After you've created or have a PDF, follow these steps to format it according to Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) standards.

Before you begin, make sure that your copy of Adobe is not using local fonts. You only have to do this once:

• Under Edit > Preferences > Page Display, make sure "Use Local Fonts" is unchecked.

Then check the fonts on your document.

• Choose File > Properties and navigate to the "Fonts" tab to verify that all fonts are Embedded or Subset.
• If they aren't, check the PDF page by page. Look for font substitution issues such as garbled/missing characters or boxes for symbols.

If you're merging multiple PDFs together, avoid subsetting.

Check Language

Make sure that the correct language is set for your PDF. Language options can be found under File > Properties, then selecting the Advanced tab and scrolling down to "Reading Options."

For most uses, the language should be set to English.

Check the PDF page by page.

• Scroll through the document and look at every page. Look for missing items from charts, such as legends and axis titles, which sometimes disappear due to incorrect object reordering that can result from the tagging process for accessibility.
• Look for PDF distortions such as patterns and shading that differ from the native file.
• Look for slow-loading graphics. This is usually a raster image with a transparent background or a chart with complex blends or patterns. If you encounter one, you will need a designer to fix the image.
• Links to different drives will default to absolute links. Make sure the files you're linking to reside on same network drives.
• Under Tools > Edit PDF, and select "Link," then "Add/Edit Web or Document Link." Verify that all link boxes are in the appropriate places.
• Verify that all links work.
• Verify that bookmarks are valid and meaningful. This can be done from the Bookmarks tab on the left side of the screen.
• Verify that the document is accessible. This can be done using the Accessibility Checker, under Tools > Accessibility > Accessibility Checker. Running the checker will produce a report outlining any accessibility issues with the document. 

Based on the number of pages in your file, it will need either page thumbnails or bookmarks for navigation.

Open the Pages panel and choose "Embed All Thumbnails." You do not need to create bookmarks.

• Do not embed thumbnails.
• Go to the "Bookmarks" panel. Create bookmarks. Use your best judgment when deciding how many bookmarks are necessary. A best practice is to follow the structure of the table of contents if your PDF includes one.

This will determine what the PDF looks like when it's opened.

• Go to File > Properties and navigate to the "Initial View" tab.
• Set Initial View to "Pages Panel and Page."
• Set Magnification to:
  • "Fit Page" if the document is a screen-sized presentation.
  • "Fit Width" for all other documents
  • Set Page Layout to "Single Page."

• Go to File > Properties and navigate to the "Initial View" tab.
• Set Initial View to "Bookmarks Panel and Page."
• Set Magnification to:
  • "Fit Page" if the document is a screen-sized presentation.
  • "Fit Width" for all other documents
  • Set Page Layout to "Single Page."

• Go to File > Properties. You can edit the metadata directly from this page. You can also select "Additional Metadata" and enter it there. This information helps optimize your PDF for search engines.
  • Title should be the document's title, written exactly as it appears on the document. 
  • Subject should be a summary of the document. It should be at least 71 characters long (including spaces) and should not exceed 160 characters. The most important words should be in the first 150 characters for search engine optimization.
  • Keywords entered should be terms that are relevant to making your document easier to be searched for online. Enter your keywords separated by a semicolon or comma. 
    • If unsure what to use for keywords, consider important words from your title and subject, as well as subheaders.
• Use the same titles and descriptions on your Energy.gov article pages. See requirements for articles.

Verify accessibility. Go to File > Properties. At the bottom of the Properties box, it should say either Tagged PDF: Yes or Tagged PDF: No. If it is not tagged: Save a copy of the untagged PDF.

• Go to Tools > Accessibility and select "Autotag 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 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.

Go to File > Save As and save the file. This will automatically re-optimize the file.