Create an accessible PDF from InDesign

Give paragraph styles appropriate PDF tag mappings. A chapter heading should become a heading at the correct level, not a generic paragraph. Plan the sequence between text frames, sidebars and images.

Adobe documents tools including the Articles panel, anchored objects, alternative text and tagged PDF export. They help control the result, but no single setting proves accessibility of the whole document.

Adobe’s current guidance uses the Articles panel to organise exported content. Create an article and arrange its objects in the intended sequence. Check Include When Exporting for the article and select Use for Tagging Order in Tagged PDF in the Articles panel menu. Also enable Create Tagged PDF during PDF export. Then inspect the exported sequence: the panel is an authoring control whose result still needs verification.

Sources: [1], [2]

A designed page can offer several entry points: an introduction, two columns, a pull quote and a fact box. Sighted readers often choose the relationships themselves. Linear reading needs a deliberate sequence. Establish where the main text begins, how it continues and when supplementary material should intervene.

Sketch the sequence before moving objects. An interview might present its main text, then a biographical box, then the next section. A pull quote repeated from the body may be a visual repetition rather than new information. Readers need not necessarily hear it twice. A box containing new facts, however, must not be treated as decoration simply because it sits in the margin.

Map paragraph styles to intended heading levels and other appropriate tag types. “Large subheading” is an internal style name; it needs a meaningful role in the PDF. Examine styles reused for different purposes. Identical appearance does not always mean identical function.

Choose a sample containing several difficult features: an image and caption, a table, a page break and a fact box. Use the intended final export route and settings, enabling tagged PDF where applicable. A simple cover reveals little about the rest of the report.

Follow the sample’s tag tree and compare it with the planned sequence. Also inspect content associations: an H2 tag must identify the intended subheading, not merely exist somewhere in the tree. For an anchored image, check its position relative to the sentence introducing it.

Fix recurring problems in source styles, anchoring or structure when possible. Otherwise the same manual intervention may be required after every export. Document remaining limitations: which objects are affected, how the fault is recognised and how the exported PDF is repaired.

A late text edit can move lines, objects and page breaks. Repeat affected checks after the final export, and compare figures, chart labels and visible layout with the approved source. A technical structure improvement must not silently change the report’s content.

• Review paragraph-style mappings to heading and paragraph tags.
• Order content and anchor objects where the workflow requires it.
• Write and check image descriptions.
• Inspect table headers and merged cells.
• Set metadata and choose an export that creates tags.

Pay particular attention to reading order around page breaks, long tables and notes. Compare the visible PDF with the approved source too. Record any manual repairs still required after export so they are not forgotten in the next edition.