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- Use real headings (e.g. using styles in Word, InDesign, etc.), real lists, add alt text to images, designate table headers in data tables, and other accessibility techniques.
- Convert scanned documents to real text with OCR in Acrobat Pro. (View > Tools > Text Recognition > In This File, then run the “Find All Suspects.”)
Save as Tagged PDF Document
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- Add a Title: File > Properties > Description > Title.
- Ensure Title is read: File > Properties > Initial View > Show > Document Title.
- Specify the language: File > Properties > Advanced > Language.
Fine Tune Tags
Caution: There is no undo feature when modifying tags!
- Activate the “Tags” Pane: View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Tags.
- If Tag Pane says, “No tags available,” add tags to the document. (Right click on “No tags available” > Add Tags to Document)
- Turn on “Highlight Content” to see where the tagged items are in the document. (Right click on any tag > Highlight Content)
- Correct any incorrect tags: Click on the tag to select it, click it again to make it editable, then change the value (e.g. change <P> to <H1> or <TD> to <TH>).
- Headings should be marked with <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, etc.
- Add tags to any untagged elements (unless they are decorative or unimportant).
- Activate the “Accessibility” sidebar (Tools Tab > Accessibility).
- Open the “Touch Up Reading Order” dialog box (in the “Accessibility” sidebar).
- Select the item (e.g. an image or a paragraph) by dragging a box around it.
- Assign a tag to the item by selecting the appropriate type of tag in the “Touch Up Reading Order” dialog (Text, Figure, Heading 1, Table, etc.).
- Delete empty or unnecessary tags: Right-click on the tag > Delete Tag.
Caution: There is no undo (but you can add tags back in using the instructions above).
- Images should be marked as <Figure> and should have alt text. (Right click on the tag > Properties > Tag > Alternate Text.)
- Data tables should have header cells <TH>, similar to HTML tables.
- Multi-dimensional tables require giving IDs to each header cell and associating each data cell with the corresponding header cells:
- Activate the “Accessibility” sidebar (Tools Tab > Accessibility).
- Open the “Touch Up Reading Order” dialog box (in the “Accessibility” sidebar)
- Click on the number in the upper left corner of the data table in the document.
- Select “Table Editor” in the “Touch Up Reading Order” dialog box.
- Assign IDs to the header cells: For each table header cell, right click on the cell, select “Table cell properties” and type an ID (make it easy to remember).
- Associate the header cells with the data cells: For each data cell, right click on the cell, select “Table cell properties,” click on the “+” button, and select the corresponding header cell IDs for that data cell.
- Rearrange the tags if necessary: drag the tag to the desired location in the Tag pane.
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