PDF as tags but NVDA and JAWS will still not read content

Report · Jun 10, 2025

Summary:

PDF has Accessibility tags, the content has a reading order in the Order pane, and the page content exists in the Content pane. Nothing that should be readable is artifacted. So, why can't NVDA or JAWS read the content and annouces pages as empty?

App: Adobe Acrobat Pro version 2025.001.20428

OS: Windows 11 Enterprise

NVDA: version 2024.4.2.35031

Longer story with context:

This is a 200+ page document that was originally made in Word and exported to PDF (I don't know the exact method used to export it). The first page is an accessible cover page that was inserted recently by someone else, I believe by using the Organize Pages tool in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

NVDA thinks the cover page is empty despite it having tags
There is other content in the document that has tags and does not read

I am beyond baffled, everything I have learned about accessibiltiy points to that if a PDF has tags and nothing looks amiss in the Content tree, then tagged content should be readable by screen readers.

What is going on here?

Report · Jun 10, 2025

Hi @adamk76568238

Is it possible for you to share that pdf with us for investigation.

Regards

Ravi

Report · Jun 11, 2025

Thank you for taking the time to respond! I don't think I can share the document here because it is a secured document, so I will look into contacting Adobe directly from my work.

But I am still curious if others have had similar issues with their documents. I have seen this issue a handful of times (thankfully it is rare), and am dying to know if others have found solutions.