| 31 Acrobat 9 Pro PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow

Figure 19 TouchUp Reading Order Alternate Text Dialog

Using the TouchUp Reading Order Tool Table Editor

Tables pose a special challenge for screen readers because they present textual or numerical data to be easily

referenced visually. Content within table cells can be complex and might contain lists, paragraphs, form

fields, or another table.

The TouchUp Reading Order Table Editor 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 Editor command on it.

For best results when tagging tables, use the application that you created the document with to add tags

when you create the PDF. If a PDF isn’t tagged, you can add tags by using the Add Tags To Document

command. Most tables are properly recognized using this command; however, the command may not

recognize a table that lacks clear borders, headings, columns, and rows. Use the TouchUp Reading Order

tool to determine if the table has been properly recognized and to correct recognition problems. To add

specialized formatting to tables and table cells, use the Tags tab.

You can use the Table Editor to automatically analyze a table into its components and apply the appropriate

tags, but you may still need to check and correct some of these tags manually. By viewing table tags, you can

determine whether columns, rows, and cells have been correctly identified. Tables that lack well-defined

borders and rules are often tagged incorrectly or contain adjacent page elements. You can correct poorly

tagged tables by selecting and redefining them; you can split combined cells by creating a tag for each cell.

• Select the TouchUp Reading Order tool, and then click Show Tables And Figures.

• If the table isn’t clearly labeled in the document pane, drag to select the entire table, and then click

Table in the dialog box.

• Click Show Table Cells to make sure that all cells in the table are defined as individual elements.

If cells don’t appear as separate elements, do one of the following:

• If one or more cells are merged, use the TouchUp Reading Order tool to select the area within a

single cell, and then click Cell in the dialog box. Repeat for each merged cell.

• If cells aren’t highlighted, the table might not use standard table formatting. Re-create the table in

the authoring application.

Add a Table Summary

• With the cursor over the table, right click to add a Table Summary. The Edit Table Summary option

is available in the menu that appears when you right-click a highlighted table. This allows the user

to add or edit a text description about the table properties that is read by a screen reader or other

assistive technology.

Place the Table in Editing Mode

There are two ways to place Tables in Table Editing Mode with the TouchUp Reading Order Tool:

Making PDF Accessible with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro