Interactive PDF tab order issue

Report · Jun 14, 2024

I've been banging my head against a wall.trying to figure out a tab order issue that I can't seem to figure out. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Bullets for Speed

This is a fairly large InDesign file that is part of a book. ~300 pages total.
When exporting a file individually, it follows the correct tab order.
When exporting as part of the book, it follows the layer order.

The Cause of The Problem?

The reason why we cannot move layers around easily is because they're anchored within the text frame. And due to split column, some of the anchored form fields are being read in the wrong order when it comes to tab order.
The wrong tab order is following the layer order, and the file does not allow for dragging the layers to reorder. (We think it's because it uses paragraph menu -> hamburger menu -> span columns, but not 100% sure if that's why.)
We CAN reorder the layers with the Edit -> "Edit in Story Mode" with cut and paste, but the layout gets all messed up when we do that and it's not easy to get the layout back to how it started.

Even if we figure out how to fix the layout issie cia the Story Panel (or another way), it's going to be a lot of work to go through every page manually to fix things (especially in the big table pages) as we have ~300 pages to check through. (Not all pages have issues.)

Any ideas? Are there any book creation pdf export features we can toggle on or off? Happy to share the file if that helps.

I'm stumped. Happy to discuss compensation if anyone can help fix it!

Report · Jun 14, 2024

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Report · Nov 03, 2024

Hi Adam @Adam34664626x5pp,

Apologies for the delayed reply. Just found your email from before.

This is a fairly large InDesign file that is part of a book. ~300 pages total.

When exporting a file individually, it follows the correct tab order.

When exporting as part of the book, it follows the layer order.Clairy8ing:fdfd

Clarlifying: TAB order is not the same as the Tag Tree reading order, nor are either the same as the Architectural/Construction reading order. Details are at this blog, https://www.pubcom.com/blog/2020_08-18_ReadingOrder/reading-orders.shtml

Threaded frames in stories is the main factor for the Tag Tree reading order (RO).
The sequence of items in the Articles Panel can also affect the Tag Tree RO.
InDesign's Layers Panel controls the Architectural/Construction RO.
And Form Fields RO is something different entirely.

If you're using InDesign's FIle / Export / Interactive PDF utililty, and if you're selecting the correct settings for accessible tagged PDF, there shouldn't be a difference whether you export the entire book or just a part of it.

The Cause of The Problem?

The reason why we cannot move layers around easily is because they're anchored within the text frame. And due to split column, some of the anchored form fields are being read in the wrong order when it comes to tab order.

This doesn't make sense. Layers are not anchored in text frames. They're not anchored to anything, and they can't be moved, either.

However, OBJECTS on the layers panel can be anchored within the text that's inside a text frame, and objects can be moved. Objects are text frames, sidebar frames, graphic frames, graphic rules, etc.

The wrong tab order is following the layer order, and the file does not allow for dragging the layers to reorder. (We think it's because it uses paragraph menu -> hamburger menu -> span columns, but not 100% sure if that's why.)

The Architectural/Construction RO is the order of the objects on the InDesign layer. The sequence is bottom - up: that is, the bottommost object is read first and the top-most object is read last. This the the InDesig Stacking Order. Have never found that Span Columns in a paragraph style affects this reading order.

We CAN reorder the layers with the Edit -> "Edit in Story Mode" with cut and paste, but the layout gets all messed up when we do that and it's not easy to get the layout back to how it started.

You reorder the OBJECTS on the Layers Panel by dragging them up/down the layers panel. Don't use Story Editor for this task.

Hope this helps your future projects.