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cmvarga5
cmvarga5
Known Participant
March 31, 2023
Answered

Tabbing order rearranged after making edits to fields/formatting fields

  • March 31, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 2794 views

In InDesign, I make sure that the Layers Order and the Articles panel align so that the tabbing order will be seamless once I export to Interactive PDF.

 

Unfortunately, there are times where I have to make corrections to a field or add a function. Once I do this, the tabbing order goes wonky. It gets all mixed up, or goes backwards. It takes extra time just to realign the tabbing order. I usually also number them by section, so that I know what goes first.

 

Is there a way to avoid this? What am I doing wrong? Or is this a glitch?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Hi @cmvarga5, 

What do you mean by the "tabbing order"? People confuse the 4 PDF reading orders and their purposes. See this recent blog at https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_08-18_ReadingOrder/reading-orders.shtml

 

The TAB Reading Order is set in the PDF itself (or in InDesign's Export Interactive dialogue box). And it's set to follow the tag tree reading order, not a specialized reading order that can be controlled in InDesign.

 

Do you mean the Form Field Reading Order?

 

Yes, it helps to coordinate the Articles Panel sequence (if you've chosen to use it in your InDesign layout, it's optional) with the stacking order in the Layers Panel.

 

Clarifying for anyone else who sees this discussion, the Articles Panel is sequenced top-down (top most item is read first by assistive technologies), and the Layers Panel is bottom-up. Their orders in InDesign are inverse when their panels are open.

 

1 reply

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer
Legend
April 1, 2023

Hi @cmvarga5, 

What do you mean by the "tabbing order"? People confuse the 4 PDF reading orders and their purposes. See this recent blog at https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_08-18_ReadingOrder/reading-orders.shtml

 

The TAB Reading Order is set in the PDF itself (or in InDesign's Export Interactive dialogue box). And it's set to follow the tag tree reading order, not a specialized reading order that can be controlled in InDesign.

 

Do you mean the Form Field Reading Order?

 

Yes, it helps to coordinate the Articles Panel sequence (if you've chosen to use it in your InDesign layout, it's optional) with the stacking order in the Layers Panel.

 

Clarifying for anyone else who sees this discussion, the Articles Panel is sequenced top-down (top most item is read first by assistive technologies), and the Layers Panel is bottom-up. Their orders in InDesign are inverse when their panels are open.

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
cmvarga5
cmvarga5Author
Known Participant
April 3, 2023

Hi Bevi,

 

Yes, I must clarify that I was talking about the form field tabbing order. For some reason, it keeps getting mixed up or the other way around (order) after I edit a format of a form field.

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
April 3, 2023

Hi@cmvarga5,

What program are you using to make the form: Adobe InDesign or Acrobat?

 

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
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