{"id":320,"date":"2025-08-29T10:22:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/?page_id=320"},"modified":"2025-09-03T10:04:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T14:04:25","slug":"myths-paths-forward","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/myths-paths-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths and Paths Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-umflint-templates umflint-template-default\"><div class=\"wp-block-umflint-jumbotron jumbotron jumbotron-fluid jumbotron-page mb-3\" style=\"background-color: rgb(255,255,255);\">\n    <div class=\"container\">\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-secondary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-aa335d3e532b83934843d204805a19f0\">Myths and Paths Forward<\/h1>\n\n<\/div>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"jumbotron-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www-s3.umflint.edu\/wp\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Blue.UCEN_.jpg\" 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itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/www.schema.org\/SiteNavigationElement\" id=\"menu-item-514\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-514 nav-item\"><a title=\"Myths and Paths Forward\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/myths-paths-forward\/\" class=\"nav-link\">Myths and Paths Forward<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/www.schema.org\/SiteNavigationElement\" id=\"menu-item-515\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-515 nav-item\"><a title=\"PDF Alternatives\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/alternatives\/\" class=\"nav-link\">PDF Alternatives<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/www.schema.org\/SiteNavigationElement\" id=\"menu-item-516\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-516 nav-item\"><a title=\"Sharing Read-Only Files\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/sharing-read-only-files\/\" class=\"nav-link\">Sharing Read-Only Files<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/www.schema.org\/SiteNavigationElement\" id=\"menu-item-517\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-517 nav-item\"><a title=\"Shortcomings and Frustrations of PDFs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/shortcomings-frustrations\/\" class=\"nav-link\">Shortcomings and Frustrations of PDFs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/www.schema.org\/SiteNavigationElement\" id=\"menu-item-548\" class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-custom menu-item-object-custom menu-item-548 nav-item\"><a title=\"Accessibility Standard Practice Guide (SPG)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/spg.umich.edu\/policy\/601.20\" class=\"nav-link\">Accessibility Standard Practice Guide (SPG)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/nav>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-9\">\n\t\t\t\n<nav aria-label=\"breadcrumb\"><ol class=\"breadcrumb mb-3\"><li class=\"breadcrumb-item\"><a href=\"\/\">Home<\/a><\/li><li class=\"breadcrumb-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\">Accessibility<\/a><\/li><li class=\"breadcrumb-item\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/\">Rethinking PDFs: Building a Better Learning Environment<\/a><\/li><li class=\"breadcrumb-item active\" aria-current=\"page\">Myths and Paths Forward<\/li><\/ol><\/nav>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-622b340e7e73173d37bdf42eccc874ec\">The Myth of \u201cUnchangeable\u201d PDFs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Many instructors turn to PDFs because they feel &#8220;locked down.&#8221; That used to be true, when PDFs were little more than pictures of words. But today, PDFs can be easily opened, altered, and even exported back into editable documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because the University of Michigan licenses <a href=\"https:\/\/its.umich.edu\/computing\/computers-software\/adobe-creative-cloud\">Adobe Creative Cloud<\/a> for all faculty, staff, and students, anyone can open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat and make changes. That means PDFs aren\u2019t the secure, unalterable files many imagine. Students with access to these tools can edit text, change images, or even re-export the document, all without leaving the PDF format. In fact, PDFs can also be exported directly back into Word documents, where content can be edited and republished just as easily. Even without Adobe, Microsoft Word itself can <a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/edit-a-pdf-b2d1d729-6b79-499a-bcdb-233379c2f63a\">open and edit PDF files<\/a>, making alterations straightforward for anyone with access to Word. Similarly, password protected PDFs can be edited by opening the PDF in any browser and using the \u201cPrint to PDF\u201d function to save a copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So while PDFs may look permanent, they\u2019re actually editable with tools we\u2019ve already put into the hands of the entire campus community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-primary-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-68d6378362560aa8770d68bc3f9fde66\">A Better Way Forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If the goal is to share materials in a format that\u2019s easy to read but not easy to alter, cloud-based options are a stronger choice. Both <a href=\"https:\/\/its.umich.edu\/communication\/collaboration\/google\">Google Workspace<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/its.umich.edu\/communication\/collaboration\/microsoft-office-365\">Office 365<\/a> let you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Share files as read-only, preventing edits while keeping the content accessible.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Retain full control over access. Instructors can decide whether others can view, comment, or edit, and they can revoke access at any time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Keep content current without version confusion. Instead of re-uploading new files, you simply update the document and the same link always delivers the latest version.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When appropriate in your academic courses, post content directly as a Canvas page. This removes the need for students to open or download separate files and makes the material easier to navigate with built-in accessibility tools.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With cloud-based documents, instructors get the peace of mind that their content can\u2019t be quietly altered, while students get materials that are flexible, accessible, and always up to date. It\u2019s a win on both sides.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/rethinking-pdfs\/myths-paths-forward\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"parent":315,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-320","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/320\/revisions\/355"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.umflint.edu\/accessibility\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}