Table editor does not match tags

[CJ_ccli]

Hello,

I am working on a document that has a very difficult table. The table itself is not too complicated, although it does have some merged cells that span more than one row or column.

The problem is that I can not get the table editor to match the cells in the table. Some cells are not even highlighted, even though I can click on them and open up the "table cell properties". Other cells are separated or spanned when they shouldn't be. I have tried cell by cell fixing the table in the editor, as well as selecting individual cells in the TURO tool, but it does not help.

I have gone into the tags tree and made sure that the table is tagged correctly there, and I have made sure everything is in the proper container in the proper order in the content panel. But when I do all that and go into table editor, it still doesn't show the table correctly. I do not have access to the original document file, so I must remediate it as is.

Does anyone have any suggestions? If I have everything properly tagged in the tag tree and the content pane, does it really matter if the table editor is incorrect?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

I'll have our online tutorial for this fix later today and will post the link in this forum.

In the meantime, can you give us some details:

1. Is the table on a landscape or rotated page?
2. What software created the PDF? You can find this in File / Properties / Description. The info is in 2 fields: Application and PDF Producer.
3. Are there any merged cells in the table headers?
4. Is it an irregular table? That is, are there any merged cells inside the table that affect the normal matrix of rows and columns.

And yes, it does matter because it throws off some screen readers and other assistive technologies. You want to fix this. You also want to figure out what causes it so that it doesn't happen again.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Our quick tutorial is at: https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_04-05/ACROBAT_tableeditor.shtml 

[CJ_ccli]

Thank you! I will try the instructions you provided. In answer to your questions:

The table is in a document that is presented on a portrate page, not landscape.

The document was made in Acrobat PDFMaker 9.1 for Word, Adobe PDF Library 9.0

Yes, there are merged headers, row headers are merged.

It is an irregular table, there are merged cells inside the table

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Thanks CJ for the details.

The PDF was created with grossly outdated software: PDF Maker 9.x is, what 10+ years old? The current version is 20, which is automatically installed into MS Office with a licensed copy of Acrobat Standard and Acrobat Pro.

I'm going to assume that the version of Word is also out of date, and that combo of software had no chance of making a compliant table in the PDF.  And then there's the merged cells in mid-table.

That spells disaster!

All I can give is my sympathy. And encouragement to try as much as possible to get your hands on the source Word file, open it a more current version of Word, and re-PDF it with a current version of the PDF Maker plug-in. Many of the problems can be cleaned up with that 1-2 minute technique.

[CJ_ccli]

Thank you, that makes sense. Some of the documents I am remediating are pretty ancient and I don't think the originals are available anymore, but I will check. I will follow the instructions you provided and remediate as best I can.

One more question after looking at the instructions that you had posted on your website (which looks helpful for future use by the way). You say to "Click the New Item button, which will create /Attribute Object 1  <<Dictionary>>". What if it already has an "Attribute Object 1  <<Dictionary>>"? Should I modify what is there, or delete it and create a new one?

[a_C_student]

One trick for dealing with misbehaving tables is to create a seperate, temporary <Table> tag. Move each row, one at a time, under the temp <Table>, make sure that row is tagged exactly right - including any empty <TD>s, spanning, IDs, etc., then move on to the next row. You also might try downloading the free PAC 1.3 from Access for All (google should find it) - it is obsolete for automated testing (use PAC 3) for that, but has a superiour screen-reader-preview, especially for working with tables. You might also consider evaluating CommonLook. It has a reputation for being excellent at helping with PDF table accessiblity - it is expensive, by the way.