Screen Reader Issues with Adobe Pro and Reader

Question

I’ve recently experienced significant issues using screen readers with Adobe Acrobat Pro and Reader following the latest update. Several clients and colleagues have reported that they can no longer properly access forms. While the cursor moves through the fields, the screen reader fails to announce the form field labels, and much of the content between fields is not being read.

I’ve tested multiple versions of JAWS (2023–2026), as well as NVDA and Narrator, but none of them work. Initially, I believed the problem was limited to certain “accessible” forms that our visually impaired staff have used for years without issue. However, it now appears to be widespread. Even forms specifically designed for accessibility—which previously worked flawlessly with JAWS—are no longer functioning as expected.

I reported this to your support team recently, and their recommendation was to uninstall and reinstall Adobe Pro, which I tried without success. I’ve also searched online for solutions but haven’t found anything helpful.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Thanks a lot for raising this issue. We have identified and fixed the issue on our side. Customer will be able to navigate and read pdf forms using screen reader and Tab key (as intended) in our upcoming release.

Amal. · Answer

Hi there

Hope you are doing well and thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed explanation I can understand how it feels, especially when accessibility workflows that have worked reliably for years suddenly stop functioning.

Please try the steps given below and see if that works:

Go to Preferences (Ctrl,Cmd+K) > Accessibility, turning “Use assistive technology for accessibility support” off, restart Acrobat, then turn it back on and restart again.
Temporarily disabling Protected Mode (Security (Enhanced)) to test whether it impacts screen reader behavior.
If possible, test the same PDFs in both Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Reader to confirm whether the behavior is identical.

If it still doesn't work, please share more details as listed below:

A sample form that previously worked
The exact Acrobat version number - Go to Help > About Acrobat
The screen reader versions tested
Whether the issue occurs with tagged PDFs only, or all interactive forms

Also, a small video recording of the steps you are taking and the issue as it occurs would be very helpful for further investigation.

~Amal

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