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By default, the selected text for each link becomes the link text. After you add all the links, you can edit the tag tree to
add alternate text to the links, further improving the accessibility of the PDF.
Set the document language
Setting the document language in a PDF enables some screen readers to switch to the appropriate language. You can
set the document language for an entire document with Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Standard. You can set the document
language for specific portions of a multi language document with Acrobat Pro.
• To set the language for an entire document, choose File > Properties. Then select a language from the Language
menu in the Reading Options area of the Advanced tab.
• To set the language for an entire document to a language not in the Language menu, choose File > Properties. Then
enter the ISO 639 code for the language in the Language field in the Reading Options area of the Advanced tab. For
more information about ISO 639, see www.loc.gov/standards.
• To set the language for individual sections or words, select the appropriate text element in the Tags tab, and choose
Properties from the Options menu. In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, select the Tag tab. Select a language from
the Language menu, and select Close.
Note: The language that you specify for an element also applies to all elements nested under it in the logical structure tree.
Prevent security settings from interfering with screen readers
A document author can specify that no part of an accessible PDF is to be copied, printed, extracted, commented on,
or edited. This setting could interfere with a screen reader’s ability to read the document, because screen readers must
be able to copy or extract the document’s text in order to convert it to speech.
To maintain document security while allowing screen readers access to text, use one of the following settings:
• For low-encryption-level security, select Enable Copying Of Text, Images, And Other Content in the Password
Security - Settings dialog box.
• For high-encryption-level security, select Enable Text Access For Screen Reader Devices For The Visually Impaired
in the Password Security - Settings dialog box. This option overrides the document’s security settings only for the
purpose of giving assistive software, such as screen readers, access to the content.
If your assistive technology product is registered with Adobe as a Trusted Agent, you can read PDFs that might be
inaccessible to another assistive technology product. Acrobat recognizes when a screen reader or other product is a
Trusted Agent and overrides security settings that would typically limit access to the content for accessibility purposes.
However, the security settings remain in effect for all other purposes, such as to prevent printing, copying, extracting,
commenting, or editing text.
More Help topics
“Securing documents with passwords” on page 224
About watermarks and screen readers
You can add a watermark to a tagged PDF without 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.
The best way to add a watermark that doesn’t interfere with screen readers is to insert an untagged PDF of the
watermark into a tagged PDF.
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More Help topics
“Add and edit watermarks” on page 115
Editing document structure with the Content and Tags
tabs
Correct reflow problems with the Content tab
Use the Content tab to correct reflow problems in a PDF that can’t be corrected by using the TouchUp Reading Order
tool. Because you can damage a PDF by editing content objects, make sure that you’re familiar with PDF structure
before you change anything. For comprehensive information about PDF structure, see the PDF Reference Sixth
Edition: Adobe Portable Document Format Version 1.7, on the PDF reference page (English only) of the Adobe website.
The Content tab provides a hierarchical view of the objects that make up a PDF, including the PDF object itself. Each
document includes one or more pages, a set of annotations (such as comments and links), and the content objects for
the page. The content objects consist of containers, text, paths, and images. Objects are listed in the order in which they
appear on the page, like tags in the logical structure tree. However, PDFs don’t require tags for you to view or change
the object structure.
1 Choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panels > Content.
2 Expand the document name to view pages and objects.
3 Move a container or object by selecting it and doing one of the following:
• Drag it to the location you want.
• Choose Cut from the Options menu, select the tag above the location you want to paste the cut tag, and choose Paste
from the Options menu.
Note: Container elements can’t be pasted directly to page elements. To move a container to another page, cut the
container you want to move. Then select a container on the page you want to move the container to and choose Paste
from the Options menu. Then, drag the container out one level to the location that you want.
Content tab options
In the Content tab, use the Options menu or right-click an object to choose from the following options:
New Container
Adds a new container object at the end of the selected page or container.
Edit Container Dictionary
Specifies the dictionary for the container. Errors in this dialog box may damage the PDF.
Available only for containers that include dictionaries.
Cut
Cuts and copies the selected object (not the related page content).
Paste
Pastes content directly below the selected object at the same hierarchical level.
Paste Child
Pastes content into the selected object as a child content item.
Delete
Removes the object (not the related page content) from the document.
Find Content From Selection
Searches for the object in the Content tab that contains the object selected in the
document pane.
Find
Searches for unmarked (untagged) artifacts, content, comments, and links. Options allow you to search the page
or document, and to add tags to found items.
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Create Artifact
Defines selected objects as artifacts. Artifacts are not read by a screen reader or by the Read Out Loud
feature. Page numbers, headers, and footers are often best tagged as artifacts.
Remove Artifact
Removes the artifact definition from the selected object.
Highlight Content
When selected, highlights appear in the document pane around content that relates to a selected
object in the Content tab.
Show Metadata
Allows viewing and editing of image or object metadata.
Properties
Opens the TouchUp Properties dialog box.
About the Tags tab
The Tags tab allows you to view and edit tags in the logical structure tree, or tags tree, of a PDF. In the Tags tab, tags
appear in a hierarchical order that indicates the reading sequence of the document. The first item in this structure is
the Tags root. All other items are tags and are children of the Tags root. Tags use coded element types that appear in
angle brackets (
< >
). Each element, including structural elements such as sections and articles, appears in the logical
structure order by type, followed by a title and the element’s content or a description of the content. Structural
elements are typically listed as containers (parent tags). They include several smaller elements (child tags) within them.
Note: For more information on logical structures, refer to the PDF Reference Sixth Edition: Adobe Portable Document
Format Version 1.7, on the PDF reference page (English only) of the Adobe website.
Though you can correct most tagging issues by using the TouchUp Reading Order tool, you must use the Tags tab to
address detailed tagging of tables and substructure items, such as paragraphs, lists, and sections that require multiple
languages. Add tags manually to a document in the Tags tab only as a last resort. First consider using the Add Tags To
Document command.
Important: Operations performed in the Tags tab cannot be undone with the Undo command. Save a backup copy of a
document before you begin work on it in the Tags tab.
View tags in the Tags tab
1 Choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panels > Tags.
2 Do one of the following:
• Expand the tag for the section you want.
• Ctrl-click the plus sign (Windows) or Option-click the triangle (Mac OS) next to the Tags root to show all tags in
the logical structure tree.
Edit tags with the Tags tab
You can edit a tag title, change a tag location, or change the tag type for an element. All page content must be tagged,
marked as an artifact, or removed from the logical structure tree.
Edit a tag title
1 In the Tags tab, expand the section of the logical structure that you want to edit.
2 To edit the title, Select the tag, choose Properties from the Options menu, enter text in the Title box, and click Close.
Move a tag
1 In the Tags tab, expand the Tags root to view all tags.
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2 Select the Tag icon of the element that you want to move.
3 Do one of the following:
• Drag the tag to the location you want. As you drag, a line appears at viable locations.
• Choose Cut from the Options menu, and select the tag that appears above the location you want to paste the cut
tag. From the Options menu, choose Paste to move the tag to the same level as the selected tag, or choose Paste
Child to move the tag within the selected tag.
Change the element type
1 In the Tags tab, expand the section of the logical structure that you want to change.
2 Select an element and choose Properties from the Options menu.
3 Choose a new element type from the Type menu, and then click Close.
Tags tab options
In the Tags tab, use the Options menu or right-click a tag in the logical structure tree to choose from the following
options:
New Tag
Creates a new tag in the logical structure tree after the currently selected item. Specify type and title of the
new tag.
Cut
Removes the selected tag from its current location and puts it on the clipboard.
Paste
Places the tag that’s on the clipboard into the location specified, replacing the selected tag.
Paste Child
Places the tag that’s on the clipboard into the location specified, as a child of the selected tag.
Delete Tag
Removes the selected tag.
Find Tag From Selection Searches for the tag in the Tags tab that contains the text or object selected in the document pane.
Create Tag From Selection
Creates a new tag in the logical structure tree after the item selected in the document pane.
Specify type and title of the new tag.
Find
Searches for artifacts, OCR suspects, and unmarked (untagged) content, comments, links, and annotations.
Options allow you to search the page or document and add tags to found items.
