Do old PDFs, agendas and vendor tools have to meet ADA Title II?

The Department of Justice rule lists five exceptions for archived content, old documents, third party posts, password-protected files and old social posts. Here is what each one covers, why vendor portals are still yours and the order to tackle the pile.

Once county and district staff learn the deadline, the next question is about the pile: years of PDFs, every agenda since the site went live and a payment portal another company runs. Does all of it have to meet WCAG 2.1 AA?

Some of it does not. The Department of Justice rule from April 2024 lists five exceptions in 28 CFR 35.201. They are narrower than most people hope.

In April 2026 the Department of Justice extended the compliance dates by one year. Public entities with 50,000 or more people now have until April 2027. Smaller entities and special district governments have until April 2028, as the SBA Office of Advocacy summary sets out. Our Title II deadline guide covers who falls where.

This guide is not legal advice. Check your reading of the exceptions with your attorney.

The five exceptions in plain words.

The rule text in 28 CFR 35.201 excepts:

• Archived web content that meets the rule's definition (more below).
• Old documents such as PDFs, Word files, slides and spreadsheets that were on your site before your compliance date, unless people still use them to apply for, gain access to or take part in your services.
• Content posted by a third party, unless that party posts because of a contract, license or other arrangement with you.
• Individual documents behind a password that are about one person, their property or their account.
• Social media posts made before your compliance date.

The rule covers web content you provide directly or through "contractual, licensing, or other arrangements". That phrase matters most for vendor tools.

An exception also does not end your wider duty to residents. If someone with a disability asks for an excepted file in a form they can use, you still need a way to give it to them. Decide who handles those requests now.

What counts as archived, and how to label an archive.

Archived content has to meet four conditions, and all four must be met. It was created before your compliance date, or it copies paper or other physical media from before that date. It is kept only for reference, research or recordkeeping. It sits in a dedicated area that is clearly marked as archived. And it has not been changed since it was archived.

The examples in that guide help. A 1998 water quality report in an archive section that nobody has touched qualifies. Council minutes created after the compliance date do not, even if they sit in the archive. A PDF with a current park map does not qualify wherever it is filed, because it gives current information.

To set up an archive section that holds up:

• Give it its own section and a plain name, such as "Archive".
• Put a short note at the top saying the material is kept for reference only and is not updated, with a contact for anyone who needs a file in another format.
• Move only content created before your compliance date.
• Stop editing archived files. If a file needs a change, fix it to WCAG 2.1 AA and move it back out.
• Do not send people there from current pages to complete a task. If a live page depends on an archived file, that file is doing current work.

Which old PDFs still have to comply.

The old document exception ends where a document is still part of how residents get a service. One law firm's summary gives the example of an older PDF form that a town still uses for a program application; that form must meet WCAG 2.1 AA.

In practice, expect these to count:

• Permit, license and program application forms
• Fee schedules and instructions people need to apply or pay
• Bid documents and vendor registration forms
• Current maps, service area documents and rules residents rely on

Do meeting minutes and agendas need to be accessible? Agendas, packets and minutes you create after your compliance date have to meet WCAG 2.1 AA. No exception covers them, because they are new. Minutes and agendas posted before that date can fall under the old document exception, or the archive exception if you move them into a marked archive and leave them alone. The Department of Justice's first steps guide walks through a similar example with a town's older documents.

Vendor tools are still your responsibility.

Agenda software, payment portals, GIS maps, permitting systems, job boards and calendar widgets are not "third party content" under the rule. The third party exception is for content posted by people who are not acting for you, such as residents leaving comments. The same law firm summary notes it does not cover calendar or map widgets you choose to use, content posted by vendors or the platforms that let others post.

The password exception is narrow too. A utility bill PDF about one account, behind a login, may be excepted. The login page, the payment form and the account screens around it are not. Treating a whole billing portal as exempt is one of the common triage mistakes.

How to write accessibility into vendor contracts.

Make the vendor carry the work. At renewal or in a new contract, ask for:

• A clear standard: WCAG 2.1 Level AA for everything the public sees, including PDFs the tool generates, such as agenda packets.
• A current accessibility conformance report, and the right to test the product yourself.
• A fixed time to fix reported accessibility defects, at the vendor's cost.
• Notice before major releases, with confirmation that the release still meets the standard.
• Renewal tied to meeting the standard.

Our county website RFP guide has language you can adapt for a full site procurement.

A triage order for staff.

Work from what residents use to get things done down to what they only read. The exceptions and their limits come from the rule text and the guidance linked above. The table shows the order we suggest and who usually does the work.

Then take these steps in order:

1. List every form, portal and tool residents use to apply, pay or take part.
2. Ask each vendor for a conformance report and a fix date.
3. Set up the archive section and move eligible content before your date.
4. Make every new agenda, packet and form accessible from now on, so the pile stops growing.
5. Remove what nobody needs, where your records schedule allows. A removed file needs no fixing.

Where we can help.

Our ADA website compliance program is built for cities, counties and special districts. We audit your site against WCAG 2.1 AA, sort your content into the rows above, fix what we can, build new accessible sites where the old one cannot be saved and run monthly checks, all at fixed prices. Special districts on the later date can start with our 2028 guide for special districts. For a quick first look at how outdated and exposed your site is, run the free Website Health Check.