The exceptions, plainly

The rule doesn't demand that every byte a government ever published be remediated. Five categories of content are excepted — and knowing them precisely is how an inventory shrinks a project to its true size. Summary only; the authoritative text lives at ada.gov.

1 — Archived web content

Content kept only for reference, research, or recordkeeping can be excepted — but the conditions are specific: it has to live in a designated archive area, not have been changed since being archived, and be the kind of content that was created before the compliance date (or reproduces paper records from before it). The practical move is real: create an actual archive section, move the qualifying content into it, label it. An old page that still serves a current function isn't "archived" just because it's old.

2 — Preexisting conventional electronic documents

PDFs, Word files, spreadsheets, and presentations posted before the compliance date are excepted — unless the document is currently used to apply for, access, or participate in the entity's services. That carve-back is the part that matters: a 2019 budget PDF can rest; the 2019 permit application form that residents still download and file cannot. This single exception, applied correctly, usually removes the majority of a government's PDF backlog from scope — and applied incorrectly, removes documents that still carry live obligations.

3 — Third-party content the entity didn't arrange for

Content posted by third parties on their own initiative — public comments on a forum, for instance — is excepted. Content a vendor provides on the entity's behalf is not: the payment portal, the agenda platform, the recreation-signup system are all the entity's responsibility under the rule, contract or no contract. When procurement renews those contracts, conformance belongs in them.

4 — Individualized, password-protected conventional documents

A document about a specific person, behind that person's login — an individual water bill as a PDF in a resident's account — is excepted, unless the entity is on notice that the account holder needs it accessible. Templates that generate these documents are still worth fixing once, because the exception evaporates person by person the moment someone asks.

5 — Preexisting social media posts

Posts made before the compliance date are excepted. Posts after it are covered — which in practice means the social workflow (alt text on images, captions on video) needs to change by the date, not the history remediated.

What the exceptions don't do

They don't create a general "old stuff is fine" rule, and they sit under the ADA's standing duties: if a specific person needs excepted content in an accessible form to use a service, the entity still has to provide it. The exceptions are scoping tools for the inventory — they decide where remediation effort goes first, not whether accessibility is anyone's problem.

Contact

Email alex@adanielsson.com. You'll get a reply from me — usually the same day, always from a person.