Change Tag To Artifact
Changes selected tags to artifacts and removes the tagged content from the structure tree.
Copy Contents To Clipboard
Copies all content contained within the selected tags.
Edit Class Map
Allows you to add, change, and delete the class map, or style dictionary, for the document. Class maps
store attributes that are associated with each element.
Edit Role Map
Allows you to add, change, and delete role maps for the document. Role maps allow each document to
contain a uniquely defined tag set. By mapping these custom tags to predefined tags in Acrobat, custom tags are easier
to identify and edit.
Tag Annotations
When selected, all new comments and form fields are added to the tag tree after the selected tag
element; existing comments and form fields aren’t added to the tag tree. Highlight and Underline comments are
automatically associated and tagged with the text that they annotate and don’t require this option.
Document Is Tagged PDF
Flags the PDF as a tagged document. Deselect to remove the flag.
Important: This option doesn’t necessarily indicate that the PDF conforms to PDF guidelines and should be used
judiciously.
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Highlight Content
When selected, causes highlights to appear around content in the document pane when you select
the related tag in the Tags tab.
Show Metadata
Opens a read-only dialog box that contains reference information about the selected tag.
Properties
Opens the TouchUp Properties dialog box.
Add alternate text and supplementary information to tags
Some tagged PDFs might not contain all the information necessary to make the document contents fully accessible.
For example, if you want to make a document available to a screen reader, the PDF should contain alternate text for
figures, language properties for portions of the text that use a different language than the default language for the
document, and expansion text for abbreviations. Designating the appropriate language for different text elements
ensures that the correct characters are used when you repurpose the document and that it is spell-checked with the
correct dictionary.
You can add alternate text and multiple languages to a tag from the Tags tab. (If only one language is required, choose
the language with File > Properties instead.) You can also add alternate text by using the TouchUp Reading Order tool.
Note: Keep alternate text descriptions as concise as possible.
Add alternate text to links
Screen readers can read the URLs of web links out loud, but adding meaningful alternate text to links can help users
immensely. 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.
Note: You must add alternate text only to tags that don’t have child tags. Adding alternate text to a parent tag prevents
a screen reader from reading any of that tag’s child tags.
1 In the tag tree, select the
<Link>
tag for the link, and select Properties from the options menu.
2 In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, select the Tag tab.
3 Type alternate text for the link, and click Close.
Add alternate text for a figure
1 Choose View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panels > Tags.
2 Expand the logical structure tree to find and select the
<Figure>
tag element for the image.
To find a tag more easily, use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to select the figure or text near the figure in the
document pane. Then, choose Find Tag From Selection from the Options menu in the Tags tab.
3 Choose Highlight Content from the Options menu in the Tags tab to see a highlighted area in the document that
corresponds to the tag.
4 Choose Properties from the Options menu in the Tags tab.
5 In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, click the Tag tab.
6 For Alternate Text, type text that describes the figure.
Add alternate text for an abbreviated term
1 In the Tags panel, locate the abbreviated term by doing one of the following:
• Expand the tag tree as needed to see the elements that contain the abbreviation.
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• Use the TouchUp Text tool or the Select tool to select the abbreviation in the document, and then choose Find Tag
From Selection from the Options menu to locate the text in the tag tree.
2 Select the tag for that element, and choose Properties from the Options menu.
Note: If the abbreviation includes additional text, cut the additional text and place it in a new
<Span>
child tag within
the same
<Span>
parent tag.
3 In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, select the Tag tab.
4 For Alternate Text, type the unabbreviated version of the term.
5 Click Close.
Create a new child tag
1 In the Tags tab, select the parent node (the icon located at the same level at which you want to create a child tag) in
the Tags tree for which you want to create a child tag.
2 Choose New Tag from the Options menu.
3 Select the appropriate tag type from the Type pop-up menu, or type a custom tag type, name the tag (optional), and
then click OK.
Add tags to comments
When you tag a PDF that includes comments, the comments are tagged as well. However, if you add comments to a
PDF that’s already tagged, your comments are untagged unless you enable comment tagging first.
Note: To Enable comment tagging in a PDF, in the Tags tab, choose Tag Annotations from the Options menu. Comments
or markups that you add to the PDF are tagged automatically.
