Tagging for barrier-free PDF = wrong text sequences

[Fabian5EB6]

Hi guys,

i´m trying to tag an PDF document with tags and altenate text so disadvantaged people can "read" it better!

So far so good, but whatever i do - the sequence of headlines and text is always wrong 😕

What i´m doing:

- open read order window

- select text

- tagging "headline 1,2,3..." and "text" for regular text.

But in my example, after tagging 3 headlines (1,2,3) and tagging the main text as "text" the order of the previous headlines suddently changes 😕

It would not be that bad to reorder again but the main PDF contains of a lot of pages...

Can somebody help...?

[MeenakshiNegi]

Hi Fabian,

Thank you for reaching out.

Could you please share the acrobat and OS versions you are using? 

We will try to replicate the behavior with the PDF that you have shared above.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Fabian5EB6]

Sure!

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2021.005.20048

Mac OS 10.14.6

[Chad Chelius · Accepted solution]

With all do respect, you're doing this the hard way. You shouldn't be tagging the PDF directly especially since the PDF was generated from Adobe InDesign which gives you a lot of control over the tag and reading order. You can fix it in the PDF using the Content pane but it's harder. In InDesign you control the Reading order by using the order of objects in the Layers panel from botton to top.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Chad's suggestion is correct: it's always better to correct accessibility issues (tags and reading orders) in the source program, which in your case is InDesign.

One error I spotted in your screen capture: page headers and footers must be artifacted per the PDF/UA-1 accessibility standard. You can easily do this in InDesign by putting them on your master page, which by default, will automatically artifact them when the PDF is exported.

[Fabian5EB6]

One error I spotted in your screen capture: page headers and footers must be artifacted per the PDF/UA-1 accessibility standard. 

The header is part of the headline, but yes, footer will be artifacted once everthing is fine ^^

[Fabian5EB6]

Sure, and it is what i did.

But i am also working with data from external sources / clients. Its not always possible to get Indesign Source Data. But on the other hand, this should be able to be easy done in Acrobat imo. And it is, but with errors/bugs 😕

[Chad Chelius]

It's OK to want it to be easy, but that doesn't mean it is. To be clear, when you use the Order panel to tag content, the tag order will be correct but for the Reading Order, Acrobat has a mind of it's own and what you are expriencing is common. Feel free to file a bug report on https://acrobat.uservoice.com. You can adjust the Reading Order after tagging by adjusing objects in the Content pane. I wouldn't recommend making adjustments in the Order pane as it will mess up your tag structure.

[Fabian5EB6]

Thanks, yes...this is exactly my experience. "a mind of it's own" is a good description 😉

I hoped there would be better ways because the tools are already there but it´s still very clumsy.