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wjgriff66614
December 31, 2025
Answered

tag structure not recognized by screen reader

  • December 31, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 284 views

Hello,

I have a very strange issue.  My version of Acrobat Pro (25.001..20997) no longer recognizes tagged PDF documents/forms as accessible.  I use the JAWS screen reader program on my PC to remediate and test PDF documents.  When I open up a tagged PDF document now, Acrobat Pro recognizes I have JAWS installed on my PC, so it presents the "Prepare document for screen reader" dialog box as if the document is untagged.  The document is clearly tagged, and running the accessibility check finds no errors.  All PDF forms I have previously remediated and tested for accessibility exhibit this same behavior when opened in Acrobat Pro.  Acrobat Pro does not acknowledge the presence of the tag structure.  I am an experienced PDF remediator and screen reader user.  I have fiddled with aall the Scrobat and JAWS settings to find a modification to resolve this issue, but nothing has worked.  I am at a loss to understand what could be causing this .  I have uninstalled and reinstalled both Acrobat Pro and JAWS.  This did not resolve the issue.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sincerely,

Bill

 

    Correct answer AnandSri

    Hello All,

     

    I hope you are doing well, and thanks for your patience and cooperation on this.

     

    The issue has been fixed with the latest build of Acrobat version 25.001.21078 Planned update, Jan 12, 2026. Check for any pending updates by navigating to Menu > Help> Check for Updates. Install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

     

    Let us know if you still experience any issues.

     

    Regards,

    Anand Sri | Acrobat Community Team

    1 reply

    F
    fashionable_gift2183
    January 2, 2026

    Hello!

    This issue is a known bug in the latest Acrobat Pro (25.001.20997) where tagged PDFs are not recognized as accessible when JAWS is installed, even though the accessibility checker shows no errors. Acrobat mistakenly prompts the “Prepare document for screen reader” dialog as if the file were untagged. The best workaround is to roll back to a previous stable version of Acrobat until Adobe releases a patch, or adjust accessibility preferences to ensure Acrobat uses document structure. 

      W
      wjgriff66614Author
      January 2, 2026

      Adjusting the accessibility options in Preferences (Accessibility and Reading options) solves the initial problem of the "Prepare document for screen reader" dialog box appearing, but the tag structure is still not being fully presented to JAWS (or NVDA).  The issue is most severe in PDF forms.  The form field tooltips are not being read at all, perhaps for one or two sometimes at the beginning of a form, but then they disappear.  Bringing up a list of for field controls in JAWS proves they are all labelled, but are not being read.  The INS+TAB command to read the form field label does not work in JAWS or NVDA.

      How does one roll back to a previous version of Acrobat Pro?  The CC desktop app provides no mechanism for doing this?

      Bill

      Amal.
      Amal.
      Legend
      January 6, 2026

      Hi there 

       

      Hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. 

       

      We have already raised this issue with our development team; however, we need a small video recording of the steps you are taking and the issue as it occurs, along with the PDF form in question, for further investigation. Please share the required details so we can isolate the issue for the fix.

       

      ~Amal

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