Accessibility checker issue for table when converting from excel to pdf

[JinitB]

When I convert an excel table to pdf I get the following issue when running the accessibility checker - Table (2 issues) rows - failed and headers - failed.  Is there a way to fix this without amending every tag in the table ? In excel I have set the table with header and rows but I am still getting this issue.  Please help.  Thanks.

[Nancy OShea]

[Moderator moved from Using the Community (forums) to Acrobat.]

In my experience, document conversions are rarely 100% perfect. There is always some manual clean-up work to do.  Which version of Adobe Acrobat are you using to convert your Excel sheet?

[JinitB]

Adobe Acrobat DC pro.

10 different tags would need fixed for just one table, my report has multiple tables and I need to create over 40 reports from the excel template.  Is there a quick fix rather than editing every tag in every table?  

[Nancy OShea]

Is it absolutely essential that your tables meet WCAG requirements?  See link below.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html

[JinitB]

Hi 

Thanks for the link.

I will need to check with our client to see if a fully accessible document is required.  If I have to fix every tag for each table it will take a very long time.

Excel file is passing accessibility checks in microsoft, it is just the pdf that's causing the issue.

[JinitB]

Hi Nancy

I am still having problems converting tables from excel and word to pdf.  I have set header rows in the source files as headers but in accessibility checker I am getting Table (1issue) and when I expand I get the message Headers - Failed and all the tables have this issue.  Is there any quick way to fix this?  It seems strange that the tables are not converting properly.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

Is the error you're seeing the same as this one?

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/table-headers-fail-in-accessibility-checker-after...

[JinitB]

Yes

This is the problem.  Should I email support at adobe to see if they are planning a fix?  I think a lot of people will have this problem.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

@JinitB, @Nancy OShea 

Please VOTE and comment about this problem at UserVoice https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/44183082-accessi...

Adobe works on the voting system: the more votes a bug or feature gets, the faster it moves up in the food chain. Posting in this forum doesn't give it much traction, but UserVoice does.

And please inform your colleagues and encourage them to vote as well.

[JinitB]

Or is this a known issue when converting from excel to pdf?

[michaels4850939]

I had the same issue with my Excel file converted to a PDF. The file spanned many pages and I set a header row to repeat on every page. This resulted in an accessibility flag in Acrobat. I was able to resolve this flag by deleting all of the extra tag generated in the first table row, so that the number of <TH> tags were equal to the number of <TD> tags. I think that the "repeat headers" option is more for sighted users and keeping the same number of <TH> tags (by deleting the extras) works best for visually handicapped. I'm not 100% sure, but this has worked for me.