WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

E-mail List Archives

Re: PDFs: Logical Reading Order and Tags

for

From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Jun 2, 2016 12:23PM


Yes, this is a known bug in Acrobat.

After a PDF has been tagged for accessibility, any TEXT edits to the file
can botch up the accessibility tags. Sometimes the tags are eliminated or
the page structure/reading order is changed. And it can happen anywhere in
the file, not necessarily at the point where the edit was made.

Please file a "feature request" at the Adobe forums,
http://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html

When you do, please be specific so that the engineers can replicate the bug.
Give step-by-step instructions:
1. I clicked on the button.
2. I selected some text.
3. Using the XYZ tool, it typed "abc."
Etc.

FYI, editorial changes should generally be made in the source file, not the
PDF. This ensures that future versions from the source file are correct,
too.

However, it emphasizes how our main software providers -- that is, Microsoft
and Adobe -- must give us better tools. There are way too many bugs in all
programs: MS Word, PowerPoint, Acrobat, and InDesign.

--Bevi Chagnon
www.PubCom.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Zaitchik [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ]
Sent: Thursday, June 2, 2016 2:12 PM
To: Lucy Greco < <EMAIL REMOVED> >; <EMAIL REMOVED> ; WebAIM Discussion
List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] PDFs: Logical Reading Order and Tags


Š And just to add to this scenario: when I have to use Acrobat¹s Edit PDF to
make a change (e.g. a change to some URL in a link) it seems to totally
screw up the tags all around the change site to some significant distance!
I¹m sure I needn't tell you how frustrating it is to do all the tags work
and then get asked to make some "small edit²! I don¹t know a whole lot about
editing PDFs in Acrobat, but now I am wondering if the fault is not in my
stars but in the product, to twist a famous phrase.

Alan Zaitchik | Senior Technologist / Senior Associate
200 Reservoir Street, Suite 202
Needham, Massachusetts 02494
www.center4si.com <http://www.center4si.com/>;