Table headers fail - accessibility PDFs

[EricaSholycow]

I have a report that I need to make accessible. The glossary was designed in a table but it doesn't use header row, because it was just set up in table as a convenient way to align the text. There are several other instance that a table was used as an easy way to create a consistanct format. In Acrobat, when the accessibilty checker is run, these table elements all fail the headers test. Is there any work around to this?

When I have Acrobat read aloud that page the table is read correctly. I'm just not sure if this is a non-issue or if it really will cause problems and the document won't be accessible. 

[Amal.]

Hi there 
 
Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that
 
Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check. If the file is stored on a shared network/drive please download it to your computer locally and then try again.
 
What is the version of the OS and the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 24.02.20857 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

~Amal

[Tariq Ahmad · Accepted solution]

Hi @EricaSholycow 

You may check how to fix this manually from this Community discussion: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/table-headers-fail-in-accessibility-checker-after.... 

I don't know what version of Acrobat you're using currently, but you can match the version with this known issue: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/table-header-fails-in-accessibility-checker.html; then you may try this fix. It is highly recommended that you try the latest version. 

~Tariq

[hugo_1796]

The kind of table you are describing is called a layout table. If you can't have the document redone, all you can do is linearize the table, that is, not have it tagged as a table, at all. Use the Reading Order tool and select around the table and tag it as a paragraph. 
The best way to layout documents is to use columns, not tables. Tables are used for tabular data which describes relational data (header rows) under categories (header columns). Without that structure, tables are useless. Tables are to be avoided at all costs for just random information (information that is not relational).  It would be worth it to communicate this information to appropriate parties, if possible.