Big black border appears to an element after reading order and tagging is applied

[oliver_1619]

Hi,

Anybody knows how to get rid of this black sorrounding border that is not suposed to be?

I've been looking to the content panel and moving what seems to be the route of this element but happens nothing... It's really a nightmare when docs are not from the origin made accessible. Acrobat PDF can do little without surprises and investing hours to find solution!

Here I attach screenshot, and a screenshot of the original bleow...

Thanks a lot,

Oli

After making it accessible

Original

[oliver_1619]

I must add that I have found many little troubles not expected during the journey of making accessible a not accessible design... But this one seems hard to me

[S. S]

Hi @oliver_1619,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in!

Let's understand why you see the visual boxes when using the Reading Order Tool:

Acrobat shows visual markers such as:

• Thick black borders for containers (like <P>, <Figure>, <Table>)

• Grey boxes or labels for role types (e.g., "Text", "Figure", "Heading 1")

These borders are only visible while editing or in certain tools. They are not errors or permanent changes.

To remove the visual boxes, you can switch to any other tool, and they would disappear.

Let me know if this is not the case, and please share a screen recording of the event, along with a sample file to test the issue in-house for further investigation.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Souvik.

[oliver_1619]

Thanks for youw answer Souvik,

This is not the case. I spent hours with this document and of course I would have notice if switching tool it disappears. It shows in the final PDF and I don't know how to remove it.

I attach 2 files, the original one and the accessible, for further investigation 🙂

Kind regards,

Oliver

[oliver_1619]

In addition, you will also notice ther is another image that has changed from the original, it is  awhite background.

It has turned grey and darker

You see?

Thanks,

[S. S]

Hi @oliver_1619,

Thanks for the response.

I checked the files at my end, but couldn't figure out the core reason behind the color change to specific parts of the document, as I was not able to reproduce the issue initially.

Digging deeper, it showed a corruption in the document, specifically how the file was created.

If you examine the file, simply clicking on any area in the file will cause a color spill within the box. Also, the file is made of multiple layers which aren't visible in Acrobat.

I am attaching a screen recording that shows the correct settings for exporting to a PDF from Illustrator to avoid such issues.

Let me know if this helps.

Regards,
Souvik.

[oliver_1619]

Thanks very much,Souvik.

Best wishes

[oliver_1619]

Hi again Souvik,

Thanks for recording. The video quality is not very high to see where are you going exactly and where are you clicking in the illustrator. I see it and can imagine where you go...

Do you know where could I have more information about how to create correctly ordered and tagged designs in Illustrator to end by creating a PDF?

Specially to avoid such strange mistakes when attempting to validate accessibility.

Thanks a lot,

Oliver

[S. S]

Hi @oliver_1619,

Sorry for the confusion.

You can refer to the helpX here for detailed steps: https://adobe.ly/45To54k

The steps would be under the section "Create a Layered Adobe PDF."

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Souvik.