Screen Reader cannot advance the page of exported PDF.

Question

I'm working through an accessibility pass on my current project. For some reason the screen reader will not continue to the next page of the PDF after it finishes the one that's currently on the screen. My previous project doesn't have this issue, and I'm not sure what I've done differently between them.

I've tested both documents in both Adobe DC and Foxit Reader, and the results are the same: the old document reads correctly, but the new one gets stuck on whatever page is on-screen. Presumably it's something about how I've set up or exported the InDesign files, but I'm stumped as to what it could be.

If it matters, I'm using NVDA for my screen reader.

Ben Lockwood · Accepted Answer

I have resolved the issue, and it had nothing to do with InDesign. I'll share my experience anyway, in case someone else encounters this issue and suffers the same confusion.

In the PDF reading software there's a setting under Preferences>Reading>Screen Reader Options>Page vs Document. It defaults to "For Large Documents, Only Read The Currently Visible Pages." This same option exists in pretty much exactly the same way in both Adobe Reader and FoxitPDF, and it prevents screen readers from navigating through the document on their own. Changing the setting to "Read the entire document" solved the issue.

My previous project was just under 50 pages, while my current project is well over 200, which is why the issue occurred with one and not the other.

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