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Adobe 22001438 - Acrobat - PC Manual

Adobe 22001438 - Acrobat - PC Manual

Accessibility guide
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Creating Accessible PDF Documents with
Adobe Acrobat 7.0
A Guide for Publishing PDF Documents for Use by
People with Disabilities

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Summary of Contents for Adobe 22001438 - Acrobat - PC

  • Page 1 Creating Accessible PDF Documents with Adobe Acrobat 7.0 A Guide for Publishing PDF Documents for Use by People with Disabilities...
  • Page 2 Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe PDF, Capture, FrameMaker, InDesign, LiveCycle, PageMaker, and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Apple and Mac OS are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content ....... .3...
  • Page 4 Options for converting to Adobe PDF from authoring applications .......
  • Page 5 Using Acrobat 7.0 Professional to make Adobe PDF forms accessible ......44...
  • Page 6 Two tools for checking the accessibility of Adobe PDF documents .......
  • Page 7 How to read an Adobe PDF document’s tag tree....... . .

  • Page 8: Introduction

    ® documents and fillable PDF forms for access by users with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, and mobility impairment. By following the workflow approach and tasks that are outlined in this guide, you can use Adobe Acrobat 7.0 to create PDF documents that people can read by using conventional assistive technology (such as ®...

  • Page 9: Authoring Applications Described In This Guide

    2000, ® ® ® or Windows XP . For specific product system requirements, visit the Adobe website at ® www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html. Accessibility tools in Windows The Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems have built-in accessibility tools that provide increased or alternative access to information on the computer screen.

  • Page 10: Summary Of The Sections In This Guide

    Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content This section explains the three ways that you can use Acrobat 7.0 to bring scanned documents into the Adobe PDF accessibility workflow: by applying optical character recognition (OCR) to existing PDF scans, by scanning paper documents directly to PDF and applying OCR, and by converting scanned image files to PDF and applying OCR.

  • Page 11: Section 10: Evaluating Adobe Pdf Documents For Accessibility Problems

    Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems This section is for advanced users who need to edit the tag tree of an Adobe PDF document to add specific accessi- bility features or to fix complex accessibility problems. You can edit the tag tree to create tags for links that you added late in the workflow, add alternate text to links, improve the accessibility of complex tables, remove obsolete tags, rearrange the tags of entire pages at a time, and perform other detailed changes on tags.

  • Page 12: What Accessibility Is

    Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. Adobe PDF is a standard on the World Wide Web, and it is used to distribute electronic documents over corporate networks, by e-mail, and on digital media. Virtually any electronic document or scanned image can be converted to a PDF document by using Acrobat software, and anyone can read these documents by using Acrobat or the free Adobe Reader software.

  • Page 13: What Makes Adobe Pdf Documents Accessible

    2. The document’s form fields, if any, are accessible Some Adobe PDF documents are forms that a person is to complete by using a computer. To be accessible, these PDF forms must have interactive (fillable) form fields, descriptions of form fields that screen readers can read, and a preset tab order that helps users navigate among the form fields.
  • Page 14 For example, the application extracts characters to text when users listen to text by using a screen reader or the Read Out Loud tool in Adobe Reader or Acrobat, or when they copy, paste, or save text to a file.

  • Page 15: Section 2: Understanding Tagging And Document Structure

    PDAs. How to tell if an Adobe PDF document has been tagged The simplest way to find out whether an Adobe PDF document is already tagged is to check its status in Document Properties.

  • Page 16: What Tagging Looks Like In Acrobat

    What tagging looks like in Acrobat In Acrobat Professional, you can view the tags of any Adobe PDF document by opening its tag tree. Information in the tag tree is organized into a hierarchical structure that is similar to the typical desktop computer interface of nested folders and files.

  • Page 17: When To Tag Documents

    To tag a document after it has been converted to PDF, use the Add Tags To Document command in Acrobat 7.0. This command works on any untagged PDF document, such as a document that has been printed to PDF by using Adobe PDF Printer.

