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R
Rachael Olmsted County MN
Participating Frequently
November 24, 2025
Question

Adobe Pro 2025, Forms, Accessibility - Difference between Tool Tips and Tagging Titles

  • November 24, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 372 views

We are still struggling to make screen reader fillable forms using in Adobe Pro 2025.    Can someone confirm the following information: 


If I understand this correctly, tool tips aren't really needed for screen reader accessibility.   So for obvious fields such as Name, Address, Phone Number, we could leave the tool tip off.   What IS needed is tagging that looks like this:  

 

Also, does anyone know the specific keyboard combinations NVDA uses to read the content of the form vs the fields of the form?   For example, suppose there is a lot of text a signer needs to read before filling out the signature, date signed and printed name fields (indicating agreement to what was just read).

 

Thanks!

Rachael  - IT Department Olmsted County, MN

 

 

 

1 reply

Souvik Sadhu
Community Manager
Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
Community Manager
December 16, 2025

Hi @Rachael Olmsted County MN,

 

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

 

If you are still looking for a solution, here are my comments:

 

Form field Tooltips are still the only field property that screen readers reliably read. The Title property, as shown in the Tags panel, is not used by screen readers for form fields.
This is expected behavior and not a bug.

 

Thus:

1. ToolTip is the Accessibility name (what NVDA/JAWS reads)

2. Titles in the Tags panel are not used for form fields

3. Tag names do not override form field accessibility names.

This is because interactive form fields follow the PDF/UA standard, not the generic tagging rules.

 

Per PDF/UA specifications, the accessible “name” of a form field comes from: /TU = Tooltip and not from the Tag tree.

So NVDA/JAWS will ALWAYS read the ToolTip and ignore the Tag Title.

 

You can refer to this article for more: https://adobe.ly/48G5fhV

 

Let me know if this helps.


Regards,
Souvik.

R
Rachael Olmsted County MNAuthor
Participating Frequently
December 17, 2025

Thank you so much for your reply.  This raises another question then.  What is the purpose of the text after the <form>?  Is it to help me identify which field I'm working with should I need to troubleshoot a missing or miss tagged field?

 

And please confirm my understanding.  The Tool Tip is what the screen reader reads, the tag identifies the object the screen reader is focused on, say a field vs a link, vs bulleted list vs heading.

Souvik Sadhu
Community Manager
Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
Community Manager
December 23, 2025

Hi @Rachael Olmsted County MN,

 

Thanks for the response.

 

The text shown under <Form> is used to identify each form field in the tag structure, allowing you to troubleshoot tagging, verify the correct tagging of fields, identify missing tooltips/labels, confirm the reading order, and correct mis-tagged or untagged fields.

 

It is there to help you identify which field you’re working on when testing or repairing accessibility. It is not read to the user by itself; it is just metadata displayed for your benefit in Acrobat’s tag tree.

 

Here's a detailed definition of what every element is for:

 

1. Tool Tip: This is what the screen reader reads aloud when a user tabs into or focuses on a form field. It should describe the purpose of the field (e.g., “First Name”, “Email Address”).

2. Tag: The tag tells the screen reader what type of object it is. Tags define the role and hierarchy that the screen reader uses to navigate the document.

3. Form Field (Structure + Properties): Inside <FormField>, you will see attributes such as role (e.g., FormField), name (internal field name), tooltip / alternate text (what is announced to the screen reader), and annotation reference.

4. Screen Reader Behavior: When a user tabs to a field, NVDA/JAWS identifies the tag type: “Edit field”, “Combo box”, “Check box”, etc., then reads the Tooltip (accessible name), and reads any instructional text associated with that field (if you provided instructions).

 

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Souvik.

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