Acrobat tags not matching InDesign tags

[Oriana808]

Hi,

Using InDesign 18.0 to create accessible pdfs. Issues as follows:

1. Sometimes a pdf generated from InDesign will show the name of the style sheet along with the tag, ie. instead of <H1> it will show as <Title_H1>. This happens with numerous tags. If I clean up all of the paragraph styles in InDesign as neatly as possible and check each one carefully - in some cases this solves the issue, in other cases it does not.

2. A very big problem is that Acrobat will change the tag altogether, so an InDesign tag of <H3> becomes <H4> in Acrobat.

I have very carefully checked all aspects of the tags, the paragraph styles, etc. Of course I'm working on a deadline and spending hours trying to find a solution is not feasible, have wasted a few hours so far. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post if it helps you get responses.

<moved from using the community>

[Oriana808]

Hi kglad,

Ok thanks so much, yes please move the message, that would be very helpful!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Are you familiar with the Edit All Export Tags menu? It's a bit hidden — click on the 'hamburger' icon in the Paragraph Styles menu — but it will let you review and edit all export tags at once (for both EPUB/HMTL and PDF).

This may not be a solution, but perhaps having all the tags in one place, rather than laboriously working through each style's menu, might help assure consistent and correct assignments.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

James gives excellent advice.

First, make sure you've designated which tag to apply to the paragraph's text as he said.

But I think the real culprint is InDesign's stupid custom tags (that mimic our paragraph style names) that then must be Role Mapped to the correct accessibility tag.

Once you check it "on" as detailed below, it should stay on permanently...or until your version of Acrobat is updated.

[Oriana808]

Hi James,

Yes I always use Edit All Export Tags :). Thanks

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

@Oriana808, you're seeing InDesign's "custom tags" in your PDF.

To change what you see and get the correct accessibility tags (H1, H2, etc.), turn on Apply Role Mapping in Acrobat. Here's how:

1. In Acrobat Pro, switch to the Tags Tree panel.
2. From the panel's options drop-down menu, select Apply Role Mapping to Tags.
3. You should now see the correct tag names in the Tag Tree.

Before Role Mapping ...

BEFORE

Apply Role Mapping

After Role Mapping

AFTER

[Oriana808]

Hi Bevi,

Yes I do have Role Mapping turned on. The issue doesn't effect all of the tags, just some of the tags. Also this doesn't solve the problem of incorrect tag structure - which is pretty serious as one wouldn't know if a tag was changed in hierarchy in a large document. Notice in one screenshot how it skips from H3 to H5. The other screenshot shows how the tags don't match between InDesign and Acrobat.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

@Oriana808 , thanks for the screen shots of your tag tree.

Question: are the problems only appearing in tags inside tables? Or do the problems appear in other non-tabular portions of the PDF, such as within the narrative text?

[Oriana808]

No not only inside of tables, see screenshot attached.

Thanks for your attention to this matter 🙂

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

There might be something amiss with how role mapping is programmed.

• Can you take a screen capture of the dialogue box from Edit Role Map? This shows the custom tags and what they are mapped to.

• And is it only this file that has the problem, or does it happen on all files or more files?

• Your operating system, version of InDesign (including build number), and version of Acrobat Pro would also help.

[Oriana808]

Screenshot of role mapping attached. It does not contain all of the tags for some reason. I also attached a screenshot of the paragraph styles. This particular document is 36 pages and contains some complex tables. It has happened in small documents but mostly larger ones.

As I've mentioned before, sometimes when I tidy up paragraph styles, do not link any styles to other styles, shorten names, etc. it solves the issue. In this particular document it is not for some reason.

Not sure where to find the InDesign build number. It's the 2022 18.0 version from Adobe Cloud, although it has happened before I updated both InDesign and my OS.

Acrobat is Version 2022.002.20212

OS is Catalina 10.15.7

[Oriana808]

Also note that Acrobat Accessibility Checker does not flag any of these tags as errors.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

That's right, Acrobat's built-in checker does not check for tag accuracy. There's a LOT of stuff it doesn't get, which is why our shop requires both a manual check by a human being and a software check with either CommonLook or PAC3 (we do not use PAC4/2021).

[Oriana808]

Hi Bevi,

I'm assuming there won't be a solution any time soon, or maybe never :)?

Thanks for all of your help so far.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Looking at your latest screenshots, seeing 'Title_H1' is mapped to H1, and 'Title_H1' is what you see in the tags-tree, makes me suspect that Bevi is right is assuming that you are not showing 'Apply role mapping to tags'. Make sure there is a tickmark before the option.

[Oriana808]

Hi Frans,

Thank you, however I def. have Apply role mapping to tags on. See screenshot attached.

That also doesn't address Acrobat changing the tag structure.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

In that case... 'the plot thickens'... Strange indeed...!

[Frans v.d. Geest]

I'll be happy to take a look at your InDesign-document and export it here to see what happens, if you are willing to share...

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

That also doesn't address Acrobat changing the tag structure.
By @Oriana808

Acrobat isn't changing the tag structure. You're seeing the tag structure created by InDesign's export utility, which by Adobe's insane logic, are custom tags named after InDesign's paragraph styles that are then camoflagued via Role Mapping to the accessibility tags.  It's a strange system, that's for sure!  Pure voodoo.

But something in your InDesign layout is throwing off this conversion and I'd like to take a couple of routes to see if we can discover what it is. It could be:

1. One or more of the style names is too long or conflicts with another.
2. A bug in the export utility's conversion algorithims.
3. Mis-mapping in Acrobat's Role Mapping utility.

Let's start with the easiest:

Can you shorten the names of your paragraph styles? For example, Black sub subhead H4 can become just H4.

And then resave the layout as File / Save As and give it a new file name. Don't overwrite the existing file: we want a new file so that the InDesign code is rewritten as a "clean" new file from start to finish.

Export a new PDF: File / Export / PDF Interactive, and see if anything improved in the new PDF. Let us know what you get.

[Oriana808]

I can tell you like InDesign for ACC lol.

I had changed most of the paragraph style names (Black sub subhead H4 was from an older pdf) - should show in the "Edit all export tags" screenshot I sent earlier.

Just went through and shortened even more, eliminated a couple of styles and it's getting better. However I just found:

1. Tag H6 in InDesign, showing up as H4 in Acrobat.

2. Tag H5 in InDesign, showing up as H4 in Acrobat.

I am limited as far as screenshots are concerned, as this is a document from a financial institution.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

:

1. Tag H6 in InDesign, showing up as H4 in Acrobat.

2. Tag H5 in InDesign, showing up as H4 in Acrobat.

By @Oriana808

 Then that H-level tag is set in the Paragraph style itself in InDesign or incorrectly mapped in the Edit all Export tag dialog... 

[Oriana808]

It's not though. That's the issue. It is 100% correctly tagged in the paragraph style.

[Oriana808]

See screenshot attached.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

And a screenshot of the Paragraph Style itself, last option on the left, Export Label?