Table header cells won't update

[lindsay_3411]

I'm getting a Table-Headers check failure in the Accessibility report. When I check in the Accessibility tags area, the TH tags are properly set. Yet, when I go into the Reading Order, the headers are all set as TD and when I try to edit them to TH with the appropriate scope, they snap back to TD. How can I get the headers to properly tag and stop defaulting back to TD?

[Tariq Ahmad · Accepted solution]

Hello - @aldis_0718 @lindsay_3411 @CarlieT @ellis_2082 @melh3 

This issue has been fixed at our end. 
Next time you run Cloud-based Auto-tagging, you shouldn't experience this issue again. Please inform us how it performs on your side.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @lindsay_3411,

Thanks for bringing this up, I can see you’ve already been thorough with your accessibility checks. When Acrobat’s Accessibility Checker or the Tag's panel shows TH cells labeled as TD, it usually means the PDF’s table structure wasn’t fully defined as headers in the source document, or the tagging didn’t carry over correctly during PDF creation.

Some things you can try:

• Open the Tag's panel in Acrobat and verify that header cells are tagged as <TH> and contain the appropriate scope (row/column).

• If the PDF came from Word, Excel, or another authoring tool, ensure the table headers are explicitly set as headers before export.

• Use Table Editor (Accessibility tool > Reading Order > Table Editor) to manually change tags from TD to TH.

• Re-run the accessibility check to confirm changes.

In some cases, even correctly formatted source tables can lose TH tagging during conversion — especially if the export uses a print-to-PDF method instead of an accessibility-preserving export.

Adobe’s guide on fixing accessibility: https://adobe.ly/3HB7ZSX

If this often happens with correctly tagged source files, we can flag it to the product team for review. Please help us with source file, pdf file and exact workflow of converting source document to PDF format

Also, wait for more inputs from experienced experts on this topic.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

[lindsay_3411]

Hi Tariq,

I did try all your suggestions. Here's what happened:

• Open the Tag's panel in Acrobat and verify that header cells are tagged as <TH> and contain the appropriate scope (row/column).

  • I verified all the tags are TH. But when I go into the Table editor, they are all displaying as TD.
  • I also tried resetting them to TD in the Tag's panel and changing them to TH, and that did nothing to the issue in the Reading Order.

• If the PDF came from Word, Excel, or another authoring tool, ensure the table headers are explicitly set as headers before export.

  • This was only available as a PDF. I tried re-downloading the file from the original source and the issue is still coming up in this file. 

• Use Table Editor (Accessibility tool > Reading Order > Table Editor) to manually change tags from TD to TH.

  • I tried manually changing the tags. Immediately after I click the "Ok" button after setting the TH with a Scope, it reverts back to TD. 

• Re-run the accessibility check to confirm changes.

  • I re-did the accessibility check and it's not registering any of my changes. 

What steps do I need to take to flag it for the product team to review?

Thank you,

Lindsay

[ellis_2082]

This is a new issue I have been having, as well!! I posted screenshots of my issue here. Please flag to product team!!

[ellis_2082]

I turned off "Enable cloud-based auto-tagging for accessibility" and am no longer experiencing this issue, if you have work you need to do while Adobe resolves

[yo_thom]

I am also having this same issue, no matter which method I use from your recommendations, the cells that are meant to be Table Headers cannot be tagged as <TH> and immediately, automatically snap back to <TD> instead which is causing accessibility errors. 

[maya_7464]

I am having the same issue. I tried removing the cloud based automatic tagging and it still snaps from TD to TH. 

[Teresa27044229w6od]

I am having the same issue. Even when I change it to TH it does not stay. I am following all the same steps I have used in the past without issues, but this problem started occurring in the last month or so. 

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi all, 

Thank you for sharing these details with us. I really understand how frustrating it can be when your table headers keep reverting back despite your efforts. Accessibility tagging is so important for compliance, and I know how important this is.
 
We’ve reported this issue to our engineering team so they can investigate further. However, we haven't been able to replicate the problem in our tests, which makes your detailed description even more helpful.
 
If you can, please share a sample PDF file where you’re experiencing this issue. It would really help our engineers pinpoint what might be going wrong. In case we need further information, we may request an online meeting to diagnose at your end.
 
While I can’t promise a quick fix just yet, please know we've logged this problem and are actively working on it. Your patience and support mean a lot to us as we work to improve Acrobat.
 
Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[lindsay_3411]

Hi Tariq,

Attached is the original file where I found the problem. Every file I've had with a table since this day has had the same issue come up with the headers.

[yo_thom]

Hello,

Thank you for looking into this! Attached is a file I've been having trouble with, with the table header cells.

[megcomms]

Hi Tariq, I've attached a PDF with a table that is expereiencing the same table heading error. The PDF is an export from InDesign. I have tried all the work-arounds suggested above to change TD to TH and have not had any success. Hopefully this example will assist the team with resolving the problem. Thank you.

[melh3]

I have been experiencing the same issues described in this post and followed all of the recommended solutions to no avail. This has been an ongoing issue with a few of the PDFs we are remediating throughout the week.

[ellis_2082]

Here is one of my files that is having this issue. Please fix!

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hello, 

Thank you for your patience and support.
A bug has been logged with the product engineering team on this issue. Currently, there is no update that I can share publicly.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[CarlieT]

Just checking to see if this bug has been resolved or if there is a workaround (aside from those listed above). I've tried everything listed here and am still experiencing this issue.

Thanks for your help!

[CarlieT]

Sorry, ignore my previous message. I just noticed the update on Sept 4.

[aldis_0718]

Autotag correctly tagged table headings last time on Aug 4, 2025 for me. Noticed the problem today, Sep 5.

[Tariq Ahmad · Accepted solution]

Hello - @aldis_0718 @lindsay_3411 @CarlieT @ellis_2082 @melh3 

This issue has been fixed at our end. 
Next time you run Cloud-based Auto-tagging, you shouldn't experience this issue again. Please inform us how it performs on your side.

Thank you for your patience and support.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team | Meet Acrobat Studio

[aldis_0718 · Accepted solution]

Auto-tagging correctly tags table headings now. Thank you!

[sworob]

Tariq it looks like the autotag is fixed but manually tagging which we use much more often is still broken. When switching a TD to a TH in the tags tree manually it still reverts immediately to a TD. Autotagging generally still causes us more issues than it fixes so the manual fix is important. 

[Tariq Ahmad]

Thanks for keeping us updated on the issue's progress. If the files were previously tagged incorrectly, you might try auto-tagging them again with the original file.

Could you also confirm whether this manual incorrect tagging issue was happening for you even before this bug appeared?

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

[sworob]

We avoid auto tagging because while sometimes it is great, more often it causes more issues then it fixes. Yesterday was the first time the issue was brought up to me and it remains a problem. 

[CarlieT]

Hello, Tariq, I have a 40-page doc that I tagged at the beginning of Sept. I am not able to change TDs to THs. It looks like the Table Editor shows them as THs, but it is not being recognized anywhere else. The Accessibility Tool is also still flagging them. Would love to be able to manually change a few tags over retagging all 40 pages. Even with autotag, there is a lot of clean-up involved. Previous to Aug-Sept, I never had an issue with TDs and THs. All documents previous to that time period were tagging appropriately. 

[lindsay_3411]

Hello Tariq,

Auto-tagging works to a point if you re-tag with autotag. It will now provide the TH and TD tags from the auto-tag, but it will not save the scope settings (those still keep reverting it back to TD) and  you cannot manually edit anything that is incorrect from the auto-tag (e.g., something auto-tag said was TH that should be TD and vice versa).