Howdy! Acrobat Pro DC 2020 user here. I've searched up and down, and the only "solution" to my title question is people saying don't use Acrobat to edit tags or read order. That's just not possible; the process of exporting a PDF from Word or InDesign is not perfect, no matter what precautions are taken; this is especially true when dealing with complex layouts. For a document to meet ADA requirements (and actually work properly with assistive technologies, not just pass the Acrobat test), the tags and read order nearly always have to be adjusted post-export, in Acrobat.
My current issue is with a fill-able form. Though the form fields (check boxes) themselves are distinguished, Acrobat insists on combining their tags; same story with the text that’s next to the boxes. Tabbing between form fields works fine, but when a screen reader comes across the combined tags, it reads them all at once, as one paragraph or section, instead of line-by-line. This is very confusing for folks who use screen readers.
Form fields aside, Acrobat automatically combining tags is a constant issue. Is there a setting that will prevent this? My only solution so far is to separate each bit of text by marking them as different headings, then arranging their read order, and finally changing them back to paragraphs in the tag pane, while again adjusting read order there (the tag and read order panes fighting each other is another giant hassle). But, the heading trick only works sometimes, and obviously, it’s not an option with form fields. So, here I am.
Again, please don't tell me that Acrobat is not meant to edit structure tags and read order. The numbered read order is strictly for Acrobat’s TTS, so saying to fix that stuff in Word is bananas. Also, PDF tag structure is never perfect after its initial export, and always needs tweaked. In an imaginary world of perfect documents, Acrobat wouldn’t even have the option to edit those items. I’m not asking to move mountains, I only want Acrobat to stop automatically merging content tags. I’d really appreciate some advice here. Thank you!
Bonus question: In the read order and tag panes, is it possible to move a selection without dragging it? That takes an incredibly long time when dealing with large documents.
P.S. Apologies for the angst here, I am working on dozens of complex forms that each contain over 150 different tags. It's a daunting task, even without the pesky content merging.
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