quote, which makes its absence awkward even though veraPDF covers the same clauses.
A working macOS setup
Check with two tools. veraPDF from Homebrew, plus Taggart’s free validator in a browser. Two independent implementations agreeing is worth more than either alone, and where they disagree you have learned something.
brew install verapdf
verapdf --flavour ua1 document.pdfFix upstream where you can. Word and InDesign both run natively and both export correctly structured PDFs if the source is built properly. This is the cheapest fix on any platform and it is the one people skip.
Remediate in the browser. Reading order, right-to-left repair, alt text decisions and the report.
Keep Acrobat. You need it for editing, redaction, forms, preflight and combining. Taggart replaces one panel, not the product.
OCR with ocrmypdf for scanned input:
brew install ocrmypdf
ocrmypdf --language heb+eng scanned.pdf searchable.pdfTest with VoiceOver, which is built in. Cmd + F5 toggles it; VO + U opens the rotor for headings, links and tables. It is not NVDA, and where you can test with both you should — but a document that behaves in VoiceOver is rarely broken in NVDA.
What you give up
Be honest about it: axesPDF’s table editing is better than anything available natively on macOS, and if complex tables are your daily work a Windows VM may genuinely pay for itself.
For everything else — reading order, language, alt text, structure, right-to-left, and the report — a Mac setup is complete.
Why Taggart is browser-based
Not because a native app is worse, but because the platform question was costing this profession real time. A tool that runs anywhere removes the VM, the licence file, the install, and the “which build do I need” conversation. It also means the Hebrew and Arabic support that no Windows tool offers is available to the people most likely to need it, who are not predominantly on Windows.
Check a PDF free → · Compared with Acrobat →
Frequently asked questions
Why is so much of this Windows-only?
History. PDF/UA tooling grew up around Acrobat plug-ins and enterprise Windows deployments, and the professional market for it is Windows-heavy — axesPDF, CommonLook and PAC are all Windows-only. Nobody decided to exclude Mac users; the market simply never pulled hard enough.
What is the best free checker on macOS?
veraPDF. It is open source, cross-platform, and covers the same PDF/UA-1 clauses PAC does. Run it from the command line or its GUI. Taggart's validator also runs in any browser and is free and unlimited.
Can I remediate on a Mac without a VM?
Acrobat Pro runs natively and can do everything except quickly. Taggart runs in a browser. Between them you can do the whole job — the thing you cannot get natively is axesPDF's depth on complex tables.
Does Preview do anything useful here?
No. Preview cannot see or edit tags, and saving from it can strip structure that was already there. Do not round-trip a tagged PDF through Preview.
Run your own file through it. The validator is free and unlimited — no page cap, no watermark, and no account at all up to 60 pages — so you can see exactly what you are dealing with before deciding anything.
Last updated . Competitor prices are as published by each vendor.