  • Page 18: Why Touchup Is Often Needed

    Why touchup is often needed No matter which method you use to tag the Adobe PDF document, you will probably need to use Acrobat Professional to touch up the tagging and reading order for complex page layouts or unusual page elements.

  • Page 19: Section 3: The Accessibility Workflow

    If the document is already in Adobe PDF (but is not an image-only scan) If the document is a form, add fillable form fields in Acrobat Professional as described in “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39. Otherwise, tag the document as described in “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents”...
  • Page 20 HTML pages to tagged PDF documents. Note: If you intend to design PDF forms, Adobe recommends using LiveCycle Designer, which is dedicated to the design of interactive and static forms. See “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39 for more information.

  • Page 21: Step 2: If The Document Is A Form, Add Fillable, Accessible Form Fields

    If the document that you create or receive is to be a fillable form, you must add fillable, accessible form fields (if they aren’t already present) and tag the form (if it isn’t already tagged). Read “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms acces- sible”...

  • Page 22: Section 4: Creating Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents From Word-Processing

    This section provides an overview of the options that are available for converting files to Adobe PDF from authoring applications, and offers tips for preparing files for optimal tagging and accessibility before converting files to PDF.

  • Page 23: Options For Converting To Adobe Pdf From Authoring Applications

    Using the Save As or Export command in Adobe applications (Mac OS and Windows) The best way to create Adobe PDF documents from Adobe applications is to use the application’s Save As command or Export command. Performing a typical installation of Adobe’s design and layout applications, including InDesign CS and PageMaker, automatically installs and configures all the necessary components for creating PDF documents.

  • Page 24: Creating Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents From Microsoft Office 2000 Or Later

    If the layout has two or more columns, use Word’s Columns feature (Format > Columns) to lay out the columns. • Don’t use tabs or the Table feature to simulate multicolumn text. Columns translate cleanly to a tagged Adobe PDF document, while tabs and tables often require manual repair work with the TouchUp Reading Order tool or the tag tree in Acrobat Professional.

  • Page 25: Tips For Making Large Excel Tables (Worksheets) Accessible

    PDF document by using Acrobat PDFMaker and the procedure described in this section. Unless you have created a form that is to have fillable form fields, do not print the document to PDF by using Adobe PDF Printer; this method produces an untagged PDF document and requires that you add tags and alternate text to the PDF document in Acrobat 7.0 Professional.
  • Page 26 Note: If you have created a form that is to be fillable, first produce an untagged PDF document from the Office application by using Adobe PDF Printer. Add fillable form fields in Acrobat Professional, and then tag the file by using Acrobat Profes- sional or Adobe PDF Forms Access.
  • Page 27 From the Bookmarks tab, you can control whether to convert a document’s headings and other styles to bookmarks in the Adobe PDF document, and you can edit the hierarchy (level) of the bookmarks before conversion. The tab offers the following two conversion options: This option creates bookmarks for paragraphs that use the Heading 1, •...

  • Page 28: Converting Microsoft Office Documents To Adobe Pdf Documents (Mac Os Only)

    Converting Microsoft Office documents to Adobe PDF documents (Mac OS only) If you have created a document in a Microsoft Office application in Mac OS, you must use Adobe PDF Printer to convert the file to an untagged Adobe PDF document. If the document is a form, add fillable form fields as described in “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible”...

  • Page 29: Using Indesign Cs Tags To Improve Accessibility

    Using InDesign CS tags to improve accessibility The tags that you add in InDesign CS are not the same as Adobe PDF tags. However, tags that you create in InDesign CS have a direct effect on the way that tags are subsequently generated in PDF.

  • Page 30: Adding Accessible Text To Graphics

    Converting InDesign CS documents to tagged Adobe PDF documents Once you have created a document in InDesign CS, you convert it to a tagged Adobe PDF document by using the Export command and the procedure described in the following steps. Do not create the PDF document using Adobe PDF Printer unless the file is to be a PDF form with fillable form fields.
  • Page 31 To export an InDesign CS document as an accessible PDF document: In InDesign CS, choose File > Export. In the Export dialog box, select Adobe PDF in the Save As Type (Windows) or the Format (Mac OS) drop-down menu, and then enter a file name.

