Moving table elements in reading order pane causes header row text to disappear

[KateK-475]

So I just stumbled my way through attempting to make a PDF document accessible and kinda sorta succeeded - I think. I had a tight deadline so wasn't able to learn how to do it properly, but I want to ask here about one very concerning issue I had. As I was adjusting the reading order in Acrobat Pro 2023, when I moved any table elements in the reading order pane, the text in the headings disappeared. To fix it, using the Edit tool, I could see the text boxes for the header of each column and was able to select each and "Bring to front."

Any ideas how to prevent this from happening? 

The PDF file was generated from Framemaker (unstructured) using the Publish command. The heading rows of the tables had a colored fill with white text (I didn't have any tables with no fill, so can't be sure that's relevant or not).

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

Hi @KateK-475,

It sounds like your table's background tints were output as separate graphic elements with the cell text on top of/above them.

Moving the text caused it to slip behind the background tint and become hidden. In other words, the stacking order was changed.

Easiest way to correct this is to find each text fragment in the Content panel and slide it up/down in the tree to change its stacking order until it becomes visible again.

This is a common problem when we rearrange elements in the Order panel: you're actually changing the file's code that controls where the content visually appears on the page, and sometimes we end up flipping an element behind another.

Some comments to prevent this in future documents from Framemaker...

The best way to make a PDF accessible is to create it for accessibility in the source file, in your case Framemaker. You also have to export it with the correct tools and settings. Once the PDF is made, it can be difficult to remediate it, usually taking more time and money in Acrobat than it takes to do it right in the source program and re-export a better PDF.

I'm no longer an expert for Framemaker, but my trusted colleagues at JetSet are. I reccomend checking out JetSet's classes and blogs at https://jetsetcom.net/featured/framemaker-accessibility.html

If you do have to move something in Acrobat's Order Panel, be sure to move the entire element, not its pieces. For a table, that's the <Table> tag with all of its nested <TR> rows and <TD>/<TH> cells.

Hope this helps!

[KateK-475]

Thank you so much!

This answer is very helpful. I'm glad to know the root cause and how I should have fixed it.

I whoeleheartedly agree that I should be making the source document as accessible as possible, but despite having used Framemker for a hunderd years (well, since verison 1.3 anyway ;-)) the accessibility stuff is outside the realm of my experience. So I appreciate your sharing the link to a training reaource. I will check it out.