If a document contains untagged comments, you can locate them in the logical structure tree and tag them by using
the Find command in the Tags tab.
1 In the Tags tab, choose Find from the Options menu.
2 In the Find Element dialog box, choose Unmarked Comments from the Find pop-up menu, and click Find.
3 When the comment type appears in the Type field (for example, Text), click Tag Element, choose Annotation from
the Type pop-up menu in the New Tag dialog box, and then click OK.
4 In the Find Element dialog box, click Find Next to locate and tag all comments, and then click Close.
Correct table tags with the Tags tab
Use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to make sure that tables are tagged correctly. If you need to structure figures and
text within the cells of your table, you may prefer to re-create the table in the authoring application before you convert
it as an accessible PDF. Adding tags on a cell level in Acrobat is a labor-intensive procedure.
Before you make any changes to table elements, use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to determine that the table is
tagged correctly.
Check table elements
1 In the Tags tab, expand the tags root to view a table tag.
2 Select the table tag
<Table>
and verify that it contains one of the following elements:
• Table Rows, each of which contains Table Header
<TH>
or Table Data
<TD>
cells.
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•
<THead>
,
<TBody>
, and
<TFoot>
sections, each of which contains Table Rows. (The Table Rows contain
<TH>
cells,
<TD>
cells, or both.)
3 Do one or more of the following:
• If the tag for the table doesn’t contain these elements, but rows, columns, and cells appear in the table in the
document pane, use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to select and define the table or individual cells.
• If the table contains rows that span two or more columns, set ColSpan and RowSpan attributes for these rows in
the tag structure.
• Re-create the table in the authoring application, and then convert it to a tagged PDF.
Set ColSpan and RowSpan attributes
1 In the Tags tab, select a
<TD>
or
<TH>
element.
2 Choose Properties from the Options menu.
3 In the TouchUp Properties dialog box, click the Tag tab, and then click Edit Attribute Objects.
4 Select Attribute Objects, and then click New Item to create a new Attribute Object Dictionary.
5 Expand the new dictionary, select the Layout attribute, and then click Change Item.
6 Change the Layout value to Table.
7 Select the Attribute Object Dictionary, and click New Item.
8 In the Add Key And Value dialog box, type ColSpan or RowSpan in the Key box, enter the number of columns or
rows spanned in the Value box, choose Integer from the Value Type pop-up menu, and click OK.
Standard PDF tags
This section describes the standard tag types that apply to tagged PDFs. These standard tags provide assistive software
and devices with semantic and structural elements to use to interpret document structure and present content in a
useful manner.
The PDF tags architecture is extensible, so any PDF document can contain any tag set that an authoring application
decides to use. For example, a PDF can have XML tags that came in from an XML schema. Custom tags that you define
(such as tag names generated from paragraph styles of an authoring application) need a role map. The role map
matches each custom tag to a standard tag here. When assistive software encounters a custom tag, the software can
check this role map and properly interpret the tags. Tagging PDFs by using one of the methods described here
generally produces a correct role map for the document.
Note: You can view and edit the role map of a PDF by choosing Options > Edit Role Map in the Tags tab.
The standard Adobe element tag types are available in the New Tag dialog box. They are also available in the TouchUp
Properties dialog box in Acrobat Pro. Adobe strongly encourages using these tag types because they provide the best
results when tagged content is converted to a different format. These formats include HTML, Microsoft Word, or an
accessible text format for use by other assistive technologies.
Block-level elements are page elements that consist of text laid out in paragraph-like forms. Block-level elements are
part of a document’s logical structure. Such elements are further classified as container elements, heading and
paragraph elements, label and list elements, special text elements, and table elements.
Container elements
Container elements are the highest level of element and provide hierarchical grouping for other block-level elements.
Document
Document element. The root element of a document’s tag tree.
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Part
Part element. A large division of a document; may group smaller units of content together, such as division
elements, article elements, or section elements.
Div
Division element. A generic block-level element or group of block-level elements.
Art
Article element. A self-contained body of text considered to be a single narrative.
