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September 13, 2024
Answered

No custom alt text option available for images.

  • September 13, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 893 views

Attempting to set custom alternative text on images in indesign fails.

 

Select an image, context click the image, and select object export options.

 

 

 

No custom option is available for alt text at the next stage.

 

 

 

Where do users set alt text on images.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer James Gifford—NitroPress

I don't understand. What's wrong with the Alt Text entry pane you have selected?

 

ETA: I see it now. You are selecting the graphic object itself, and ID apparently does not allow alt text assignment at this level.

 

Select the graphics frame instead, which will be exported as a unit that contains/presents alt text. You will have all options available for that.

2 replies

James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
September 13, 2024

I don't understand. What's wrong with the Alt Text entry pane you have selected?

 

ETA: I see it now. You are selecting the graphic object itself, and ID apparently does not allow alt text assignment at this level.

 

Select the graphics frame instead, which will be exported as a unit that contains/presents alt text. You will have all options available for that.

September 13, 2024

This is the answer, and while i must thank the responder for their helpful reply because i would never have deducted that a container was the problem here, i will also ask @adobe - who i can of course not tag in this infrastructure - why i would attempt to apply an action to an object that is not an image when ALT TEXT is to be applied to an image file, specifically?

James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
September 13, 2024

InDesign does not export graphics as an element of their own; all elements must be in a text or graphics frame, which becomes the overall container for all elements — an image, added graphic elements, etc. So it's to that (InDesign) element that alt text is assigned, so that it will apply to the entire exported/viewed object. This is no different from how, say, an image is handled in a web layout, with a formatting block that contains the image link, size and border info, class... and an alt= string. HTML does not "apply the alt string to the image" but bundles into into a single document element.

 

Which is exactly what ID does as well.

 

I suggest that (1) you don't know what you are doing understand InDesign's document structure well enough to grasp that a element like alt text has to "go somewhere" just as it does in a web page, and (2) being pointlessly rude isn't going to get you answers and help here very long. Rao's answer, like most given by the Adobe Employees who monitor these forums, was a request for general information that often leads to a useful answer. Most technical answers come from the forum users — this being a user-to-user forum, not an official support one — and we often have to start with just those questions to be able to advise posters who are on different platforms, OS versions, ID versions and such. The employees often jump in on such questions to give a quick initial response and, hopefully, get a followup post of that useful diagnostic info before another user has to do so.

 

Maybe keep that in mind next time you ask for help?

Abhishek Rao
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 13, 2024

Hi @TonyTwoTimes,

 

I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble setting custom alternative text for images in InDesign. 

 

Could you please let me know which version of InDesign you’re using and the details of your operating system? Also, if possible, could you provide a screen recording of the workflow where you encounter the issue? This will help us better understand what might be going wrong.

In the meantime, please confirm if in the "Object Export Options" dialog box, are you able to select Custom and enter your alternative text in the provided field (In "Alt Text" tab). 

 

If you don’t see the option for custom alt text, it might be due to a version issue or a setting that needs adjustment. Your version details and a screen recording will help us pinpoint the problem.

 

Looking forward to your response!

 

Thank you, 

Abhishek Rao

September 13, 2024

Pointless response. See the following community answer. You do not know what you are doing.