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kirstin_916
Participant
May 15, 2025
Question

The main <Document> tag is not created when automatically tagging a PDF

  • May 15, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 499 views

When I run the Accessibility Checker or the Automatically tag PDF, it does not create the <document> tag.  Is this me missing a step, an incorrectly formatted Word (2019) file, or just an Adobe thing.  I know I can create a new tag, but when the PDF is several pages long I haven't seen an easy way to demote all of the existing tags into the Document tag.  Again, it may just be me doing something wrond and looking for advice here.

1 reply

Souvik Sadhu
Community Manager
Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
Community Manager
May 15, 2025

Hi @kirstin_916,

 

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble with Acrobat.

 

Here are the possible scenarios and suggestions around the issue:

 

  • If your Word file lacks a proper heading structure (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) or has manual formatting (e.g., bolded text used as headings), the tagging engine may misinterpret the document’s hierarchy.

  • Avoid using text boxes, floating elements, or improperly nested styles.

  • Exporting via Print to PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF will strip all tagging information.

  • Make sure you use Acrobat’s PDFMaker plugin (the “Save as Adobe PDF” option in Word’s ribbon) to retain structure and tagging.

Let us know if this helps.

 


Regards,
Souvik.

K
kirstin_916Author
Participant
May 16, 2025

Thank you for the response. I have a suspicion these old pdf's were created from Word document using incorrect formtting (no Heading Styles) and a lot of manual bolding.  We no longer have the originals for some of these PDF's (most are fillable forms) and I'm weighing the option between recreating the Word document properly, or creating a document tag manually.  If I create a document tag manually, is there an  easy way to nest everything under it?  I can't seem to select all on a 15 page pdf to create the tag that way.  Any tips are appreciated.

Souvik Sadhu
Community Manager
Souvik SadhuCommunity Manager
Community Manager
May 19, 2025

Hi @kirstin_916,

 

Thanks for the response.

 

The best way to do so would be to Manually Create a <Document> Tag and Nest Everything

  1. Open the Tags Panel (View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags)

  2. Right-click in the Tags panel and choose "New Tag…"

  3. Select Type: Document

  4. Drag this new tag to the top of the tree.

  5. Now, to move all existing tags under this:

    • Expand the tag tree fully (yes, this is a bit tedious).

    • Use Shift+Click or Ctrl+Click (Cmd on Mac) in the Tags panel to select groups of sibling tags (not everything at once, but sections at a time).

    • Drag and drop these into the new <Document> tag.

If this is not what you want to do, you can: 

  • Use Accessibility > Autotag Document

  • Then fix the structure under a new <Document> tag

  • You can delete the incorrect top-level tags and move the corrected ones under your manual <Document> tag.

 

More info about it can be found here: https://adobe.ly/45jeTWl.

 

Hope this helps.


Regards,
Souvik.

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