  • Page 32: Creating Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents From Framemaker 7.0

    To convert a FrameMaker document to a tagged Adobe PDF document: Choose File > Print Setup. In the Printer area of the Print Setup dialog box, choose Adobe PDF in the Name drop-down menu. Click OK. Choose File > Print.

  • Page 33: Creating Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents From Pagemaker 7.0

    You create Adobe PDF documents from PageMaker by using the Export command. Unless the PageMaker document is to be a PDF form with fillable form fields, do not print the document to PDF by using Adobe PDF Printer; this method produces an untagged PDF document and requires that you add tags and alternate text to the PDF document in Acrobat 7.0.

  • Page 34: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Document For Accessibility

    Check the PDF document for form fields, and add fillable, accessible form fields, if necessary. See “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39. Tag the PDF document for accessibility (if it is not already tagged). See “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents” on page 48.

  • Page 35: Section 5: Converting Scans To Accessible Adobe Pdf Content

    Section 5: Converting scans to accessible Adobe PDF content This section explains the three ways that you can use Acrobat 7.0 to bring scanned documents into the Adobe PDF accessibility workflow: by applying optical character recognition (OCR) to existing PDF scans, by scanning paper documents directly to PDF and applying OCR, and by converting scanned image files to PDF and applying OCR.

  • Page 36: Applying Ocr To Image-Only Adobe Pdf Scans

    Applying OCR to image-only Adobe PDF scans Scanned documents that have been saved as image-only Adobe PDF documents are not accessible to screen readers until you apply OCR to them. The content is merely a graphic, rather than text that assistive technology can read and interpret.

  • Page 37: Scanning A Paper Document To Adobe Pdf

    “Creating Adobe PDF documents from paper documents” in Acrobat 7.0 Help. Scanning a paper document to Adobe PDF You can use a scanner and Acrobat 7.0 to scan a paper document directly to Adobe PDF by using the File > Create PDF > From Scanner command in Acrobat.

  • Page 38: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Document For Accessibility

    Note: If your enterprise has a large number of already-scanned files that have not yet been converted to PDF, consider purchasing Adobe Acrobat Capture 3.0 and the Tag Adobe PDF Agent, so you can process them all at once into searchable, tagged PDF documents.

  • Page 39: Section 6: Creating A Single Tagged Adobe Pdf Document From Multiple Documents

    This section describes how to combine multiple documents into a single Adobe PDF document either during or after conversion to PDF. It also explains the effect of these changes on the tag tree, and how to plan ahead when combining documents, so as to avoid as much repair of the tag tree as possible.

  • Page 40: Inserting, Replacing, And Deleting Pages Within An Adobe Pdf Document In Acrobat

    Inserting, replacing, and deleting pages within an Adobe PDF document in Acrobat In Acrobat 7.0 you can insert pages from one Adobe PDF document into another, replace pages from one PDF document with those of another, and delete pages. Plan ahead to reduce changes to the tag tree and reading order When you consolidate multiple Adobe PDF documents in order to produce one tagged PDF document, start with all untagged PDF documents or all tagged PDF documents.

  • Page 41: Combining Files From Multiple Authoring Applications While Converting To Adobe Pdf

    In Acrobat, choose File > Create PDF > From Multiple Files. You can select the files that you want to combine to • create the Adobe PDF document and put the files in the desired order for the new PDF document. During conversion, Acrobat opens each application, creates a tagged PDF document, and assembles these documents into a single tagged PDF document.

  • Page 42: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Document For Accessibility

    Check the PDF document for form fields, and add fillable, accessible form fields, if necessary. See “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39. Tag the PDF document for accessibility (if it is not already tagged). See “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents” on page 48.

  • Page 43: Section 7: Creating Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents From Web

    An Adobe PDF document that you create from a web page is only as accessible as the HTML source code that it is based on. For example, if the web page relies on tables for its layout design (as many web pages do), the HTML code for the table may not flow in the same logical reading order as a tagged PDF document would require, even though the HTML code is sufficiently structured to display all the elements correctly in a browser.

