Participating Frequently

Answered

PAC 2021 Check fails since InDesign version 18.4

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
October 15, 2023
5 replies
5863 views

Since InDesign version 18.4 it is no longer possible to check if a PDF file generated with InDesign is accessible and compliant with the PDF/UA standard. The PAC checker aborts the check with the following error message: "Unexpected error: Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt”.

Unfortunately the same behaviour still exists with InDesign CC 2024.

Is there a solution to this problem?

Thanks

Micha Beisser

Bug

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Frans v.d. Geest

PAC 2024 is now released with many bug fixes!

https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/en

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

PAC is now owned by Axes4 and they will release an updated version of PAC on November 28th that will fix this message.

So keep an eye on:

https://support.axes4.com/hc/en-us/articles/7371921627794-PDF-Accessibility-Checker-PAC-2021

(Again, for those that not fully read this: this link now is still for the version without the fix, so revisit the above link after November 28th)

Frans v.d. Geest

Correct answer

Community Expert

PAC 2024 is now released with many bug fixes!

https://pac.pdf-accessibility.org/en

N

notannhavoc

Inspiring

I have the same problem and have tried to solve it - I have 2 identical pdf fiels - generated from ID2022 and one from ID2024 - teh 2022 version passes but not the 2024 version - it gives the error. Have asked for help in teh Acrobat community - cannot see what the difference is - it is a huge problem as I cannot ask the client to work in an earlier version of ID which is no onger accessible on teh website. I'm attachign the 2 files in the hope that someone may spot what the problem is

004-ATL104Eng_Chapter2_AK_2023-11-13-from idml-2022p1.pdf opens in teh PAC checker

Chapter2_AK_2023-11-13from idml 2024-p1.pdf does not

004-ATL104Eng_Chapter2_AK_2023-11-13-from_idml-2022p1.pdf

Chapter2_AK_2023-11-13from_idml_2024-p1.pdf

G

Golo Zegenhagen

Participant

To get rid of the error, you will need to replace the "Minon Pro" used for the headline "Chapter 2" with a TrueType font. This error is font-related and occurs with OpenType fonts but not with TrueType fonts.

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

I don't see how swapping OpenType/Unicode fonts for old ASCII TrueType fonts affects object references.

1) The original error reported by the OP is "Der Objektverweis wurde nicht auf eine Objektinstanz festgelegt" (English, "The object reference has not been set to an object instance.") Fonts shouldn't come into play with this error.

2) Unicode/OpenType fonts are required for full accessibility because they standardize each glyph to Unicode encoding for interpretation by screen readers and other machine technologies.

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

K

KarinWeber

Participant

My workaround: Try to find out which picture in your final tagged pdf is making troubles. Save the picture again and make a new export.

N

notannhavoc

Inspiring

I don't think it has anythgn to do with images - I tried my files without images altogether and still got the error

Frans v.d. Geest

Community Expert

Yes, known and documented problem. It is because of the change in a Framework since 18.4, so all versions after that are affected, including v 19. What may help is to re-save in Acrobat as a Optimized PDF.

S

subraumpixel

Participating Frequently

Who is the one to fix this, Adobe or PAC?

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

Legend

Ew. Considering the frequency of PAC updates, that might … take a while 😕😕

The company that acquired PAC is being acquired itself. See https://abledocs.com/en/media/dlt-resolution-inc-to-acquire-to-abledocs/ I would assume that little to no new development is taking place.

Rumors say that the original creator/programmer of PAC has left the company and is now trying to regain control of his intellectual property.

But in the meantime, why not use an older version like PAC 3? We still use it because in my shop's evaluation, it's more accurate with its interpretation of the PDF/UA-1 standards than the recent versions. The recent versions of PAC (after it was acquired) added a lot of technical stuff that really don't affect basic accessibility of PDF files.

Remember, PDF/UA-2 is NOT released at this time so why run a checker that is looking for UA-2 stuff that isn't required with PDF/UA-1? Why look for problems that really aren't problems?

Acrobat's revised checker and preflight utilities have been updated and are decent at this time. If you use the basic tenants of accessibility in InDesign...

Use styles, not manual formatting.
Thread your content into logical stories: continous series of threaded text frames from each story's title to its end.
Alt Text, Hyperlinks from the hyperlinks panel, anchor graphics and sidebar boxes, and other smaller details.
Use the Articles panel when needed to structure and sequence long documents.

... you should get a very decent PDF from InDesign at this time. The rest can be quickly corrected in Acrobat with its checker and Preflight utilities.

If you can afford it, purchase a copy of Made To Tag by Axaio Software, which was developed by one of the founders of the PDF/UA committee that wrote the standard. It makes a gorgeous, clean tag tree from InDesign layouts and is a lifesaver for accessible tables. (No, I don't receive a commission or any compensation from the products/companies I recommend.)

And also check out the new products for Axes4. Axes4 created the original PAC checker a few years back, before it was acquired by a Canadian company. I see they have relaunched their own website and it looks very promising. But right now, there's no mention of PAC there. Their AxesPDF is a decent program.

I'm very hopeful to see that Axes4 has been "reinvigorated"!

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |