Text is being changed after running accessibility checker

Report · Jun 08, 2020

I have come across this multiple times, but it is not an extremely common issue. On different documents, after I run the accessibility checker, then do the Fix for tagging, it will either add random characters to the end of sentences/lines or it will totally delete sections of text. I am required to make all of our documents accessible, but if by using the fix for tagging is altering the document in any way (and these are only ones I have caught) then I don't know how to fix the 508 compliance issues.

I believe it may be a font issue, because for one document, I was able to convert it to a Word document (before tagging) and change all of the font to Calibri, then convert it back and it did not delete any of the text after that. However, that was a mostly text document with simple formatting. People submit documents all the time that are hundreds of pages long and/or are collated from different sources or designed using unique fonts and have very complex formatting, and I'm not always catching the added characters, or more importantly, the deleted text after I run the tagging fix.

I am attaching 2 documents, one is before I run the accessibility checker. The other is after I run it and fix the tagging via Tagged PDF- Failed fix method. On the second page, the header for the table has disappeared in the POST 508 file. I had no idea it was missing, until a user who is familiar with the document reported it.

I have had this happen on simple agenda documents (added characters), complex budget documents (removed numbers and other text), as well as a few other documents. Liek I said, it is not a super common occurence, but it has happened multiple times on various documents.

Report · Jun 08, 2020

The attachments are not showing up in the Forum.

Can you post them to a cloud exchange, such as Drop Box?

Report · Jun 08, 2020

Here is a link to the files:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7qmofp1clep8rh9/AAAFTfyX9-5e0kebowDQCwPAa?dl=0

Report · Jun 08, 2020

And to help us diagnose the problem, can you give us step-by-step description of the mouseclicks you're doing? Example:

Run Accessibility Check from the Accessibility Panel.
View the Accessibility Report.
And then...

Or are you using the PDF/UA accessibility Preflight tools in the Standards/Preflight panel?

Report · Jun 08, 2020

Run Accessibility Check from the Accessibility Panel
Go to the left hand panel and view the accessibility checker info
Right click on Tagged PDF - Failed
Click Fix

That's when it gets rid of the top row header text on the second page of the documents I linked in the above reply

Report · Jun 10, 2020

I would agree that the issue you are running into is odd BUT there are bigger issues at play. The PDF file you are trying to make compliant has absolutely ZERO tags in it. This is causing the accessibility checker to give you a lot of false positives and isn't really checking it with any purpose. I found that if I tagged the content first, when I choose to fix the Tagged PDF error, the text doesn't disappear as you are seeing.

The bigger issue is that you are creating this PDF from InDesign but are not exporting with tags. Start there, and you'll get much better results. You can't expect to easily make an accessible PDF from this file if you're starting wtih no tags at all. It's possible, just not quick and easy.

Forgive me for the shameless plug, but might I suggest you check out my accessibility course on LinkedIn Learning. It will give you a foundational overview of what's required to make an accessible PDF and includes using InDesign. You can find it here https://bit.ly/30vb7Ii.

Report · Jun 10, 2020

Hi Chad-

Yeah, I didn't design this, it was sent to me to post on our website. I will, however, let our graphics department know about the issue.

I will also checkout your course. Before COVID-19, I was getting ready take classes for the WAS and CPACC certification exams. That has been put on hold right now, but I need to get back to it soon.

Report · Jun 10, 2020

Hi,

Thank you for reporting the issue to us. I have escalated the issue to the engineering team and will update you once I get a response on this, Meanwhile, please provide the details of the source of the pdf document.

Thanks

Rachit

Report · Jun 10, 2020

Hi Rachit-

Our graphics department created this in InDesign. That is all I know about this particular document.

For at least one of the other documents I have seen this happen in, it was created by Oracle reports.

I know one other was in Word, and that is the one where I was able to save it as a word doc, change the font, convert it back and then have it work.

Report · Jul 20, 2020

Hey Rachit-

Never heard anything on this, but found out that after the autotagging, it is sending the "missing" elements to the background and the foreground color is what it making them look as if they are gone. If I go in and edit the PDF, select the text box with the missing text, right click and click Arrange - Bring to Front, then my missing text reappears.

I had this happen with another document, where the user had added drop shadows behind some pictures. After I used Autotag, all the pictures disappeared and had gray boxes where the image was. My graphics designer told me to have them remove the dropshadows, and that worked. I started playing with the original one that was disappearing and found the bring forward feature resotored the pictures. Not a great solution!

So now I know how to fix it, but I still don't know why Acrobat is doing that after Autotagging.