  • Page 44: How To Convert Web Pages To Tagged Adobe Pdf Documents

    Web Page Conversion Settings dialog box, where you can select the Create PDF Tags option to tag the document. • (Windows only) Use the Convert Web Page To PDF command of the Adobe PDF button in Internet Explorer This button is installed in the browser’s toolbar when you install Acrobat 7.0 Professional or 5.01 or later.

  • Page 45: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Document For Accessibility

    Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility Remember that creating a tagged Adobe PDF document from a web page is only the first part of the accessibility workflow. You should also perform the following steps in Acrobat Professional to ensure the accessibility of the PDF document: Perform an accessibility Full Check and verify that the fonts in the document are accessible.

  • Page 46: Section 8: Making Adobe Pdf Forms Accessible

    This section describes the characteristics of accessible Adobe PDF forms and the three most frequently used methods for creating them: by using Adobe LiveCycle Designer, by using the Forms tools in Acrobat 7.0 Professional, and by using Adobe PDF Forms Access.

  • Page 47: Characteristics Of Accessible Adobe Pdf Forms

    13 for instructions on optimizing the rest of the PDF document for accessibility. Workflows for creating forms The workflows for creating accessible Adobe PDF forms vary based on what Acrobat tools you are using and where you’re starting from—a blank page, an untagged PDF form, or a tagged PDF form.

  • Page 48: What Is Your Starting Point

    Another alternative is to use an authoring application to create the form. Most authoring applications that you can use to design forms do not retain their fillable form fields when you convert the files to Adobe PDF. You will therefore need to use the Forms tools in Acrobat Professional to add fillable form fields.

  • Page 49: Tips For Working With Forms

    The tab order for form fields enables people with disabilities to use a keyboard to move from field to field in a logical order. In Adobe PDF forms, you should set the tab order to Use Document Structure. You can test a form’s tab order by using the following keyboard commands: Press Tab to move focus to the next field.
  • Page 50 Note: Once you save the form as a tagged PDF form, you are finished with the accessibility workflow for a LiveCycle Designer form. You can open and fill out the form in Adobe Reader or Acrobat, but you cannot use Acrobat Professional...

  • Page 51: Using Acrobat 7.0 Professional To Make Adobe Pdf Forms Accessible

    Using Acrobat 7.0 Professional to make Adobe PDF forms accessible In Acrobat Professional, you can open untagged and tagged Adobe PDF forms, add fillable form fields, set the tab order, add alternate text to form fields, and tag the forms (if they are not already tagged). You can also edit the tags of any tagged PDF form by using the TouchUp Reading Order tool or the tag tree.

  • Page 52: Step 3: Tag The Form (If It Isn't Already Tagged)

    See “Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems” on page 59 for instructions. If the form is untagged and you have Adobe PDF Forms Access, use this utility to tag the form by following the steps below in “Using Adobe PDF Forms Access to tag Adobe PDF forms.” Otherwise, use the Add Tags To Document command in Acrobat Professional to tag the form by following the instructions in “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe...

  • Page 53: Tagging Adobe Pdf Forms By Using Adobe Pdf Forms Access

    Forms Access tool. It shows the tags for one page at a time. Note: If Adobe PDF Forms Access cannot process a PDF document, the document already has tags in the tag tree. If the Document Properties dialog box reads Yes for the Tagged PDF entry, do not attempt to retag the document. If the Document Properties dialog box reads No for the Tagged PDF entry, you must delete all the tags from the tree to enable Adobe PDF Forms Access to tag the form.
  • Page 54 Step 2: Complete the form processing You can edit, save, close, and reopen an Adobe PDF form in Adobe PDF Forms Access as often as you like until the tags are the way you want them. However, you must complete the form processing and lock the changes by choosing File >...

  • Page 55: Section 9: Adding Tags To Adobe Pdf Documents

    Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents This section describes the basic steps for adding tags to untagged Adobe PDF documents in Acrobat. Although using Acrobat to tag a document is not the optimal method for preparing a PDF document for accessibility, it is a mandatory step when you do not have access to the source file of an untagged PDF document.

