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Accessibility Errors with PDF Maker Update Sept 2021

Several major bugs have been documented by users in the Adobe Community Forums since Acrobat and PDF Maker were updated on September 14, 2021.

They are:

1: Alt-Text from MS Word is not converting into the PDF. Instead, it is dropped and gibberish code is inserted. See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017 This violates the PDF/UA-1 standard which requires that every graphic have alt-text that verbally describes the graphic.

THIS IS A HUGE BUG. You essentially have made Acrobat unusable for those who are required by their country's laws to make fully accessible PDFs.

2: Every cell border on every table cell is being tagged as:
<P>PathPathPathPath. This violates PDF/UA-1 because unnecessary visual formatting is not being tagged at Artifacts.
See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017

3: The underline on Hyperlinks should be tagged as artifacts. Right not, it appears as one or more "PathPathPath" which is announced by different assistive technologies. See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017

4: Borders and background shadings on Text Boxes are being tagged as a combination of <Figure>s and PathPathPath. This too is a violation of PDF/UA-1. https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017

5: Paragraph borders and shadings: same deal as #4 above.Per the PDF/UA-1 standard, they are visually decorative and should be artifacted. See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017

NOTE: To be correctly tagged per PDF/UA-1, the borders/shading content should:
— Not appear anywhere in the Tag tree, either as <Figure> or as "Path" in a yellow content container box.
— Not appear in the Order panel.
— Should appear as Artifact in the Content panel.

6: Dragging and dropping elements in both the Tag and Order panels is now broken.

The text cursor doesn't show anymore, and the little black line doesn't show anymore and instead appears several inches away from where it really is. See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/alt-text-converting-wrong-from-word-to-pdf/m-p/12393017 and also https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-pro-reading-order-box-and-tag-dragging-no-longer-visible/m-p/12395226#M329877

And finally...
7: Once this update is installed, users can't revert back to a previous version of PDF Maker because Adobe doesn't allow that in Acrobat like it does with other Creative Suite applications.

So once the update is completed, it makes PDF Maker completely unusable for tagged accessible PDFs.

This affects millions of your government customers world wide, as well as millions of government contractors and millions of academic customers...all of whom are required by their country's laws to make accessible PDFs.

2 sets of sample Word and Matching PDF files are submitted as demonstrations of the problems in the exported PDFs via PDF Maker.

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Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
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Started  ·  AdminTanvi Rastogi (Lead Software Engineer, Adobe) responded  · 

Hi,

Thank you for raising these accessibility issues. The post mentions about the following six bugs being introduced with the update that went live on September 14, 2021

1: Alt-Text from MS Word is not converting into the PDF. Instead, it is dropped and gibberish code is inserted
2: Every cell border on every table cell is being tagged as <P>PathPathPathPath
3: The underline on Hyperlinks should be tagged as artifacts
4: Borders and background shadings on Text Boxes are being tagged as a combination of <Figure>s and PathPathPath
5: Paragraph borders and shadings: same deal as #4 above.Per the PDF/UA-1 standard, they are visually decorative and should be artifacted
6: Dragging and dropping elements in both the Tag and Order panels is now broken.

Would like to mention that out of these, #1 and #6 were introduced with the Sep 14 update and remaining (#2, #3, #4 & #5) were present even in the Acrobat version prior to Sep 14 update. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by these issues.

Issue #1 and #6 were the regressions introduced with Sept 14th update and hence were fixed on priority with Sept 29th Update (Release Notes for September 29, 2021). With the latest version (22.001.20085) of Acrobat Pro DC released on March 7th (Release Notes for March 07, 2022), issues #2 and #3 have also been fixed. Issues #4 and #5 have been partially fixed so that PathPathPath tags won’t be part of the tag tree anymore. The remaining issue for #4 and # 5 (Borders and background shadings on Text Boxes / paragraphs are being tagged as <Figure>s) have already been added to our product backlog and those will be prioritized to be fixed in coming releases.

