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wolfie4wvu44
Participant
May 29, 2019
Pregunta

Alt text not exporting from InDesign (2018) and reading order is way off

  • May 29, 2019
  • 2 respuestas
  • 4933 visualizaciones

I have a document with excel charts that were cut and pasted into an InDesign file. I have put the alt text to each image into the "Object Export Options", however, when I export to an interactive pdf the alt text never comes over. This is a new problem I have started having within the last year. I am running InDesign CC ver 13. Also, my reading order is never correct. I have tried using the Articles option to set the order but it never comes out the same. Any help would be appreciated.

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2 respuestas

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
May 31, 2019

There is a known bug in the InDesign-to-tagged-PDF routine that mistakenly mis-tags the content so that the Alt-Text isn't accessible. It's very difficult to fix in Acrobat without some expert training and tools.

Here are ways to correct the problem in InDesign.

First, review how you're adding the Alt-text per Shrishti's post above.

If that still doesns't correct the problem, upgrade your InDesign to CC:2019 (ver. 14.0.2) to ensure you have the latest version. Although I can't definitely say that this bug was corrected in the current InDesign, we haven't noticed it yet in our PDFs.

Another option to try: instead of cutting/pasting into InDesign, paste the Excel chart graphics into Illustrator instead. Then save the chart as an .AI, .EPS, .PNG, or graphical PDF (that's the PDF you Save As from Illustrator).

Bring that graphic into InDesign (via File/Place) and put the Alt-Text on that.

Sometimes a direct copy/paste into InDesign doesn't allow the Alt-Text to "stick" to the graphic or it gets miscoded in the PDF.

Hope this helps.

--Bevi Chagnon

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
    W
    wolfie4wvu44Autor
    Participant
    June 3, 2019

    The link that Srishti provided is the way I was entering the alt text so that wasn't working. However, Bevi I tried your advice about cutting the chart from Excel and turning it into an AI file. Then I placed it into InDesign and tagged it. That worked. Very long roundabout way of doing it but it does work.

    I am running Windows 10 Enterprise

    I use Adobe Acrobat to work on PDFs

    This issue is related to any chart I cut and paste into InDesign.

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    June 3, 2019

    Great that it worked.

    Remember, for graphics to be tagged correctly in the exported PDF, InDesign needs some sort of graphic file format to hang the coding on. EPS, AI, PDF, TIF, JPG, PNG whatever works for you.

    Think of it this way: Alt-Text isn't a tag. Instead it's an attribute on the <Figure> tag.

    Graphic file  =>  Figure tag  =>  Alt-text on the Figure tag.

    |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bevi Chagnon &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Designer, Trainer, &amp; Technologist for Accessible Documents ||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PubCom |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Classes &amp; Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs &amp; MS Office |
      Srishti_Bali
      Srishti_Bali
      Legend
      May 31, 2019

      Hi there,

      Thanks for reaching out. As per your query, when you add Alternate text to the images (excel charts) it doesn't come up in exported PDF. Try following the steps shared here to add Alternate text: Adding alternate text to images | Adobe Indesign accessibility. If that doesn't help, please share the following details:

      • OS (exact version of Windows/MAC)
      • Which application you are using to open PDFs?
      • Is the issue related to a specific document(s)/asset(s)? If yes, can you please share the document(s)/asset(s) with us?
      • Try following the steps shared above on a new file and check how it works?

      Regards,

      Srishti

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