  • Page 56: Reviewing The Document

    Does the PDF document have form fields that are not yet fillable? If so, follow the instructions in “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39 to add fillable, accessible form fields, and then tag the document. •...

  • Page 57: Reading The Add Tags Report

    The accessibility Full Check is available in Acrobat Profes- sional. See “Section 10: Evaluating Adobe PDF documents for accessibility problems” on page 52. Use the links in the Add Tags Report to find potential problems that Acrobat Professional encountered during the tagging process.

  • Page 58: Retagging A Document, If Needed

    Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility Remember that creating a tagged Adobe PDF document is only part of the PDF accessibility workflow. You should also perform the following steps in Acrobat Professional to ensure the accessibility of the PDF document: Perform an accessibility Full Check and verify that the fonts in the document are accessible.

  • Page 59: Section 10: Evaluating Adobe Pdf Documents For Accessibility Problems

    This section describes the two Acrobat tools that you should use for checking the extent of accessibility in Adobe PDF documents. These tools enable you to identify figures that are missing alternate text and pages that have reading order problems.

  • Page 60: Performing An Accessibility Full Check

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 10: Evaluating Adobe PDF documents for accessibility problems Note: The TouchUp Reading Order tool in Acrobat Professional enables you to closely examine and fix reading order problems. This tool is described in detail in “Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems” on page 59.

  • Page 61: Viewing The Results Of An Accessibility Full Check

    Acrobat automatically saves an HTML version of an Accessibility Report in the same folder in which the source Adobe PDF document is saved. You can also use the Browse button to select the directory in which the report is saved.
  • Page 62 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 10: Evaluating Adobe PDF documents for accessibility problems Viewing the results of an accessibility Full Check as an Accessibility Report in the How To window Viewing comments created by Full Check If you select Create Comments In Document in the Accessibility Full Check dialog box, you can view the contents of the report as comments that put a box around suspect areas on the page.

  • Page 63: Using Full Check To Check For Inaccessible Fonts

    The Full Check feature can determine whether the fonts in the document are accessible to assistive technology, such as screen readers. Fonts must contain enough information for Adobe Reader and Acrobat to correctly extract all the characters to text for assistive technology. If one or more fonts don’t allow for the correct extraction of all the characters, the Adobe PDF document is inaccessible, and you should stop working on the document for accessibility.

  • Page 64: Using Reflow View To Check Reading Order

    One quick way to check the order of elements in a document is to temporarily reflow the text in Reflow view. In this view, Acrobat flows the tagged Adobe PDF document one page at a time as a single column of text that fits across the width of the document pane.

  • Page 65: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Document For Accessibility

    Finishing the Adobe PDF document for accessibility Remember that checking the extent of accessibility in a document is only one part of the Adobe PDF accessibility workflow. You should also perform the following steps in Acrobat Professional to ensure the accessibility of the PDF document: Use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to fix reading order and other problems.

  • Page 66: Section 11: Repairing Reading Order And Basic Tagging Problems

    Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems This section describes how to use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to assess and fix reading order problems and basic tagging issues that can interfere with accessibility. It also explains how to use the tool to add alternate text to figures and descriptions to form fields.

  • Page 67: How The Touchup Reading Order Tool Works

    92 for instructions. The TouchUp Reading Order tool is primarily intended for repairing Adobe PDF documents that you tagged by using Acrobat, not for repairing PDF documents that you tagged during conversion from an authoring application.

  • Page 68: How The Touchup Reading Order Tool And The Order Tab Work Together

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems The numbering of the highlighted regions on a page indicates the reading order of the content. Each highlighted region corresponds to a num- bered entry in the Order tab.

  • Page 69: Options For The Touchup Reading Order Tool

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Some pages show many highlighted regions, but if the reading order is correct, you do not need to change anything. To follow and verify the reading order for a cluster of overlapping highlighted regions, as on this page, select entries in the Order tab so that Acrobat highlights each region on the page.
  • Page 70 TouchUp Object tool. Note: If highlighted regions don’t appear on the Adobe PDF page when you select Show Page Content Order, the document is untagged. You must tag the document before proceeding. See “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents” on page 48 for instructions.

