TouchUp Reading Order tool overview

The TouchUp Reading Order tool provides the easiest and quickest way to fix reading order and basic tagging problems. When you select the TouchUp Reading Order tool, a dialog box opens that lets you see overlay highlights that show the order of page content. Each highlighted region is numbered and highlighted with gray or colored blocks; the number indicates the region’s placement in the page’s reading order. After you check the reading order of the page, you can correct other, more subtle tagging issues as needed.

The TouchUp Reading Order tool is intended for repairing PDFs that were tagged using Acrobat, not for repairing PDFs that were tagged during conversion from an authoring application. Whenever possible, you should return to the source file and add accessibility features in the authoring application. Repairing the original file ensures that you don’t have to repeatedly touch up future iterations of the PDF in Acrobat.

You use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to perform the following accessibility tasks:

  • Visually check, and then repair, the reading order of page content

  • Tag fillable form fields and their labels

  • Add alternative text to figures and descriptions to form fields

  • Fix the tagging of simple tables, and prepare complex tables for more advanced manipulation in the logical structure tree

  • Remove nonessential content, such as ornamental page borders, from the logical structure tree

To perform more advanced reading order and tagging tasks—such as fixing complex tables, removing obsolete tags after you delete pages, and adding alternative text to links—you need to use the Tags tab, which contains an alternate set of tools and features for manipulating PDF tags. For more information, see Edit tags with the Tags tab.

Select the TouchUp Reading Order tool

 Do one of the following:

  • Choose Advanced > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order.

  • Choose Tools > Advanced Editing > TouchUp Reading Order Tool.

  • Click the TouchUp Reading Order tool  button on the Advanced Editing toolbar.

Tips for using the TouchUp Reading Order tool

  • Save the document (or a copy of it) before you use the TouchUp Reading Order tool. You can’t use Undo to reverse changes made with this tool, so reverting to a saved document is the only way to undo such a change.
  • Choose View > Page Display > Single Page when using the TouchUp Reading Order tool. When you click the Clear Structure button, Acrobat clears tags from all visible pages—even pages that are only partially visible.

TouchUp Reading Order options

You can select TouchUp Reading Order options from the dialog box, from the pop-up menu that appears when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a highlighted region, or from the Options menu in the Order tab. The TouchUp Reading Order tool includes the following options:

Text

Tags the selection as text.



Figure

Tags the selection as a figure. Text contained within a figure tag is defined as part of the image and is not read by screen readers.



Form Field

Tags the selection as a form field.



Figure/Caption

Tags a selected figure and caption as a single tag. Any text contained in the tag is defined as a caption. Useful for tagging photos and captions and preventing caption text from being incorrectly added to adjacent text blocks. Figures may require alternative text.



Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3

Tags the selection as a first, second, or third level heading tag. You can convert heading tags to bookmarks to help users navigate the document.



Table

Tags the selection as a table after the selection is analyzed to determine the location of headings, columns, and rows.



Cell

Tags the selection as a table or header cell. Use this option to merge cells that are incorrectly split.



Formula

Tags the selection as a formula. Because speech software may handle formula tags differently from normal text, you may want to add a description using alternative text.



Background

Tags the selection as a background element, or artifact, removing the item from the tag tree so that it doesn’t appear in the reflowed document and isn’t read by screen readers.



Table Inspector

Automatically analyzes the selected table into cells and applies the appropriate tags. The table must be tagged as a table before you can use the Table Inspector command on it.



Show Page Content Order

Shows content elements as highlighted areas that contain numbers to indicate the reading order. Specify the highlight color by clicking the color swatch.



Show Table Cells

Highlights the content of individual table cells. Specify the highlight color by clicking the color swatch.



Show Tables And Figures

Outlines each table and figure with a crossed-out box. The box also indicates whether the element includes alternative text. Specify the box color by clicking the color swatch.



Clear Page Structure

Removes the tagging structure from the page. Use this option to start over and create a new structure if the existing structure contains too many problems.



Show Order Panel

Opens the Order tab to allow you to reorder highlighted content.



Edit Alternate Text

Available in the menu that appears when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a highlighted figure. Allows the user to add or edit a text description to the figure properties that is read by a screen reader or other assistive technology.



Edit Form Field Text

Available in the menu that appears when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a form field. Allows the user to add or edit a form field text description that is read by a screen reader or other assistive technology.



Edit Table Summary

Available in the menu that appears when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) a highlighted table. Allows the user to add or edit a text description to the table properties that is read by a screen reader or other assistive technology.