Reading Order tool for PDFs Part 2

Reading Order tool for PDFs Part 2

Edit tags with the Reading Order tool (Acrobat Pro)

You can use the Reading Order tool to create tags in untagged PDFs or to add new tags to an existing structure. However, this manual tagging doesn’t provide the same level of detail to the tagging structure as the Add Tags To Document command, such as paragraphs, bulleted and numbered lists, line breaks, and hyphens. Before you clear the existing structure, make sure that manual tagging is your only recourse.

Steps for tagging a region:

  1. 1. Using the Reading Order tool, drag within the document pane to select a region of the page that contains one type of content (for example, a text block).

  2. 2. Do one of the following:

    • To add more page content to the current selection, Shift-drag.

    • To remove page content from the current selection, Ctrl-drag.

  3. 3. Click the appropriate button in the Reading Order dialog box to specify the tag type.

Change the tag for a region

Steps for changing the tag for a region:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool in the right pane.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, select Show Page Content Groups, and then click Page Content Order.

  3. 3. To select a highlighted region, do one of the following:

    • Drag to select it.

    • Click the number of a highlighted region.

  4. 4. Click the button for the tag type that you want for the highlighted region.

Undo or redo the tag changes done using the Reading Order tool

Steps for undo or redo the reading order changes:
Note

The undo or redo the reading order changes is supported for all tags except the following:

  • Table, Table Editor, and related tags.
  • Tag creation and tag changes done using Drag and Select in the Reading Order tool.

In Acrobat, to undo the reading order changes, click Edit > Undo Edit. To redo the changes, click Edit > Redo Edit. 

Undo or redo reading order changes

Add or remove content from a tagged region

The Reading Order tool always displays as few highlighted regions as possible. If content within a highlighted region doesn’t flow properly, you may need to split a region to reorder it. Highlighted regions may also contain adjacent page content that is unrelated or that requires a different tag type. Page content may become orphaned from related elements, particularly if the content doesn’t fit within a rectangular shape. Use the Reading Order tool to add or remove content from a region, or to split a region to reorder the content.

Steps for adding or removing content from a tagged region:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, select Show Page Content Groups, and then click Page Content Order.

  3. 3. In the document pane, select a highlighted region.
  4. 4. Do one of the following:

    • To add content to the current selection, Shift-click the content you want to add. The pointer changes to include a plus sign (+).

    • To remove content from the current selection, Ctrl-click the content you want to remove. The pointer changes to include a minus sign (-).

  5. 5. Click the button for the tag type that you want for the highlighted region.

Split a region into two regions

Steps for splitting a region into two regions:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, select Show Page Content Groups, and then click Page Content Order.

  3. 3. In the document pane, drag to select a small portion of content near the boundary of the first region that you want to create.

  4. 4. Click the Background/Artifact button in the dialog box. The highlighted region splits into two regions, numbered from right to left.

  5. 5. To correct the reading order, click Show Order Panel, and drag the new highlighted region to the correct location in the Order panel.

  6. 6. Drag to select the first content region you created, including the Background/Artifact. Then set the tag by clicking a button in the Reading Order dialog box.

Apply a heading tag

To help readers navigate a document and find the information they need, make sure that headings are tagged with the appropriate level to indicate their hierarchy in the content.

Steps for applying a heading tag:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool, and then select the heading text in the PDF.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, click the button corresponding to the appropriate heading tag (for example, Heading 1, Heading 2).

    Note

    After applying heading tags, you can convert the headings to bookmarks to improve navigation. For more information, see Add tagged bookmarks.

Remove page elements from the tag structure

When tagging a PDF, Acrobat can’t always distinguish between instructive figures and decorative page elements. Items that visually enhance page layout, such as decorative borders, lines, or background elements, can add clutter to the structure layout and should be removed. Therefore, Acrobat may incorrectly tag artifacts or page elements as figure tags. You can remove artifacts and irrelevant page elements from the tag structure by redefining them with the Background/Artifact tag or by deleting their tags. If a tagged image in the document doesn’t contain useful or illustrative information for the user, you can remove the element from the tagging structure so that it isn’t read out loud or reflowed.

Steps for removing page elements from the tag structure:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, select Show Page Content Groups, and click Page Content Order. Then, select Show Tables And Figures.

  3. 3. Remove the page element by doing one of the following:

    • In the document pane, select the page element, and then click Background/Artifact in the dialog box.

    • In the Order panel, select the page element, and then press Delete.

Edit tags for figures and tables (Acrobat Pro)

You can use the Reading Order tool to add and edit tags and alternate text for figures and tables.

Apply a figure tag

You can select an element and define it as a figure by using the Reading Order tool. Once you define it as a figure, you can add alternate text to describe the figure.

Steps to apply a figure tag:

  1. 1. Using the Reading Order tool, select the figure.

  2. 2. In the Reading Order dialog box, click Figure.

  3. 3. In the document pane, right-click the region and choose Edit Alternate Text.

  4. 4. Enter alternate text, and click OK.

Check and correct figure tags

You can use the Reading Order tool to identify and correct tagging results for figures. Determine whether figures include or require alternate text necessary to be read correctly with assistive technologies. Ideally, figure tags should identify image content that is meaningful to the document as a whole, such as graphs or illustrative photographs. If background/artifact elements that shouldn’t be read are tagged as figures, redefine them as background/artifact.

Steps for checking and correcting figure tags:

  1. 1. Select the Reading Order tool, and then click Show Tables And Figures in the dialog box.

  2. 2. Do any of the following:

    • If a figure isn’t tagged as a figure, select the content region you want, and then click Figure or Figure/Caption in the dialog box.

    • To remove text that was incorrectly combined with a figure, drag to select the text, and click the Text/Paragraph button in the dialog box.

    • To include a caption that is grouped with the figure, select the figure and caption, and click the Figure/Caption button in the dialog box.

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