  • Page 71: Touchup Reading Order Preferences

    The rest of this section describes the four basic techniques that you need to know when you use the TouchUp Reading Order tool, and shows how to fix common problems that you may encounter in this phase of the Adobe PDF acces-...

  • Page 72: Four Basic Techniques You Must Know To Fix Reading Order Problems

    The TouchUp Reading Order tool does not include an Undo command, so you may want to save the document (or a copy of it) before you use the tool to make drastic changes. To restore the Adobe PDF document to the most recently saved state, choose File >...

  • Page 73: Selecting Content On The Page

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems To select a highlighted region in the Order tab: Open the Order tab. In the Order tab, click the plus sign (+) of the entry that represents the page that contains the highlighted regions that you want to view.

  • Page 74: Applying A New Tag To A Selection

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems To remove content from the current selection, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) and drag the • cursor to select the content that you want to remove. (The cross-hair pointer changes to include a minus sign.) Using the TouchUp Reading Order tool to select page content (upper right).

  • Page 75: Changing The Reading Order (In The Order Tab)

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems To apply a new tag to a highlighted region or selected content: Select the TouchUp Reading Order tool and open the Order tab. On the page or in the Order tab, select the highlighted region or select content.

  • Page 76: Fixing Common Problems

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Fixing common problems All instructions in this section presume that you have selected the appropriate highlighting options in the TouchUp Reading Order dialog box, so that you can view the highlighted regions of the content that you are manipulating.
  • Page 77 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Note: Although you can select multiple highlighted regions and tag them all at once as Background, doing so may cause Acrobat to send the tagged content to the beginning of the drawing order in the page, so that other objects may cover them when Acrobat redraws the screen.
  • Page 78 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 3. Tagging incompletely tagged figures Tagging in Acrobat occasionally separates figures and the text elements that they contain into more than one highlighted region. This may happen, for instance, when a figure contains many text labels, as in the example below, where the A, B, and C labels have been tagged as text instead of as part of the art.

  • Page 79: Example 4. Fixing Improperly Grouped Columns

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 4. Fixing improperly grouped columns When you tag multicolumn files by using the Add Tags To Document command, Acrobat sometimes combines all the columns into one highlighted region. Screen readers cannot read side-by-side columns as discrete columns of text unless you give each column its own place in the reading order.

  • Page 80: Example 5. Fixing Improperly Grouped Columns Of Varying Widths

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 5. Fixing improperly grouped columns of varying widths Some layouts use a variety of column widths that add visual interest to the page, but that can be challenging for the tagging process to interpret.
  • Page 81 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 6. Tagging and fixing form fields and text labels PDF forms often contain text labels for their form fields. Tagging the form after you add fillable form fields generally produces correct tags for the form fields.

  • Page 82: Fixing Reading Order Problems

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Fixing reading order problems You can fix the reading order of highlighted regions by rearranging the order of entries in the Order tab or by dragging the highlighted region on the page in the document pane. Using the Order tab is the easiest way to fix a page’s reading order.
  • Page 83 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 8. Fixing the reading order on a complex page Here is an example of the types of reading order problems that can occur when Acrobat must interpret and tag a very complex layout.
  • Page 84 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Solution: Start at the left column on the page. In the Order tab, move the entry for region number 4 into the number 1 position in the reading order (top).
  • Page 85 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Solution, continued. After Acrobat adjusts the reading order, the left column is in the correct reading order, but regions number 4 and 3 are not in the correct order (top). To fix this problem in one step, drag the entry for region 3 into the number 6 position in Order tab (middle). The...
  • Page 86 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems EXAMPLE 9. Changing the reading order to make a figure follow its reference A second way to change the reading order is to drag highlighted regions on the page. This technique is most useful when you want to make a screen reader read a figure and caption at the specific point where they are referenced in the text.

