Help - Reading Order tool is not picking up my tags!

[Ash_Smith]

My PDF has all the items tagged and I can access the tags when in the tag panel. But if I try to use the Reading Order tool or view the tags in the Order panel the tags don't show up. Has anyone seen this? Is there a way to fix this?

My biggest concern is figuring out if this needs to be fixed being that we are trying to ensure the PDF is accessible. This is a problem I am seeing with just the first page and not the second page. I know I could clear the page structure from Page 1 and re-tag the one page from scratch, but trying to avoid that since I have several docs with this issue.

All input is appreciated thanks!!

Page 1 Screenshots:

Page 2 Screenshot:

[Amal.]

Hi @Ash_Smith 

We are sorry to hear that. Please try to reboot the computer once and see if that works. You may also try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau...

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check.

Also, have you started experiencing this issue after the recent release of version 22.3.20258?  What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat

We are here for help, just need more information

Regards

Amal

[ValérielArtiste]

Was this resolved? did it work? I am having the same issue with ONE word in my document. 

[kevino50755818]

It appears that Adobe has completely broken their Accessibility tools with the latest updates. I am having a version of this problem on a long 80 page document. On pages with reading order issues, I clear the page and try to tag it manually--something I have managed to do for years--but now, when I select text and try to tag it, nothing happens. I am completely unable to tag the page now, and therefore unable to complete an accessibility check on my document, which is a BIG problem. Considering the premium price that Adobe charges for their products, this is incredibly infuriating. Congratulations, Adobe, you've completely ruined Acrobat's accessibility functions in your quest to redo your UI (which, by the way, is NOT an improvement. It's just an annoyance to long-time users).

[Amal.]

Hi there

We are sorry to hear that.

Have you started experiencing this issue recently?

What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.20687 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau... and check

~Amal

[Rebus Media Pty Ltd]

I'm interested in following this too. I'm experiencing issues with JAWS/NVDA not following the tagged reading order in Acrobat. An order is followed, but not the one that is shown when viewing the order in the Page content order panel. As kevino50755818 mentions, this wasn't an issue until fairly recently.

[Amal.]

Hi there

What is the version of the OS and the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.20759 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also, collect the Adobe CC logs https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html , Procmon logs (Win Only) https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/acromonitor.html and share them via any cloud storage. Just upload the log file to the cloud and generate the link and share that link with us for further investigation.

Regards
Amal

[Rebus Media Pty Ltd]

Hi Amal, would it be possible for me to share a video with you privately of the experience we have with JAWS 2023 and NVDA. I'm on Win11. I've just installed the latest patch on Adobe, which appears to have changed my experience a little, but my concern is the lack of control I appear to have over what the screen reader is reading versus what I see when looking at the reading order and content types using the Acrobat accessibility tools.

[Rebus Media Pty Ltd]

FYI, the source document is designed using Adobe Indesign.

[Rebus Media Pty Ltd]

Hi Amal,

My recent experiences have been with documents that have been created in Indesign. I have done some quick tests with Word Documents converted to PDF and these are better (bullet lists come through as bullet lists) as all elements appear to come through correctly to PDF. In Indesign, bullet lists just come through as <p> elements and some H2 elements were coming through as <p> elements too.

Regarding logs, this is the filename for the CC Log Collector: AdobeLogs_20240517_121527_942-win-GS.zxp

I didn't do the diagnostic thing as I don't know I should run to generate a log, as I'm not sure what is going wrong. There is not a specific crash or error, just an issue with what the screen reader reads versus what the document shows. I sent you a message separately with a link to a video which goes into detail.

[Rebus Media Pty Ltd]

Hi @Amal. I'm interested to know if Adobe have completed any tests to confirm the issues users are experiencing. Do you know if this is being looked at, or if a release has been made to correct issues?

[kevino50755818]

Amal -

I'm running the latest version of Acrobat. I've run the repair you suggested. Couldn't reset a new Preferences folder (probably because my firm controls my installation.)

The problem persists. I'm beyond annoyed at this. At its best, Acrobat's accessibility feature has been very buggy. Now it is unusable. The trouble is, I have contracts that require my documents be accessible.

Kevin Ottem
Assistant Visual Communications Supervisor

[P.I Removed by Moderator]

[Philip Byrne]

I'm completely frustrated by how unreliable accessibility tools in Acrobat are – they cannot be depended on to work. I'm following all instructions on how to add/remove content to/from a tagged region, how to actually tag content (basic stuff) and how to delete a tagged region in the order panel (particularly images that inexplicably bleed onto the opposite page of a spread). None of them work reliably!!!

And, why, why, is there no undo? Trying to work around these issues means trying things that need to be undone.

I'm using Acrobat Pro 2024 (but this has been going on for a while), tagged PDFs exported from InDesign, Mac Sonoma.

[Amal.]

Hi there

Hope you are doing well.

For the accessibilty issue, is it only with te exported PDFs from Indesign or with all the PDFs in general? Please share the logs as requested earlier for further investigation.

Also, the undo button is present in the menu bar at the top as shown in the screenshot:

~Amal

[Fangyi38157270zawz]

I am have the same problem. I tried using reading order tool to tag the document. It didn't work.

1. I opened readind order panel
2. Selected the element
3. Assigned a tag to the element
4. Check tag panel
5. nothing is tagged

I tried it with different files. Nothing works. Please solve the problem.

[Summer5CEA]

My Macbook pro is brand new as of two weeks ago and I am running the latest version of Acrobat. 

I have similar issues (really have always had issues with Acrobat Pro being super buggy). Adobe has always been terrible with accessibility. It is unclear to me whether screen readers use the tags panel or the reading order panel to read a document, though I go by the tags panel most often as that is what I have been told. Still, I try to get both right, but there seems to be no real pattern to how items appear in the reading ORDER panel when I create them in the TAGS panel. That has always been the case. Whenever I try to move any element in one to get the order to match, elements in the other get messed up. No matter what I do. And there is no way to reverse these mistakes once they are done. You gotta start over with a previous save. 

Right now the whole first page of my document does not show items in the reading ORDER panel though they are tagged and show up in the TAGS panel. 

Because of this, I cannot fix an issue that shows up in the accessibility checker. All of these elements are links from the page that shows no items in the ORDER panel.

I am physically unable to “tag annotations” on this first page even though the links have been tagged as such in the TAGS panel. The elements do show up under annotations in the CONTENT panel but I cannot move them under their correct content and I cannot right click to somehow tag them.

Adobe, please hear me when I say this. It's not me, it's YOU. You have the best and brightest working for you, right? Why can't you get PDF accessibility functions working in a way that makes sense?