Skip to main content
neighbor98A4
neighbor98A4
Participant
February 25, 2026

InDesign Latest Version Adds Unwanted Span Tags in Tagged PDF Bullet Lists (Accessibility Issue)

  • February 25, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 22 views

Hi there. Since updating to this version I’ve been having an accessibility issue and wondered if I should be rolling back to a prior version? It now adds unnecessary "span" tags to my PDF documents exported from InDesign, which is interfering with their accessibility and requires too much manual processing to correct.

The steps I'm following are:
1. Create a bullet list in inDesign using paragraph styles.
2. Ensure the export tag for that paragraph style is set to "automatic".
2. Export to PDF, selecting "Create a Tagged PDF".
3. When opening the PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro, the nesting order for bullet lists should be: List > List Item > Label and List Item Body.
4. However, after the update it's now adding "span" tags under every "label" folder.

"Span" is an inline-level tag used for styling or formatting, it's not meant for structural elements like list labels. This is laborious to have to fix manually, even more so given I generally make a second, text only version of all my PDFs.

Grateful for your advice!

    2 replies

    M
    Community Expert
    Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 25, 2026

    Hi ​@neighbor98A4 I am not an expert in PDF tagging but I am currently involved in projects that require this. I am not sure if span would actually be a deal breaker here. Could you elaborate on how this will affect something like reading via a screen reader

    -Manan
      neighbor98A4
      neighbor98A4Author
      Participant
      February 25, 2026

      Hello. Span is kind of a generic container that doesn’t actually convey any structural meaning, unlike label tags when used in lists, and most screen readers will ignore them is my understanding. It’s not best practice to use them for list labels, and I’ve found that having them can sometimes produce funny pauses when using my screen reader versus how smoothly it will read without. Ideally, nothing should be interfering with the structural information of your PDF to be on the safe side. I’m still learning myself, but I prefer to err on the side of caution. I just don’t want anyone having a bad experience with my documents, you know?

      M
      Community Expert
      Manan JoshiCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 25, 2026

      I am working on creating a solution for my client to support nested lists with proper structure out of InDesign so I was curious as I did not pay attention to this aspect. Thanks for sharing your thought.

      -Manan
      Abhishek Rao
      Community Manager
      Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      February 25, 2026

      Hi ​@neighbor98A4,

       

      Thank you for sharing the detailed steps. I tested this on my end using a sample file, and I’m seeing the same tag structure in Acrobat Pro when exporting from both the 2025 and 2026 versions of InDesign. To help us compare this more closely, could you please share a sample INDD file (after packaging it: https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/preflighting-files-handoff.html#package_files) where you’re seeing a difference in the tag structure between exports from the 2025 and 2026 versions?

      Also, could you please confirm if by ‘latest’ you mean InDesign 21.2, or if you’re using a different 2026 version? Moreover, you can keep both the 2025 and 2026 versions installed side by side on the same machine, so exporting the same file from each version and comparing the results would be very helpful.

      If the file is confidential, you’re welcome to share it with me via DM using any public cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox. This will help me review this with the team and take it forward. 

       

      Looking forward to your update.

      Abhishek

      neighbor98A4
      neighbor98A4Author
      Participant
      February 25, 2026

      Hi Abhishek, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I’m currently using 21.2 InDesign, but I’m not sure how I could have both this version and the prior version on my machine - Creative Cloud only lets me have one? I also don’t have the package option when I try to bundle it up via File > Package (it’s greyed out no matter what workspace I’m in), but I’ll still send the file via DM shortly. I’ve only noticed this issue since updating to 21.2. I was working on various documents right up to doing the update but hadn’t noticed any oddities until then. But it could well be there’s some setting I need to tweak/format I need to be using instead, as I noticed a few things did change/automatically get set in 21.2. I’d be very relieved if it was just user error, haha!

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices