Skip to main content
N
Néstor_tasman
Participating Frequently
August 29, 2018
Answered

Document Structure and tagging not preserved after exporting to PDF

  • August 29, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1223 views

Hi All,

I've got an annoying issue that cannot be solved.

I've tagged my document using the structure panel and tag, I did this manually as you can see in the image below:

However, When I export the document to a PDF file with the "tagged PDF" "use the structure for tab order" actived. It does not respect the tag structure as you can see in the following screenshot of Acrobat: Those images belong to the same document:

Any clue?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Cari Jansen

    Yes, XML Structure & Tagging are not related to the Tagging you see in Acrobat.

    I generally look at XML & InDesign mainly for purposes of single source publishing and publishing automation. XML is a way of structuring the data basically.

    Have a look at the links Barb shared for some information on creating Accessible PDFs from InDesign. There are a number of other features

    Tools you use in InDesign are:

    • File Info – for adding metadata
    • Articles panel  –to set-up the structure you end up seeing in the Tags panel in Acrobat
    • Object Export Options  –to add Alt text, Actual text, Artifact markup
    • Paragraph Styles – Edit All Export Tags (panel menu) - to assign Tags
    • Live Captions – for Figure/Captions
    • and InDesign's own document structure  and features, e.g. layers panel (has influence over Reading Order), footnotes, links, etc. will all convert. Images will automatically tag as a Figure.
    • and I'm sure I've missed some things here..

    2 replies

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 30, 2018

    Here are a few resources for you on creating accessible PDFs—both cover structure and tagging.

    Adobe InDesign accessibility

    Preparing InDesign Files for Accessibility | Accessibility @ Adobe | Adobe TV

    Creating Accessible PDFs

    ~Barb

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    N
    Néstor_tasmanAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 31, 2018

    Thanks for sharing those link BarbBinder, I really appreciate,

    I will have a look at it to learn more about this,

    Thanks agaiin

      C
      Cari Jansen
      Legend
      August 30, 2018

      As far as I'm aware the Tags in Acrobat are not generated from the XML structure, but from InDesign's document structure.

      What is it you are trying to achieve?

      For example if you want a Tag in Acrobat to appear as H1 and also actually be a heading 1 level, you'll need to set-up a paragraph style in InDesign named 'H1' [1] AND also assign 'H1' [2] as the PDF Export tag.

      N
      Néstor_tasmanAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 30, 2018

      Thank you very much for your answer, Cari Jansen.

      What you suggested can be helpful to preserve the heading and paragraph structure of the text but it doesn't still work for the rest of the tags.

      What I am trying to achieve is to get the same structure made on indesign to be recognized in  Acrobat. I want to have a tagged accessible PDF with every image tagged as "figure" for instance, and include "sect" and "part" sections to better order my document if necessary and improve  the tags tree and so on. I've done this using the structure panel and tags within InDesign and I want to keep same structure when opening the pdf on acrobat and work the accessibility there in a further stage. In many tutorials they explain this... So it should be working.

      As you said in your comment. Do you mean XML tags created in InDesign only work for html and XML export and not for tagged pdf? Shouldn't it keep it as well in a tagged PDF?

      C
      Cari JansenCorrect answer
      Legend
      August 31, 2018

      Yes, XML Structure & Tagging are not related to the Tagging you see in Acrobat.

      I generally look at XML & InDesign mainly for purposes of single source publishing and publishing automation. XML is a way of structuring the data basically.

      Have a look at the links Barb shared for some information on creating Accessible PDFs from InDesign. There are a number of other features

      Tools you use in InDesign are:

      • File Info – for adding metadata
      • Articles panel  –to set-up the structure you end up seeing in the Tags panel in Acrobat
      • Object Export Options  –to add Alt text, Actual text, Artifact markup
      • Paragraph Styles – Edit All Export Tags (panel menu) - to assign Tags
      • Live Captions – for Figure/Captions
      • and InDesign's own document structure  and features, e.g. layers panel (has influence over Reading Order), footnotes, links, etc. will all convert. Images will automatically tag as a Figure.
      • and I'm sure I've missed some things here..
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices