Forms

Tagged form fields

In an accessible PDF, all form fields are tagged and part of the document structure. In addition, you can use the tool tip form field property to provide the user with information or instructions.

To tag form fields, choose All tools > Prepare for accessibility > Automatically tag PDF. 

Field descriptions

For accessibility, all form fields need a text description (tool tip).

To add a text description to a form field:

1. Select one of the Form tools, and then right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) the form field.
2. Choose Properties from the context menu.
3. Click the General properties tab.
4. Enter a description of the form field in the Tooltip field.

Alternate text

Figures alternate text

Make sure that images in the document either have alternate text or are marked as artifacts.

If this rule check fails, do one of the following:

• Select Figures Alternate Text in the Accessibility Checker panel, and choose Fix from the Options  menu. Add alternate text as prompted in the Set Alternate Text dialog box.
• Use the Tags panel to add alternate text for images in the PDF.
• Open the Content  panel and right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) the content that you want to mark as an artifact. Then, select Create Artifact from the context menu. (To display the Content panel, select the hamburger menu  (Windows) > View or select the View menu (macOS), and then select Show/Hide > Side Panels > Content.)

Nested alternate text

Screen readers don't read the alternate text for nested elements. Therefore, don't apply alternate text to nested elements.

To remove alternate text from nested elements, do the following:

1. Select the hamburger menu  (Windows) > View or select the View menu (macOS), and then select Show/Hide > Side Panels > Accessibility tags.
2. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) a nested element in the Accessibility tags panel and choose Properties from the context menu.
3. Remove the Alternate Text and the text to which it's applied from the Object Properties dialog box, then select Close.

Associated with content

Make sure that alternate text is always an alternate representation of content on the page. If an element has alternate text but does not contain any page content, there is no way to determine which page it is on. If the Screen Reader Option in the Reading preferences is not set to read the entire document, then screen readers never read the alternate text.

1. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) an item to check.
2. Open it in the Accessibility tags panel. (To display the Accessibility tags panel, select the hamburger menu  (Windows) > View or select the View menu (macOS), and then select Show/Hide > Side Panels  > Accessibility tags.)
3. Remove the Alternate Text from the Tags panel for any nested item that has no page content.

Hides annotation

Alternate text can't hide an annotation. If an annotation is nested under a parent element with alternate text, then screen readers don't see it.

To remove alternate text from nested elements:

1. Select the hamburger menu  (Windows) > View or select the View menu (macOS), and then select Show/Hide > Side Panels > Accessibility tags.
2. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) a nested element in the Tags panel and choose Properties from the context menu.
3. Remove the alternate text from the Object Properties dialog box and select OK.

Other elements alternate text

This report checks for content other than figures that require alternate text (such as multimedia, annotation, or 3D model). Make sure that alternate text is always an alternate representation of content on the page. If an element has alternate text but does not contain any page content, there is no way to determine which page it is on. If the Screen Reader Options in the Reading preferences is not set to read the entire document, then screen readers don't read the alternate text.

1. Select the hamburger menu  (Windows) > View or select the View menu (macOS), and then select Show/Hide > Side Panels > Accessibility tags.
2. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) a nested element in the Accessibility tags panel and choose Properties from the context menu.
3. Remove the alternate text from the Object Properties dialog box and select OK.

Tables

Because table structure can be complex, it is best practice to check them for accessibility manually.

Rows

This rule checks whether each TR in a table is a child of Table, THead, TBody, or TFoot.

See Correct table tags with the Tags panel.

TH and TD

In a proper table structure, TH and TD are children of TR.

See Correct table tags with the Tags panel.

Headers

For accessibility, it's necessary that all tables in the PDF have a header.

See Correct table tags with the Tags panel.

Regularity

To be accessible, tables must contain the same number of columns in each row, and rows in each column.

See Correct table tags with the Tags panel.

Summary

Table summaries are optional, but can improve accessibility.

1. Select All tools > Prepare for accessibility > Fix reading order.
2. Select the table by drawing a rectangle around it. 
3. In the Fix reading order dialog box, select Table.
4. Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) Table.
5. Click Edit Table Summary.
6. Enter a summary and select OK.

Lists

List items

The check reports whether each List Item (LI) is a child of List (L). When this rule check fails, the structure of this list is incorrect. Lists must have the following structure: A List element must contain List Item Elements. And, List Item Elements can only contain Label Elements and List Item Body Elements.

To fix the list structure:

1. Find the list in the Accessibility Checker panel by right-clicking (Windows) or Ctrl-clicking (Mac OS) the failed element and choosing Show In Tags Panel.
2. Create elements, change the types of elements, or rearrange existing elements by dragging them.

Lbl and LBody

Lists must have the following structure: A List element must contain List Item Elements. And, List Item Elements can only contain Label Elements and List Item Body Elements. When this rule check fails, the structure of this list is incorrect.

To fix the list structure:

1. Find the list in the Accessibility Checker panel by right-clicking (Windows) or Ctrl-clicking (Mac OS) the failed element and choosing Show In Tags Panel.
2. Create elements, change the types of elements, or rearrange existing elements by dragging them.