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O
oups_
Inspiring
February 27, 2025
Question

Difficulties creating accessible pdf

  • February 27, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 583 views

Hello everyone,

 

I am working on creating a PDF accessible from InDesign and I am having several problems when I do tests on Acrobat :

 

- When I start the audio playback of the PDF document on Acrobat, it systematically stops after reading 2 pages instead of continuing to read until the end of the document. I tried deleting pages to see if the "blocking" was coming from one of them in particular, but the reader always stops after 2 pages...

 

- In InDesign, I created tags with the article panel in order to define the reading order. Acrobat seems to respect the order of these tags when reading the audio, but yet in the "reading order" panel, the numbering does not correspond to the order of the tags defined in InDesign and I do not know if I should worry about it or consider that my tags are correct... You can see the problem on page 5 of my document.

 

- On InDesign I work with the pages facing each other, and I anchored the image of the red mug on the next page so that it is read at the end of a specific sentence. However, the screen reader just reads the image's alternative text right after the first text block, right in the middle of a sentence.

 

I don't quite understand what's wrong, and I would like to make sure that my document is formatted correctly.
Do you know where these different problems come from and how to solve them?


Have a nice day 🙂

    2 replies

    Frans v.d. Geest
    Community Expert
    Frans v.d. GeestCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 27, 2025

    I'm afraid that creating an accessible pdf needs extensive knowledge on the matter and you should invest in training of some sort as you need a lot of understanding of the matter.
    For instance the difference between tag order (Articles pane) and Reading order (defined by layer order, the 'numbers' in Acrobat), the use of Header tags, Lists, Captions, Role mapping, validation (like standard PAC) what WCAG and pdf/ua1 is, Matterhorn etc. etc. etc.

    And, Acrobats Read aloud is not, as Mike said, a valid way to test, you will need Jaws or NVDA as a assistent technology (screen reader).

    To learn the basics take a look at the Linkedin learning training:

    https://www.linkedin.com/learning/creating-accessible-pdfs-14445392/the-ultimate-guide-to-accessible-pdfs

      Mike Witherell
      Community Expert
      Mike WitherellCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 27, 2025

      Hey Oups,

      1. Even though Acrobat Pro has a Read Out Loud feature, that is not quite the full feature of a read-to-you assistive technology software (like JAWS). If it reads out loud ... good ... it works. 

      2. Accessibility tags are ordered in the Tags panel which is not the same as the Reading panel.

      3. Use the Articles panel also to insert images in the order you want them read (via their Alt text). Did you click on the Articles panel menu button and switch ON the one labeled "Use for Tagging Order in Tagged PDF" ?

       

      Have you tried running Acrobat's Accessibility checker to have it show you needful fixes?

      https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/create-verify-pdf-accessibility.html

      Have you tried an online PDF accessibility fixer-upper such as:

      https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/pricing/contact/sales/accessibilitychecker/accessibility_checker_content/

      Mike Witherell
        O
        oups_Author
        Inspiring
        March 3, 2025

        Thank you for your answers. I am on a MacOS so I am now doing tests with VoiceOver.
        I have checked "Use for Tagging Order in Tagged PDF".
        On your advice, I am using Acrobat's Accessibility checker to help me identify the problems.
        I am training at the same time as I am doing this project.
        I have made 2 documents:
        - the original magazine optimized for greater accessibility (balises, texte alternatif)
        - the magazine adapted for even greater accessibility (management of color contrasts, size and choice of font, more spacious text, deletion of text in columns)

        I managed to obtain a fairly good result, but I still encounter a problem on the original magazine with the text in columns.
        When I read the file with VoiceOver, on some pages the screen reader does not "understand" the columns and jumps from one to the other while reading the lines of the 2 parallel columns.
        Do you know how to correct this problem? If this one come from my document and not from VoiceOver.
        I don't understand why only certain pages are causing problems, I tried to delete the images, to separate the columns into 2 distinct linked text blocks... Nothing changes.

         

        Have a good day !

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