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Thread: InDesign and Reading Order in PDF (not tag order)

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From: Eckelberry, Robin
Date: Thu, Apr 03 2025 10:37AM
Subject: InDesign and Reading Order in PDF (not tag order)
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Hello WebAIM!

I've looked through the archives and may have missed it, but I'm wondering if folks have experience with InDesign and the Reading Order Panel/Content Panel specifically in Acrobat?

Arranging the content in InDesign using the Articles panel creates the PDF with the correct tag order, but the reading order and content order (essential for reading technologies like text-to-speech, Read Aloud in Edge, for example), are completely out of order in Acrobat.

Does anyone know of a way to address this issue at the InDesign level?

With how InDesign exports every line as a separate content box (as opposed to grouping all lines of a paragraph together in one content box, for example), that creates a ton of containers in the Content panel in Acrobat, so having to adjust the order in the Content panel in Acrobat will be no easy feat.

Thanks!

Robin

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Robin Eckelberry

IT Software Engineer =96 Accessibility

Nelnet - Accessibility Services<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nelnetinc.com/capabilities/technology-services/digital-accessibility/__;!!G2OgMis!axxA2bUY-8aIbgI8DkISObLFS1Ia8ret_EVNAoQW1JShCSA1sYBr-5j5Wnv-PngWyu33OO0WeUEgdosVqxpwvx7WOh4$>

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From: Christine Hogenkamp
Date: Thu, Apr 03 2025 1:17PM
Subject: Re: InDesign and Reading Order in PDF (not tag order)
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Hi Robin,

My understanding of how the Reading Order panel order can be set in
Indesign to export proper reading order is based on the order of the Layers
panel, from bottom to top, i.e. the bottom-most layer becomes the first
item in the reading order and the topmost item becomes the last item in the
reading order.

The Tag tree is done separately, using the Articles panel and (just to
confuse you) the items in that panel are top to bottom to create correct
reading order, so the topmost item is the first tag in the tag tree, and
the bottom-most item in the panel becomes the last tag, etc.

It is entirely possible to have the tag tree order be correct and the
Reading Order panel be incorrect, and vise-versa, since they are separate
parts of the Indesign file.

For decorative elements, the current way I know to artifact them so they
are not part of the reading order or tag tree is either to do it using the
Structure panel in Indesign (I believe using the Structure panel overall is
not recommended since it's just meant for generating XML tags but it does
seem to do the job of artifacting) where you can give each decorative
element an Artifact tag using the Tags panel which has some pre-generated
common tags. You can also adjust them to be artifacted in Acrobat in the
Tags panel, not sure which one is less tedious to do, both require manual
adjustment of each element one at a time.

Hope this helps!

*x*
*Christine Hogenkamp (She, Her)*
Front-end Developer & Accessibility Lead
Context Creative – a Mod Op company
416.972.1439 | contextcreative.com

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> 2. InDesign and Reading Order in PDF (not tag order)
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> From: "Eckelberry, Robin" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> To: " = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = " < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Thu, 3 Apr 2025 16:37:13 +0000
> Subject: [WebAIM] InDesign and Reading Order in PDF (not tag order)
> Hello WebAIM!
>
>
>
> I've looked through the archives and may have missed it, but I'm wondering
> if folks have experience with InDesign and the Reading Order Panel/Content
> Panel specifically in Acrobat?
>
>
>
> Arranging the content in InDesign using the Articles panel creates the PDF
> with the correct tag order, but the reading order and content order
> (essential for reading technologies like text-to-speech, Read Aloud in
> Edge, for example), are completely out of order in Acrobat.
>
>
>
> Does anyone know of a way to address this issue at the InDesign level?
>
>
>
> With how InDesign exports every line as a separate content box (as opposed
> to grouping all lines of a paragraph together in one content box, for
> example), that creates a ton of containers in the Content panel in Acrobat,
> so having to adjust the order in the Content panel in Acrobat will be no
> easy feat.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Robin
>
>
>
> [Nelnet Logo]<
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nelnetinc.com/__;!!G2OgMis!axxA2bUY-8aIbgI8DkISObLFS1Ia8ret_EVNAoQW1JShCSA1sYBr-5j5Wnv-PngWyu33OO0WeUEgdosVqxpwmM0MYwM$
> >
>
> Robin Eckelberry
>
> IT Software Engineer – Accessibility
>
> Nelnet - Accessibility Services<
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/nelnetinc.com/capabilities/technology-services/digital-accessibility/__;!!G2OgMis!axxA2bUY-8aIbgI8DkISObLFS1Ia8ret_EVNAoQW1JShCSA1sYBr-5j5Wnv-PngWyu33OO0WeUEgdosVqxpwvx7WOh4$
> >
>
> = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = <mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> The information contained in this message is confidential proprietary
> property of Nelnet, Inc. and its affiliated companies (Nelnet) and is
> intended for the recipient only. Any reproduction, forwarding, or copying
> without the express permission of Nelnet is strictly prohibited. If you
> have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by
> replying to this e-mail.
> > > > >