  • Page 87: Adding Alternate Text To Figures And Descriptions To Form Fields

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Adding alternate text to figures and descriptions to form fields Alternate text and descriptions provide more information about figures and form fields for people who can’t visually interpret the page. Figures that can have alternate text include images, graphics, charts, and illustrations.
  • Page 88 You can add a description to a form field as you create the form field by typing the text in the Tooltip box of the field’s Properties dialog box, as described in “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible” on page 39. If you did not add a description at that time, you can add it in this step of the workflow by using the Edit Form Field Text command that is on the context menu of the TouchUp Reading Order tool.

  • Page 89: Fixing Basic Table Problems

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Fixing basic table problems Tables pose a special challenge for accessibility because content in a table is meant to be read both across and down. However, screen readers, by their very nature, can only present information sequentially. For this reason, it is especially important that you correctly tag tables.
  • Page 90 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems Solution: Select all the content in the table (top) and tag it as Table (second row). This tags the entire table (third row), which you can then check for the accuracy of its cell tagging (bottom).

  • Page 91: Starting Over On A Page

    Starting over on a page Adding tags to an Adobe PDF document in Acrobat sometimes results in a tagging structure that is overly compli- cated or too problematic to fix. In this case, you can use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to remove or replace the current structure for a page, and then create highlighted regions that reflect a simpler structure.

  • Page 92: Section 12: Adding Other Accessibility Features

    Other accessibility features in Acrobat This section presumes that you are working from a tagged Adobe PDF document that you have checked for reading order and that contains alternate text for figures and descriptions for form fields. The techniques in this section will help you achieve optimal accessibility by using the other standard accessibility features in Acrobat.

  • Page 93: Setting The Tab Order

    (If the PDF document has form fields, you should have already done this step as part of the workflow, as described in “Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible”...

  • Page 94: Adding Accessible Links

    • If you tagged the PDF document in Acrobat according to the instructions in “Section 9: Adding tags to Adobe PDF documents” on page 48, you should have first applied the Create From URLs In Document command to activate the web links and prepare them for proper tagging in Acrobat.

  • Page 95: Creating A Link By Using The Create Link Command

    Create Link From Selection dialog box. When you create a link from text, the content of the text that you select is used as the link’s text. See “Adding navigability to Adobe PDF documents” in Acrobat 7.0 Help for more information.

  • Page 96: Setting The Document Language

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 12: Adding other accessibility features For instance, you can have a screen reader tell a user to go to “the Acrobat accessibility page of adobe.com” rather than go to “http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html.” For instructions on how to add alternate text to links in the tag tree, see “Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems”...

  • Page 97: Setting Security Settings So They Don't Interfere With Screen Readers

    Adding a watermark to an Adobe PDF document You can add watermarks to Adobe PDF documents in a way that inserts the watermark into the tagged PDF document without also adding it to the tag tree. Not having the watermark appear in the tag tree is helpful for people who are using screen readers, because they won’t hear the watermark read as document content.

  • Page 98: Finishing The Adobe Pdf Accessibility Workflow

    Going the extra mile for accessibility Acrobat Professional provides access to an Adobe PDF document’s tag tree, which you can edit to achieve optimal accessibility for people with disabilities. Some of the techniques of editing the tag tree are very basic, and some are quite advanced.

  • Page 99: Section 13: Fixing Advanced Accessibility Problems

    This section is for advanced users who need to edit the tag tree of an Adobe PDF document to add specific accessi- bility features or to fix complex accessibility problems. You can edit the tag tree to create tags for links that you added late in the workflow, add alternate text to links, improve the accessibility of complex tables, remove obsolete tags, rearrange the tags of entire pages at a time, and perform other detailed changes on tags.

  • Page 100: When To Use The Techniques In This Section

    Reflow view. The tag tree affects only the presentation of information to assistive technology. You should, however, edit the Adobe PDF document’s tag tree any time that you want to achieve optimal accessibility for people with disabilities. Some of the techniques of editing the tag tree are very basic, and some are quite advanced.
  • Page 101 Tags in an Adobe PDF document are similar to the markup in HTML, in that both types of tags define the hierarchy of information. In a PDF tag tree, you see elements such as <H1> tags to indicate first-level headings, <P> tags to indicate paragraphs, and <Table>...

