Figures alternate text - Failed for every single slide -- why?

Question

I'm doing an accessibility check on a PDF that was converted from PowerPoint, and I'm getting an error, Figures alternate text - Failed, on every single slide in the presentation, even slides that have no images on them. Would anyone know why? Unfortunately, selecting the "figure" in error in the list does not highlight the item on the slide, so I have no idea. The only things I can think might be causing the issue are the items in the footer: the page number, the copyright statement, the orange-to-yellow gradient bar along the bottom of every slide, and the logo in the lower-right (see screenshot). These are all excluded from reading order and have no alt text in PowerPoint, purposely, as we don't want them read by screen readers.

Thank you in advance for your help,

Lisa

Lisa229636276ozg · Accepted Answer

After some trial and error... mystery solved! Sharing here for others.

These problems were caused by (1) a solid white fill on a text box and (2) a shadow on the text in another text box.

Apparently, Adobe does not like text that even kind of resembles a graphic. It doesn't like text embedded in a shape, even if the shape is excluded from reading order. It also doesn't like a text box with any kind of graphical formatting on it, such as outline, fill, shadow, etc. Aside from standard text formatting like font color ("text fill"), bold, and italics, Adobe also doesn't seem to like fancier graphical formatting on the text itself, such as outline, shadow, glow, soft edges, etc. If Adobe encounters anything outside of the norm that makes it think "graphic" or "image," it adds an image tag to it, resulting in a "figure" or image with no alt text and a failure in the accessibility checker. I fixed the issue by removing the fill from the first offending text box and removing the shadow from the text in the other offending text box.

Hope this helps somebody!

Lisa229636276ozg · Answer

Hello! I'm still hoping someone can help me understand this. (@Bevi Chagnon -- Do you have thoughts on this?) The figures in question are not even being flagged on the slide, so I have no idea what element is in violation or what the problem is. The violation is occurring on every single slide, even though all of my images are already properly tagged in PowerPoint as either decorative or meaningful with alt text. Hence, my confusion...

Thank you in advance!

Lisa

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