Skip to main content
V
VWu
Known Participant
May 25, 2016
Answered

"Tagged Annotations - Failed" for links in footers

  • May 25, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 10097 views

Hi all dear accessibility experts,

I have footnotes on master page which contains cross reference links, I want it to be clickable, but not showing in tagged annotations-failed error, is it possible?

(I have made the footnotes artifacts, but I want the link stays in the footnotes)

I'm thinking maybe I can process PDF in acrobat preflight, but if I remove all links annotations it will also affect the index and TOC I created, so I can't...

I have been doing research but can't find anything related to my question.

Any help would be appreciated!!

Thanks in advance!

Correct answer a_C_student16379412

Ah, OK. Unfortunately I do not know of a good solution for this common problem. The usual advice is to not put links in repeating footers. But for the most part I do not own the documents I remediate, and if the document owner insists on a link in the footer I have to find a way to deal with it. A clunky, kludgey fix is to include the link annotation in the tag structure, but hide it under a <Span> tag with a space character for Actual Text. Or, live with the error if that is an option. Sorry - that's the best I've got.

a 'C' student

3 replies

K
kalpanabg32080370
Participant
October 2, 2018

Hi,

To be accessible, each link a PDF document must have three tags, presented in the following order, in the tag tree: a parent <Link> tag, a child <Link - OBJR> tag, and a child document content tag. The <Link> tag alerts a screen reader to the presence of the link. The <Link - OBJR> tag enables screen readers to present the link. The document content tag identifies the content on the page that comprises the link.

When you use the Links tool or the Create Form URLs In Document command on a tagged PDF document, Acrobat tags each URL by adding a document content tag to the tag tree, but it does not also add a <Link> tag nor a <Link - OBJR> tag. A link that does not have a <Link - OBJR> tag is considered an unmarked link and is inaccessible to assistive technology. You must locate all instances of unmarked links in the tag tree, and then add <Link> and <Link - OBJR> tags to them, by following the instructions below:

To find an unmarked link and add <Link> and <Link - OBJR> tags to it:

1. In the Tags tab, choose Options > Highlight Content, and then choose Options > Find.

2. In the Find Element dialog box, select Unmarked Links from the Find drop-down menu.

3. Click Find. The first unmarked link is highlighted on the page.

4. Close the Find dialog box. Use the select tool to select text that is near the link, then choose Options > Find Tag From Selection.

5. In the Tags tab, select the document content tag for the link (the tag that names the URL), and then choose Options > New Tag.

6. In the New Tag dialog box, select Link as the tag type and click OK. A <Link> tag appears below the selected document control tag. Drag the document content tag down to be the child of the <Link> tag.

7. Select the <Link> tag, choose Options > Find, and then select Unmarked Links fromt he Find drop-down menu.

8. Click Find. Acrobat finds the URL that you have been working with.

9. In the Find Element dialog box, click Tag Element. The following two things happen:

- A <Link - OBJR> tag appears as a child to the <Link> tag directly above the document content tag. The tagging for this link is complete.

  - Acrobat highlights the next unmarked link in the document.

10. As needed, repeat steps 4 through 9 on the rest of the unmarked links in the document.

I had added hyperlinks to items in a Table of Contents late in my accessibility process ("3 Overview...." in the example below). I then received the Tagged Annotations - Failed error. Following the above steps, I:

1. Clicked the "3 Overview..." document content tag.

2. Created a new <Link> tag.

3. Dragged the "3 Overview..." document content tag under the <Link> tag to be its child.

4. Clicked the <Link> tag (always make sure you do this so it places the <Link - OBJR> tag in the correct spot).

5. Used the steps to find unmarked links.

6. Clicked Tag Element. This added the Link - OBJR tag in the correct spot.

After that, I ran my accessibility check again, and the Tagged Annotations - Failed error was gone! I hope this helps others as much as it helped me!

    R
    Raeben
    Known Participant
    October 3, 2018

    When you create New Links in a PDF  be sure the Highlight Style is not set to  "None".  If the Highlight Style is set to None, the links will be inaccessible to readers using the keyboard alone. 

    Highlight Style determines if the Link will Show Focus when it is tabbed to using the keyboard.

    Sighted people who do not use a screen reader and cannot use a mouse use the keyboard to select Links and move from one Link to the Next.  The Highlight style will show Focus and indicate which Link is selected as they navigate the document.

    I don't believe there is any other way to see which link has focus if you do not set the Highlight Style properly.  There is no Status bar as there is in web browsers when viewing HTML.   Even if there was, seeing the URL does not show the context and purpose of the link and would only be partly helpful.

    V
    VWuAuthor
    Known Participant
    May 28, 2016

    Thank you so much a "C" student.

    L
    LoriMod
    Known Participant
    December 22, 2017

    Hi I do something similar with a link I add for a shortcut to the table of contents.

    I put them in the relevant master pages, tag these items as Figures, add Alt-Text. Then for every document page I want the link to appear, I use those page(s), shift click on the figure which makes it live for that page. Finally I add the ones I made live to Articles.

    It may seem like a lot of work, but you have very little maintenance once it's done. In fact if you do a base pair of live pages then just duplicate the spread it will cut down on some of the work, though you will have to add each figure to Articles.

    Best if all, since they're tagged as Figures, they don't affect the Table of Contents.

      a_C_student16379412
      a_C_student16379412
      Inspiring
      May 27, 2016

      Hi VWu,

      What is your rationale for making the footnotes artifacts? Presumably the footnotes provide information, and that information should be available to assistive technology users as well as users who experience the visual representation of the document. Link annotations cannot be marked as artifacts, and will cause the error that you are experiencing. Please consider tagging the footnotes as real content.

      a 'C' student

        V
        VWuAuthor
        Known Participant
        May 27, 2016

        Hi a "C" Student,

        Sorry I was not talking about footnotes, I mean footers.

        The footers are repetitive in the section on over 100 pages.

        From my understanding, the first repetitive footer/header should be tagged but the rest should be artifacts.

        I have made them artifacts but I want the links remained in the PDF to be clickable,

        however if I do not tag them as Link it will create "Tagged Annotations - Failed" error.

        VWu

        a_C_student16379412
        a_C_student16379412Correct answer
        Inspiring
        May 28, 2016

        Ah, OK. Unfortunately I do not know of a good solution for this common problem. The usual advice is to not put links in repeating footers. But for the most part I do not own the documents I remediate, and if the document owner insists on a link in the footer I have to find a way to deal with it. A clunky, kludgey fix is to include the link annotation in the tag structure, but hide it under a <Span> tag with a space character for Actual Text. Or, live with the error if that is an option. Sorry - that's the best I've got.

        a 'C' student

        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices