Word to PDF convertor tagging the all elements of First column with TH tag instead of TD

[Nandha_Gangadharan]

Hello there, I'm trying to convert a simple word document with a table data into a PDF. However, I see accessibility issues in the final PDF as the first column of the table data is tagged as <TH> instead of <TD>. I also see that the table header cells is not automatically associating with its subcells. Is it a known issue? Is there any workaround for the same

[Amal.]

Hi @Nandha_Gangadharan 

Hope you are doing well and sorry to hear that.

Have you started experiencing this issue recently? What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.03.20215 installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Is this an issue with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs? Please try with a different PDF file and check, also a small video recording of the steps you are following to create the PDF would be very helpful.

Please try to create the PDF using the Acrobat ribbon present in the MS Word and see if that helps.

Regards

Amal

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Hi @Nandha_Gangadharan, the <TH> tags of the first column are correct: they are row headers and are highly recommended for accessibility. Only column headers are required by the PDF/UA-1 accessibility standard.

They were coded into your PDF because, most likely, your setting in WORD designated the first column to be row headers. Does your table look like this in your original source Word document?

Correctly formatted table for row and column headers.

I also see that the table header cells is not automatically associating with its subcells.

By @Nandha_Gangadharan

There are a couple of attributes that associate header cells (both Column and Row headers) with their related <TD> cells.

If you have a simple table with simple headers (a single column or row, not merged), the the Scope and Span attributes on the header cells is sufficient to meet accessibility guidelines.

Use Acrobat's Table Editor to check the Scope and Span settings and adjust if needed. From my sample Word document using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat 23.03.20215, the Span and Scope attributes are correct in each header cell:

Column Headers

Row Headers

If you're seeing something different, then check that the table is correctly made in Word, that your Acrobat software is up to date, and that you correctly exported a tagged PDF.

For help in exporting accessible PDFs from Word, see this free tutorial with detailed instructions at https://www.pubcom.com/blog/tutorials/ms-office/export-pdf/index.shtml