[BlindResearch] Seeking Guidance on Accessible PDF Reading and Annotation with Screen Readers

[ronak shah]

Dear researchers,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am reaching out to ask for advice on two specific challenges I’m facing
while reading and annotating research papers in PDF format as part of my
PhD work. I would be truly grateful if anyone could share their experiences
or workflows on these issues.

*1- Accessible PDF Reading:* Many of the research papers I need to read are
decades old and often difficult to access with my screen reader (NVDA,
latest version). If anyone has workflows or techniques to improve PDF
accessibility for smoother reading, I would be very interested in learning
about them.

2- *Annotating PDFs with Screen Readers:* I am also looking for ways to
highlight and annotate text within PDFs using NVDA, allowing these
annotations to be captured by tools like Zotero for future note-taking. Any
guidance on annotation methods that work well with screen readers would be
incredibly helpful.

I am working on a Windows 10 university-provided machine, which limits any
significant system modifications. I would appreciate any insights or shared
practices that could help streamline my reading and note-taking process
with PDFs.

Thank you in advance for your time and suggestions.

Warm regards,
Ronak
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