You can use the menu item Help → Check for Updates… to get the latest version of Acrobat Pro DC containing these fixes. Please try out the fixes and share the feedback as that will help us make our applications better from accessibility perspective.

Thanks & Regards

Tanvi Rastogi

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  • Larry Hudson commented  ·   ·  Report

    I work for an accessible communications agency that creates dozens of accessible PDFs every week using the PDF maker addon for Word. We need this fixed urgently.

  • Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com commented  ·   ·  Report

    ADDITIONAL RELATED ERROR:
    Graphics in Word marked as "decorative" (which should become artifacted in the PDF) have code gibberish Alt-text in the PDF.

    #1: If a graphic is artifacted, it shouldn't have any Alt-Text at all.
    #2: The gibberish Alt-text is being voiced by screen readers.

  • Joseph Polizzotto commented  ·   ·  Report

    Please fix this issue immediately. This is unacceptable to institutions of Higher Ed, who rely on Adobe Acrobat to create PDF documents that are accessible to all students.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Please fix this bug as soon as possible so that we are not violating digital accessibility guidelines for students and staff.

  • NJ Brand commented  ·   ·  Report

    As the person who is tagged (pun maybe intended) to make sure all instructional materials are accessible regardless of who created the PDF or how big or small the PDF is, it is imperative that my tools (Acrobat CC, the Acrobat plugin for Word, and Word) work exceptionally well and seamlessly to help me achieve that, and to stay compliant within federal and state mandated educational guidelines. Having access to functional tools is non-negotiable.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am requesting these bugs be fixed in Adobe so our institution can be in compliance with state and federal laws. We use Acrobat to make documents accessible.

  • Matthew Mariani commented  ·   ·  Report

    NEW RELATED BUG!!! I recently began encountering an issue sporadically in which a path corresponding to the crop box of every page in certain pdfs appears in a P tag at the top of the tag tree in these pdfs created from Word. So, 50-page pdf will have 50 P tags at the top of the tree, with each containing nothing but the path. Might this be related to the other recent issues described involving the undesirable inclusion of paths in the tag structure?

  • Brennan Young commented  ·   ·  Report

    These new bugs may put Adobe customers in legal difficulties, which in turn may become a serious legal problem for Adobe. It is especially bad that users can not downgrade to an earlier version which does not have these bugs. Drop everything and get this fixed ASAP, please.

  • June Cummings commented  ·   ·  Report

    I work in higher education and accessibility is required for my organization by state and federal law. This issue must be fixed.

  • Kimberley Smith, Disabilities office commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is serious. At my US college we use accessibility features betw. Word and Acrobat on a daily basis. This needs to be fixed.

    Kimberley Smith, Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL

  • Assistive Technology Cath commented  ·   ·  Report

    As a higher education professional, I use Acrobat and PDF Maker regularly.
    Please correct these errors ASAP! We count on Adobe - don't fail us now!

  • Erica Coe commented  ·   ·  Report

    Adding my vote to fix this. I also work at an institution of higher education, and functional accessibility tools are non-negotiable,

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I work with students with helping students access reading materials at a major university, and accessibility is imperative to their learning and is a legal requirement. Please address these bugs immediately. Thank you.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Another vote for fixing this problem. I work for the Federal government, and my team publishes dozens of 50+ page reports each month. These things need to be fixed really quickly!

  • Robert Lengacher commented  ·   ·  Report

    Please fast track these changes. I've found a cumbersome workaround, but it's going to be a pain to describe all of the necessary steps in Word and Acrobat for my team of accessibility editors.

  • Tim commented  ·   ·  Report

    Attorneys are following this thread.

  • Sue Paré commented  ·   ·  Report

    Adobe this fix is needed urgently! One of my contracts is with the Canadian government. Accessibility is a major component of the work. Please make this a priority.

  • Jennifer Clark commented  ·   ·  Report

    I also work at an institution of higher education, and functional accessibility tools are non-negotiable for us. We need this fixed ASAP!

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