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Eileen M5E53
Known Participant
September 16, 2021
Answered

Table headers fail in Accessibility Checker after September 14, 2021 update

  • September 16, 2021
  • 13 replies
  • 41763 views

On September 14, I made accessible a large document with 61 tables.  After properly scoping/tagging tables, I ran the Accessibility Checker and the document passed with no table fails.  On September 15, I reran the Accessibility Checker and there are now 61 fails for table headers even though the tables are tagged properly.  I had someone I work with run the checker on the same document using Adobe Acrobat 2017 and the tables pass with no errors.  What changed with the 9.14.21 update??????

      Correct answer RachitJain

      Hi All,
      With the September 2021 release, PDFs with missing/incorrect table headers are flagged in the Accessibility Checker and show as failed in the accessibility check result.

      We have made some changes for reverting the behaviour of Accessibility Checker to pre-September Release. The details can be found on : https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/table-header-fails-in-accessibility-checker.html


      I would suggest you all to use the workaround to avoid detecting the table header related issues. Thank you for your patience.

       

      Thanks
      Rachit

      13 replies

      Show previous replies
      AkanchhaS8194121
      AkanchhaS8194121
      Brainiac
      September 17, 2021

      Hi Eileen,

       

      Thanks for reporting this to us. 

      The document you are referring above, is this a specific file causing trouble or are you experiencing this issue with multiple files?

      Would you mind checking with an old file you might have had tables in it? Also, is it possible for you to share the screenshot of the Error (when accessibility check failed) or a Video clip of complete workflow?

       

      Thanks,

      Akanchha 

      E
      Eileen M5E53Author
      Known Participant
      September 17, 2021

      Any document that I have previously worked on, going back to September 2019 now fails, including a table in the screenshots I'm sharing that passed the Accessibility Checker in September 2019 but now doesn't.  I'm unable to share the file because it is confidential but I removed the existing text and replaced each cell with the word text, and have attached screenshots of the table showing Accessibility Checker panel as well as the Tags panel showing the table header rows tagged properly.

       

      I appreciate your help.

       

       

       

       

      R
      Adobe Employee
      RachitJain
      Adobe Employee
      September 17, 2021

      Hi Eileen, 

      Thanks for sharing the tag structure. The issue is with the tag structure here. <P> tag should not be under <TR> tag directly. You have to keep it under <TD> or <TH> tag. <TR> can only have <TH> or <TD> as its child. As I mentioned below, You can also right click on the error and select "Explain" option to understand why it is failing. Please check the link to check the rules:  https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/editing-document-structure-content-tags.html#correct_table_tags_with_the_tags_panel . We have fixed some issues related to table in this release which was passing Accessibility check for tables without header and for wrong sub tags of table tags. It is mentioned in the release notes as well : https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/continuous/dccontinuoussept2021.html#dccontinuoussepttwentytwentyone . 

       

      I hope this resolves your issue.

       

      Thanks

      Rachit

      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Brainiac
      September 17, 2021

      @Eileen M5E53, the PDF/UA-1 standards were updated after Acrobat 2017 was released. Remember, standards are evolving so what passed 4 years ago might fail today.

       

      Plus, Acrobat and its PDF export utilities are continually being upgraded to reflect the standards, correct bugs, and expand the features.

       

      Two of those features are Acrobat's built-in Accessibility Checker and the Preflight checker/fixer.

       

      For accessible PDFs, we always recommend using the lastest versions of your software so that you're checking and fixing PDFs to the most current standards and requirements. Make sure these programs are up to date:

      • Your source authoring program, such as Word 365 and Adobe InDesign 2021.
      • Your version of Acrobat, and its corresponding utility PDF Maker which comes with Acrobat. Current version is 2021.007.20091 (Windows, might be same for Mac).

       

       

      |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bevi Chagnon &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Designer, Trainer, &amp; Technologist for Accessible Documents ||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PubCom |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Classes &amp; Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs &amp; MS Office |
      E
      Eileen M5E53Author
      Known Participant
      September 17, 2021

      First of all, I am using Adobe 2021.007.20091 which was updated on 9.14.21. The first document I worked on this week and completed early on 9.14.21 was fixed and passed the Accessibility Checker.  On 9.15.21, it failed.  I also am aware that the 508 standards change often and am required to check those regularly as most of the work I do is for HHS and need to follow their guidelines.  I had a coworker run the Accessibility Checker on the 2017 version just to see if there were issues.

       

      Not only is there the table tagging issue, but tagging throughout the document is messed up.  I haven't yet gone through the entire document but many pages are partially tagged which was not the case before the update.  Something is wrong with the 9.14.21 update.

      LinSims
      LinSims
      Community Expert
      September 16, 2021

      Let me move this to the Acrobat forum for you, which is the appropriate forum for your question.

      The Using the Community forum is for help in using the Adobe Support Community forums, not for help with specific programs. Product questions should be posted in the associated product community.

        E
        Eileen M5E53Author
        Known Participant
        September 16, 2021

        Thanks.  Sorry about that!

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