Sect
Section element. A general container element type, comparable to Division (
DIV Class="Sect"
) in HTML,
which is usually a component of a part element or an article element.
Heading and paragraph elements
Heading and paragraph elements are paragraph-like, block-level elements that include specific level heading and
generic paragraph (
P
) tags. A heading (
H
) element should appear as the first child of any higher-level division. Six levels
of headings (
H1
to
H6
) are available for applications that don’t hierarchically nest sections.
Label and list elements
Label and list elements are block-level elements used for structuring lists.
L
List element. Any sequence of items of similar meaning or other relevance; immediate child elements should be list
item elements.
LI
List item element. Any one member of a list; may have a label element (optional) and a list body element (required)
as a child.
LBL
Label element. A bullet, name, or number that identifies and distinguishes an element from others in the same list.
LBody
List item body element. The descriptive content of a list item.
Special text elements
Special text elements identify text that isn’t used as a generic paragraph (
P
).
BlockQuote
Block quote element. One or more paragraphs of text attributed to someone other than the author of the
immediate surrounding text.
Caption
Caption element. A brief portion of text that describes a table or a figure.
Index
Index element. A sequence of entries that contain identifying text and reference elements that point out the
occurrence of the text in the main body of the document.
TOC
Table of contents element. An element that contains a structured list of items and labels identifying those items;
has its own discrete hierarchy.
TOCI
Table of contents item element. An item contained in a list associated with a table of contents element.
Table elements
Table elements are special elements for structuring tables.
Table
Table element. A two-dimensional arrangement of data or text cells that contains table row elements as child
elements and may have a caption element as its first or last child element.
TR
Table row element. One row of headings or data in a table; may contain table header cell elements and table data
cell elements.
TD
Table data cell element. A table cell that contains nonheader data.
TH
Table header cell element. A table cell that contains header text or data describing one or more rows or columns
of a table.
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Inline-level elements
Inline-level elements identify a span of text that has specific formatting or behavior. They are differentiated from
block-level elements. Inline-level elements may be contained in or contain block-level elements.
BibEntry
Bibliography entry element. A description of where some cited information may be found.
Quote Quote entry element. An inline portion of text that is attributed to someone other than the author of the text
surrounding it; different from a block quote, which is a whole paragraph or multiple paragraphs, as opposed to inline text.
Span
Span entry element. Any inline segment of text; commonly used to delimit text that is associated with a set of
styling properties.
Special inline-level elements
Similar to inline-level elements, special inline-level elements describe an inline portion of text that has special
formatting or behavior.
Code
Code entry element. Computer program text embedded within a document.
Figure
Figure entry element. A graphic or graphic representation associated with text.
Form
Form entry element. A PDF form annotation that can be or has been filled out.
Formula
Formula entry element. A mathematical formula.
Link
Link entry element. A hyperlink that is embedded within a document. The target can be in the same document,
in another PDF document, or on a website.
Note
Note entry element. Explanatory text or documentation, such as a footnote or endnote, that is referred to in the
main body of text.
Reference
Reference entry element. A citation to text or data that is found elsewhere in the document.
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Chapter 11: Editing PDFs
It’s a fact that Adobe® PDF is unlike other document formats, in which you can freely copy, paste, and move text and
images on a page. Instead, consider a PDF as a snapshot of your original file. Use Adobe ®Acrobat® X Pro to touch up
and enhance the file for readability and distribution, and reserve more substantial revisions for your source
application.
Page thumbnails and bookmarks
About page thumbnails
Page thumbnails are miniature previews of the pages in a document. You can use page thumbnails to jump quickly to
a selected page or to adjust the view of the page.
In Adobe Reader®, when you move a page thumbnail, you move the corresponding page.
In Acrobat, when you move, copy, or delete a page thumbnail, you move, copy, or delete the corresponding page.
If you do not see page thumbnails in the navigation pane, try using F4 to open the navigation pane. Or choose View
> Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Page Thumbnails.
Create page thumbnails
Page thumbnails increase file size, so Acrobat does not create them automatically.
Note: Acrobat no longer supports embedding and unembedding page thumbnails. However, Acrobat Distiller® provides
an alternate method of embedding page thumbnails.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
