Skip to main content
Adam UA Little Rock
Adam UA Little Rock
Participant
March 17, 2026
Answered

Feature Request

  • March 17, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 53 views

To the Acrobat Developers:

The Acrobat accessibility checker does a fantastic job the most part. Regarding headings (H1-H6) it does check to make sure that a document’s headings are properly ordered, if it has them. However, it does not create a failure if a document has no headings at all, specifically a H1 heading. This is critical. Every document must have at least a H1 heading to be accessibile.

Please consider adding that feature to Acrobat’s accessibility checker. Other than that, it does a very good job.

Thanks so much.

    Correct answer Tariq Ahmad Dar

    Hi ​@Adam UA Little Rock, 

    Thanks for reaching out. As ​@Dave Creamer of IDEAS has suggested you can post the feature request here: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/

    In the meantime, have you tried the Cloud-based auto-tagging feature? 

    1. Create a copy of your document
    2. Launch Acrobat > Menu > Preferences > Accessibility > Other Accessibility options
      1. Check “Enable Cloud-based auto-tagging” for accessibility
      2. Click Ok 
      3. Relaunch Acrobat (optional)
    3. Open the document > Tools > Prepare for Accessibility 
      1. Click “Automatically tag PDF.”
      2. Once done, save the document and check. 

     
    Let us know how it works. 

    ~Tariq

    3 replies

    T
    Community Manager
    Tariq Ahmad DarCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    March 30, 2026

    Hi ​@Adam UA Little Rock, 

    Thanks for reaching out. As ​@Dave Creamer of IDEAS has suggested you can post the feature request here: https://acrobat.uservoice.com/

    In the meantime, have you tried the Cloud-based auto-tagging feature? 

    1. Create a copy of your document
    2. Launch Acrobat > Menu > Preferences > Accessibility > Other Accessibility options
      1. Check “Enable Cloud-based auto-tagging” for accessibility
      2. Click Ok 
      3. Relaunch Acrobat (optional)
    3. Open the document > Tools > Prepare for Accessibility 
      1. Click “Automatically tag PDF.”
      2. Once done, save the document and check. 

     
    Let us know how it works. 

    ~Tariq

    Adam UA Little Rock
    Adam UA Little RockAuthor
    Participant
    March 30, 2026

    Thank you, Tariq. I was actually incorrect about the heading requirement. I’ve reached out to Siteimprove to ask them to remove the H1 requirement to pass their checker. Though it’s definitely an accessibility best practice, it’s not a WCAG/ADA requirement. Thanks again for the reply.

      william954
      william954
      Participating Frequently
      March 19, 2026
       

      Good feedback, but this is likely by design, not a bug.

      Acrobat checks heading structure if headings exist, but it does not fail a document for missing an H1 because:

      • PDF accessibility is based on tagged structure, not strict HTML rules

      • WCAG does not require a document to have headings, only that structure is logical if used

      • Some accessible PDFs (forms, short docs, labels) may not need headings at all

      So Acrobat avoids false failures by not enforcing H1 presence.

      That said, your point is valid for real world usability. A better approach would be a warning instead of a failure when no H1 is present.

      Adam UA Little Rock
      Adam UA Little RockAuthor
      Participant
      March 19, 2026

      Thanks for the response, William. It was my understanding that at least one heading tag was needed but thank you for that correction. Do you have a source for that that I can share with my team? We use Siteimprove for our web accessibility checking and they mark it as a failure if it doesn’t have a H1 in the document. It’s very frustrating to have a document pass everything in Acrobat and then throw it in Siteimprove only to have it fail because it doesn’t have a H1. I would still love for Acrobat to call it out but perhaps a warning would be more accurate.

      Dave Creamer of IDEAS
      Community Expert
      Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      March 17, 2026

      Here is the best place for feature requests:

      https://acrobat.uservoice.com/

      Then come to the forums and ask for votes!

      David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices