Tags?-2

How are tags vital to a PDF?

Adobe Acrobat DC allows for elements of a document to be tagged according to their purpose. These
tags are not displayed in the document, but they are used by screen readers to understand the
structure.

Tagging documents used in online courses allows people with disabilities to access materials as quickly as their classmates!

Tags are bins of information

The Tags Panel is divided into tags, which can be thought of as bins containing specific information. A tag can be expanded via the carrot or the arrow next to the tag.

Each tag is unique, helping users who rely on screen readers to identify the elements on a page. For example, a screen reader can recognize the difference between a table and a heading, due to the type of tag. 

Tagging an untagged document

Take a deep breath and prepare to add tags to untagged elements in a PDF. Although the tutorials may look easy -- (we hope they are easy to understand!) -- tagging a document yourself may take longer than you expect. It may also take some effort. 

Adobe Acrobat was not originally developed for PDF accessibility

In your PDF accessibility journey, you may find that the software and tools may not behave in the way you expect. The PDF format was not originally developed with an accessibility framework in mind and so the capabilities of Adobe Acrobat may be limited for remediating all types of PDF documents.

Dedicated software solutions exist that can remediate PDFs, including solutions such as CommonLook for PDF Links to an external site. and Equidox Links to an external site.. Keep in mind such programs can take time and effort to learn and understand. If PDF remediation is something you are responsible for at your institution, then these may be tools to consider as part of your toolkit.

Tag away & thank you for creating an inclusive environment!