Regarding the post "Image Alt text fails to display on mouse hover"

Question

Hi,
I read the post about "Image Alt text fails to display on mouse hover"

It sounds like the automated hover-over behavior that we are witnessing for the alt text for some figure tags, shouldn't even be ocurruing based on the Adobe representative's (Tariq Ahmad) on May 12, 2025.

But then why do we see it happening at all?

Tariq's response never explained why it happens.

Unfortunately, because this behavior does happen, and does so automatically, it creates inconsistency in the final product. An inconsistency that end-users may question, especially if those end users are paying for a finished product.

Can you provide any more reasons as to why alt text will automatically display in a mouse hover-over winodow for some figure tags and not others given that everything about the accessibility tagging being the same, between the different graphics where we see the hover over for some figure tags and not others?

There are no tooltips in this PDF, yet it displays a hoverover of the alt text.

I read some other blogs that said the hover over will appear for static images in a PDF (meaning the source was a JPEG or PNG), while vectored images (Illustrator vectored images, etc.) the hoverover for the alt text will not display. This is generally what I experience. However, we have some graphics that are vectored, and the alt text for thier figure tags does display in a hover-over.

So there is no consistency as to why the hover over displays for some figure-alt texts and not others.

Can you, or anyone else here, give the community any specific reasons or criteria for this?

And, is there a game plan to make this more consistent going forward?

Unfortunately, I cannot share any files due to various corporate reasons.

Thank you.

S_S · Answer

Hi @UserZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for reaching out with questions related to alt text when hovering over images!

Let me try and add my two cents to better clarify your questions:

The reason you see hover-alt text sometimes and not other times is that Acrobat only surfaces it for certain object types (mostly raster XObjects), and occasionally for grouped vector content, depending on how the PDF was generated. It is not a supported or intentional feature, so you should expect inconsistency.

What next:

The hover alt text display is not an accessibility feature, and is not reliable or controllable.
The only guaranteed way to provide visible hover tooltips in a PDF is to add an actual Tooltip (via form field properties) — not by relying on alt text.
For accessibility, you should test with a screen reader, not by hover.

If you want to go down the form field route, this is what you can try:

1. Open your PDF in Acrobat Pro.

2. Go to Tools > Prepare Form.

3. Acrobat will enter form editing mode.

Add a button field on top of the image/graphic where you want a tooltip.
Draw a rectangle over the figure.
In the Properties dialog:

Set Fill Color = None.

Set Border Color = None.

Make sure Button Action does nothing (no action needed).

This ensures the button is invisible and does not interfere with viewing.

4. In the same Properties dialog, go to the General tab → Tooltip field.

Enter the text you want to display on hover.

5. Close form editing mode.

Now, when a user hovers the mouse over that area in Acrobat (Reader or Pro), your tooltip will reliably display — regardless of whether the object is vector or raster.

Things to keep in mind:

The form field must cover the area where you want the tooltip to trigger.
If the PDF is intended for accessibility compliance:
- Keep the Figure tag and alt text in place for screen readers.
- The form field tooltip is only for visual users who hover.
If the PDF is printed, the invisible field won’t show up.

Hope this gives better clarity.

Regards,
Souvik.

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