Document Clean-Up with Reading Order-2

De-Cluttering PDF Documents

PDF documents are supposed to preserve a consistent look and feel across different devices and operating systems, but PDF documents often have a hidden side.

Empty Tags

These empty regions may be formatting elements that have been used for visual formatting purposes (e.g., extra carriage returns). The example below shows extra carriage returns in the document, that were correctly converted into tags. These are elements that are left over from the document authoring process and, as they serve no actual purpose, may be set as Background (and thus removed from the document's structure).

Reading Order Panel View (left) vs. What We Normally See (right)

It is possible to obtain different results based on how the PDF was created.  Additionally, the version of MS Word and/or Adobe Acrobat installed on the computer (or Windows vs. macOS) can have an effect on the output.

Fortunately, it is easy enough to remove this information with the Reading Order (described below). 

In addition to creating a better user experience for students with disabilities, removing these will make it easier to apply proper tags and sequencing information to the PDF document.

1. With the PDF document open and the Reading Order activated: Within the Reading Order, ensure that the "Display like elements in a single block" option is NOT selected. 
2. Locate any empty tags and select them by clicking on the white label in the upper left-hand corner.
3. With the empty tag element selected, click the Background/Artifact button on the Reading Order.
4. Repeat steps 4 and 5 on each page of the PDF until all of the empty tags have been removed.

The following image displays a document and the Reading Order in the view. The Reading Order Background/Artifact button is highlighted with an orange rectangle; red arrows point to the empty tags.

Above: The Background/Artifact button from Reading Order is highlighted, along with the empty tags  #2, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12-15.