  • Page 102: Finding A Tag And Its Corresponding Content

    For instructions on how to navigate and select items in the tag tree, see “Advanced tools for correcting tagging errors” in Acrobat 7.0 Help. For a list of standard tag types that apply to Adobe PDF documents, see “Appendix: Standard tags for Adobe PDF documents”...

  • Page 103: Creating Tags For Links That You Made Active Late In The Workflow

    Creating tags for links that you made active late in the workflow Note: If you have followed the Adobe PDF accessibility workflow that is described in this guide, the URLs and other links in the PDF document are probably already correctly tagged in the tag tree for accessibility, and you shouldn’t need to use this section.

  • Page 104: Adding Alternate Text To Links

    For example, by adding alternate text you can have a screen reader tell a user to go to “the Acrobat accessibility page of adobe.com” rather than go to “http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html.” You add alternate text to the <Link> tag of a link. See “Creating tags for links that you made active late in the workflow”...

  • Page 105: Rearranging Tags

    Rearranging tags When you insert or replace pages in a tagged Adobe PDF document, Acrobat adds the tags (if any) for the new pages at the end of the tag tree. For optimal accessibility, you should move the entire collection of tags for each new page in the tag tree to match the proper reading order in the document.

  • Page 106: Adding New Tags

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems Note: There is no Undo command for the Tag tree, so be sure that you select the correct tag before you delete it. To simplify the task of deleting tags for a page that is no longer in the document, collapse the tags to the page level and select the parent tag for the page that has been deleted.

  • Page 107: Adding Expansion Text To Abbreviated Terms

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems To add tags that are to have content associated with them: Use the Select tool to select content on the page that immediately precedes the content for which you want to create a tag.

  • Page 108: Setting The Language For Specific Paragraphs Or Words

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems Adding expansion text to an abbreviation or acronym creates three document content tags—one for the text that precedes the selection, one for the selection, and one for the text that follows the selection.

  • Page 109: Making Tables Accessible

    The Add Tags To Document feature in Acrobat 7.0 has difficulty recognizing many kinds of tables as tables, and therefore often does not tag them properly. Tagging an Adobe PDF document during conversion from an authoring application often provides better results, but the document may still warrant close scrutiny of any table that is more than a simple grid.
  • Page 110 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems Incorrect tagging structure for a table (top) and the corrected tagging structure for the table (bottom). The corrected structure has <TH> tags for all header cells, including <TH> tags that are at the same level as the <TD> tags for rows that contain both types of cells.

  • Page 111: The Workflow For Tagging Tables

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems The workflow for tagging tables The easiest way to tag tables is to start by using the TouchUp Reading Order tool and finish by editing the tag tree. For instructions on using the TouchUp Reading Order tool, see “Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic tagging problems”...
  • Page 112 ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Section 13: Fixing advanced accessibility problems Using the tag tree to verify the reading order of a complex section of a page—the three paragraphs are indeed in the correct order (top), even though their highlighted regions overlap on the page when you use the TouchUp Reading Order tool (bottom).

  • Page 113: Appendix: Standard Tags For Adobe Pdf Documents

    An extensible tags architecture The PDF tags architecture is extensible, so any Adobe PDF document can contain any tag set that an authoring application decides to use. For instance, a PDF document might have XML tags that came in from an XML schema.

  • Page 114: Heading And Paragraph Elements

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Appendix: Standard tags for Adobe PDF documents Heading and paragraph elements Heading and paragraph elements are paragraph-like, block-level elements that include specific level headings and generic paragraphs <P>. A heading element <H> should appear as the first child of any higher level division. Six levels of headings <H1 to H6>...

  • Page 115: Inline-Level Elements

    ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0 Appendix: Standard tags for Adobe PDF documents Inline-level elements Inline-level elements identify a span of text that has specific formatting or behavior. They are differentiated from block-level elements, and may be contained in, or contain, block-level elements. The standard inline-level elements are: •...

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