Accessible by Design

Etrieve from Softdocs is a WCAG 2.2 AA accessible, ADA-compliant document management and workflow automation platform for education and government.

At Softdocs, Inclusion and Compliance are Core Values

We serve universities, colleges, K-12 districts, and government agencies. These organizations exist in service to every member of their community — including those who navigate the world differently.

We believe technology that excludes anyone from accessing education, government services, or employment is technology that has failed at its fundamental purpose.

That belief is reflected in our software design lifecycle. Accessibility is not reviewed at the end. It is intrinsic to every design, build, and test stage.

Five WCAG Principles for Etrieve Accessibility

  • Everyone must be able to see or hear your content

    Within Etrieve, clear descriptive field labels are programmatically associated, alternative text descriptions are enforced for all images and icons, screen reader announcements match what users see, and all text is "live" (no scanned or flattened PDFs).

  • Users must be able to complete forms without a mouse

    Students, staff, parents, constituents, and any other person completing an Etrieve form has full keyboard access for all interactive elements with a predictable tab order, clear focus indicators, and zero options restricted to only drag-and-drop or gestures.

  • Content must be predictable and easy to follow

    Besides navigable interfaces, forms have consistent layout and structure, clear instructions and validation messages, logical field groupings, and conditional fields appear only when needed.

  • Forms must work with screen readers and assistive technologies

    Just as a form is fully navigable without a mouse, they extend that accessibility to dedicated assistive technologies like screen readers. This includes ARIA markup, proper heading structure, enforced color contrasts, and more.

  • Accessibility must cover the whole process and not just forms

    Beyond inclusive digital form experiences, Etrieve supports barrier-free workflow routing and approvals, ADA-aligned document creation, user-friendly progress tracking, accessible interfaces for staff, and no inaccessible portals or scanned PDFs.

In this short video, see how Etrieve Forms builder enforces alternative text, color contrast, and usability in mobile views.
See how the NVDA screen reader interprets the interface of Etrieve Forms builder to ensure a fully accessible experience.

We're going through a complete website redesign and working to make everything ADA accessible. One big complaint across the college was a lack of access to data unless departments knew exactly where to go to find it. By moving everything into Etrieve, including all of our forms, it has become far more streamlined and accessible. It really turns the platform into a one-stop shop for our data and has helped us accelerate our ADA compliance by centralizing and modernizing our forms.

Ashley Gockman, Client Solutions Specialist College or DuPage
Featured Webinar: All Industries ADA Title II Countdown: What Your Organization Must Fix to Be Compliant

The U.S. Department of Justice’s ADA Title II Web Accessibility Rule is here. All public institutions — from higher education to school districts to state and local governments — must ensure websites, portals, and digital forms meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. Auditing your systems, updating workflows, and deploying accessible solutions takes months, not weeks. Join us to cut through the complexity. You'll hear what’s changing, what to fix now, and how to achieve full compliance the right way. Duration: 30 minutes.

Watch the Webinar

Lisa Spry
Lisa Spry State & Local Government Account Executive Softdocs
Larry Woods
Larry Woods Sales Engineer Softdocs
Blog Post
What WCAG 2.2 Means for Higher Education and Government

Providing inclusive services is essential. Find out how to meet ADA and WCAG standards with a cloud-based document management platform.

Accessibility
White Paper
Etrieve Forms and Flow: Built for WCAG-Compliant Accessibility

Your organization must ensure that every student, parent, faculty member, staff colleague, and citizen can complete your processes without barriers. This white paper demonstrates how Etrieve Forms and Flow helps schools and government agencies meet compliance standard of WCAG 2.1 AA required for Title II compliance.

Accessibility Electronic Forms
Blog Post
What Your Organization Must Do Before the ADA Title II Compliance Deadline

Public institutions must ensure websites, portals, and digital forms meet WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standards. Start auditing your systems now.

Compliance Accessibility