axesPDF®

User Guide
V07.2021

Copyright © 2021 AbleDocs Inc.

 axesPDF® User Guide

Content
Introducing axesPDF® .................................................................................................................. 4
PDF/UA, the global standard for PDF accessibility ............................................................... 4
A comprehensive set of tools ................................................................................................. 5
A basic workflow for checking and remediating PDF documents ...................................... 6
Working with accessible PDF documents ................................................................................... 7
What if the PDF document doesn’t have good basic tagging structure? ........................... 7
Installing axesPDF® ...................................................................................................................... 8
System requirements .............................................................................................................. 8
Downloading and installing axesPDF® ................................................................................. 8
Activating axesPDF® .................................................................................................................... 9
Setting up a personal license ................................................................................................. 9
Setting up licenses for several people in an organization .................................................. 9
Getting familiar with the axesPDF® user interface................................................................. 10
Quick access toolbar .............................................................................................................. 10
Toolbar ribbon tabs ............................................................................................................... 11
Main menu ........................................................................................................................ 11
Logical Structure ribbon tab ............................................................................................ 11
Content ribbon tab........................................................................................................... 12
Font ribbon tab................................................................................................................. 12
Extras ribbon tab .............................................................................................................. 12
Viewer ribbon tab ............................................................................................................ 13
Document view ................................................................................................................. 13
Logical Structure Tree pane ............................................................................................. 13
Task panes ......................................................................................................................... 14
Preview panel ................................................................................................................... 18
Checking your PDF document ................................................................................................... 19
Visually inspect your PDF document ................................................................................... 20
Fixing PDF/UA problems ............................................................................................................ 21
Basic requirements problems ............................................................................................... 21
Content ............................................................................................................................. 21
Natural language.............................................................................................................. 22

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Logical Structure problems ................................................................................................... 22

Alternative Descriptions ................................................................................................... 22
Notes ................................................................................................................................. 23
Role Mapping ................................................................................................................... 23
Structure Elements ........................................................................................................... 24
Structure Tree ................................................................................................................... 27
Metadata and Settings problems......................................................................................... 30
Document Settings ........................................................................................................... 30
Metadata........................................................................................................................... 30
Glossary ....................................................................................................................................... 31

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 axesPDF® User Guide

Introducing axesPDF®
You can use axesPDF® to check and remediate PDF documents for compliance
with the PDF/UA (ISO 14289), WCAG 2.1, and Section 508 standards.

The checking and remediation tools in axesPDF® help you produce fully PDF/UA
compliant documents with ease. You can use these tools to check your Microsoft
Word, Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe InDesign documents.

Accessibility issues are found quickly, and you can easily fix most of them.

Important: To use AXESPDF ®, your PDF document must contain a tag structure.
If it doesn’t, you can create a tagged PDF by converting the source document or
adding tags using a PDF editor.

PDF/UA, the global standard for PDF accessibility

Originally published in August 2012 and updated in 2014, the global ISO standard
14289-1:2014 – commonly known as PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) – defines the
requirements for accessible PDF documents. Some of the requirements include:

■ Content must be tagged in a logical structure or reading order

■ Each tag represents the document’s semantic structure (headings, tables, lists,
etc.)
■ Graphics that contribute to the meaning of the content must have associated
alternative text. Others must be marked as decorative elements.
PDF/UA also defines the requirements for software, including authoring tools, PDF
viewers, assistive technologies, and evaluation tools.

The PDF association sums it up:

"The primary purpose of ISO 14289 (known as PDF/UA) is to define a specific use
of the structure and tagged PDF features in PDF 1.7, which provide a mechanism
for reuse of PDF page content, especially in the accessibility context."1

Want to learn more?

For more information about the PDF/UA and the PDF/A standards, check out the
list of resources in the PDF Association website2.

1
PDF association. (2014, October 7). ISO 14289 (PDF/UA). Retrieved from
https://www.pdfa.org/resource/iso-14289-pdfua/
2
https://www.pdfa.org/resource/

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 axesPDF® User Guide

A comprehensive set of tools

axesPDF® provides the tools that you need to create PDF/UA-compliant
documents:

■ Check for PDF/UA compliance

Checking your document is fast and easy. The structured report shows a
summarized result of all the machine-checkable failure conditions.
■ See problems immediately
Select an issue in the Checker pane to see where the error is in the document
and in the logical structure view.

■ Fix issues with one click

Fix an issue for the entire document by clicking one button; for example, Add
Note ID or Artifact Non-Tagged Content.
■ Edit all in one view
Context-sensitive editing of properties and attributes of multiple tags at once.
For example, adding scope to table header cells.
■ Fix Unicode issues
Unicode issues are no longer show-stoppers. You can easily correct any
mapping issues.
■ Navigate the logical structure
Browse the logical structure of the document by jumping from one tag of a
particular structure type to the next tag of that same type. You can also
search for specific tags.
■ Select and view tags with ease
When you select a tag in the Document Viewer, it is automatically highlighted
in the Logical Structure View.
■ Screen reader preview
Simplified structure view for a quick visual evaluation. Check the logical order
and the semantics to see what a screen reader would read.
■ Detailed expert views
Views for diagnosis and editing: Checker with report, Properties, Settings,
Role Mapping, Destinations, Logical Structure.

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 axesPDF® User Guide

A basic workflow for checking and remediating PDF documents

Here is the typical workflow for checking and remediating PDF documents, with
links to corresponding instructions in this User Guide.

1. Open the document in axesPDF®.

2. Look at errors in Checker. See “Checking your PDF document”.
3. Fix errors – using the axesPDF® tools. See “Fixing PDF/UA problems”.
4. Fix other errors manually, in the PDF file
5. Open the updated document in axesPDF® to check again and ensure that
you’ve corrected all the errors.
6. Visually check your PDF document. See “Visually inspect your PDF document”.

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 axesPDF® User Guide

Working with accessible PDF documents

To use axesPDF® to check and remediate your PDF documents, you must begin
with an accessible PDF document; this means that it must contain a tag structure.

Good basic tagging structure has the following characteristics:

■ One top-level container tag. All other tags are nested within the container tag.
■ All relevant content elements are tagged.
■ The tag order is the same as the preferred reading order.
■ Tags are nested correctly.
■ All elements or content that belongs together are kept together. For example,
paragraphs, tables, or lists that are span page breaks or column breaks are not
divided into several tags.
■ All links to external destinations, like websites or other documents, are
correctly tagged and are clickable.

What if the PDF document doesn’t have good basic tagging structure?
If your document doesn’t have tags or a good basic tagging structure, you can
create a tagged PDF by converting the source document or adding tags using a
PDF editor.

■ Convert the source document

■ You can create accessible PDF document with authoring tools like Microsoft
Word or InDesign, or you can convert information in a structured format like
HTML or XML. If the conversion is successful, the tag structure is created.
■ Edit the PDF file
If the source file is not available, or if the authoring software doesn’t successfully
convert the content, you can open the PDF file in a PDF editor and manually add
or correct the tags. You must tag each relevant content element and add the
required accessibility features, like alternative text to figures.

Once the conversion is finished, you can use axesPDF® to evaluate the PDF, check
the PDF/UA compliancy, and fix any outstanding issues.

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 axesPDF® User Guide

Installing axesPDF®

System requirements
axesPDF® works with the following operating systems:

■ Microsoft® Windows 8.1 Service Pack (SP) 1

■ Microsoft® Windows 10

Downloading and installing axesPDF®

To install axesPDF®, go to the product download page3, and click Download
axesPDF®.

Note: If you have a previous version installed, you must uninstall it first.

Start the setup program by navigating to the where you saved the downloaded
file and double-click axesPDF.Setup.exe.

The installation wizard guides you through the rest of the process.

3
https://www.abledocs.com/en/products-services/axespdf/download

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Activating axesPDF®
You can use axesPDF® in Trial Mode or activate a license to use all the available
features. You set up licenses for a individuals or organizations.

If you choose to run the add-in in Trial Mode, when you create a PDF, each page
will have a watermark, and some characters will be randomly colored.

Setting up a personal license

To activate axesPDF® for one person to use, you can set a personal license. For
detailed instructions, go to the Activate Personal License article4 in the axes4 Help
Center. The article also includes a link to download a PDF version of the
instructions.

Setting up licenses for several people in an organization

To activate axesPDF® for several people in an organization, you can set of access
via axes4 IDs or via a domain. For detailed instructions, go to the corresponding
articles in the axes4 Help Center. Each article also includes a link to download a
PDF version of the instructions.

• Set up access via axes4 IDs5

• Set up access via a domain6

4
https://support.axes4.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013781220
5
https://support.axes4.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013781020
6
https://support.axes4.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013849319

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 axesPDF® User Guide

Getting familiar with the axesPDF® user interface

The following screenshot shows the layout of the user interface as it appears
when you first start axesPDF®.

1. Quick access toolbar

2. Toolbar ribbon with tabs for each group of controls
3. Logical Structure Tree task pane on the left side
4. Document view in the center pane
5. Task pane on the right side, with tabs for Properties, Settings, Checker, Role
map, and Destinations
6. Preview

Quick access toolbar

The Quick Access toolbar is like the Microsoft Quick Access toolbar. You can use it
to control the program window or customize the ribbon.

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Toolbar ribbon tabs

The axesPDF® toolbar ribbon includes several tabs that contain the tools you need
to check and remediate PDF documents.

Main menu
Use the main menu to open, close or save files, to read the product information,
or to quit axesPDF®.

To open the main menu, click .

Logical Structure ribbon tab

The Logical Structure ribbon tab is organized into three groups of controls that
you can use to fix structure-related issues in your PDF documents.

■ Tags & Roles

■ Properties
■ Advanced

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Content ribbon tab

Use the controls in the Content ribbon tab to solve problems with the PDF
content.

Font ribbon tab

Use the controls in the Font ribbon tab to solve font-related issues; for example, to
correct Unicode mapping issues.

Extras ribbon tab

The Extras ribbon tab is organized into four groups of controls that you can use to
fix issues in your PDF documents that are not related to the structure or content.

■ Metadata
■ Annotations
■ Navigation
■ Accessibility Support Properties

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Viewer ribbon tab

Use the controls on the Viewer ribbon tab to navigate your PDF document or
zoom in and out. You can also switch between the Tag Selection tool and the
Table tool.

Document view
The Document view is the default view of the PDF document that you are
working on.

If you select a structure element in the Logical Structure Tree pane, or select an
error in the Checker task pane, the corresponding element is highlighted in the
Document view.

Use this view to:

■ Review the presentation of your document

■ Navigate the document
■ Evaluate the logical order - using the Logical Structure Tree pane
■ Analyze accessibility issues – using the Checker task pane

Logical Structure Tree pane

The logical structure of your PDF document is displayed in the form of a structure
tree. You can review the structure from the highest to the deepest level by
expanding and collapsing each level of the tree.

When you click a tag in the structure tree, the corresponding area is highlighted in
the Document view.

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You can also edit tag names by double-clicking the tags and use the Search Tag
field to search for specific tags in the structure tree.

Task panes
There are several task panes that you can use to view the results of a PDF/UA
check, and to edit the properties, settings, and tags in your PDF document.

Properties task pane

The Properties task pane shows all the properties and attributes for the tag that
you select in the Logical Structure Tree pane. You can change all properties of the
selected tag, including the structure type.

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Settings task pane

Use the Settings task pane to specify several general settings for your PDF
document that are relevant to the starting view or the assistive technology used to
access the document.

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You can click Default to set standard values for layout, window options and user
interface, which are preferable for accessibility. The default settings include:

Layout

■ Options for navigation tab: Bookmarks Panel and Page

■ Options for page layout: Single Page Continuous
Window Options

■ Resize window to initial page: Not activated

■ Center window on screen: Not activated
■ Open in full screen mode: Not activated
■ Options for window title: Document Title

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User Interface Options

■ Hide menu bar: Not activated

■ Hide tool bars: Not activated
■ Hide window controls: Not activated
You must also specify an individual title and the language for the document. The
title will also be the Window title, and the language will be used if no other
language is defined at the tag or content level.

Checker task pane

Use the Checker task pane to check your document for PDF/UA issues. When you
first open the document, click Refresh to perform the analysis and view the list of
issues.

The error messages are organized in categories. You can expand each category to
see the specific issues.

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Double click on an error message to see the corresponding issue highlighted in the
Document view and in the Logical Structure Tree pane.

Role map task pane

Use the Role map task pane to review role mappings in your PDF document.

You can also sort and filter the items in the Structure Type and Role lists.

Destinations task pane

Use the Destination task pane to review the targets of the internal links and the
associated structure elements in your PDF document.

Preview panel
Use the Preview panel to see the content of your PDF document as it is presented
to a screen reader or assistive technology. You can use the Preview panel to
visually check the logical order and the presentation of the content.

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In the Preview panel, the different structure elements are represented by symbols.
For more information, go to this article in the Help Center7.

Checking your PDF document

As the document author, you must evaluate the PDF document for compliance
with the PDF/UA standards. Although the PDF/UA standards clearly define the
requirements for accessible PDF documents, there are no authoring software
applications that fully support PDF/UA. This means that, when you check your
document, you often find hard-to-fix errors, which you must manually fix in the
PDF document.

Usually you start with the PDF/UA check. Then you examine the errors, choose the
corresponding commands, and make the corrections.

To check your PDF document:

1. Open the file in axesPDF®.

2. In the task pane, on the Checker tab, click Refresh.
The results are displayed, and they are organized in a hierarchy.

7
https://support.axes4.com/hc/en-us/articles/360008791960-Overview-of-the-symbols-in-the-
screenreader-preview

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Visually inspect your PDF document

Tools like axesPDF® evaluate your PDF documents for compliance with PDF/UA,
but they cannot check for all the requirements. For some requirements, you must
visually inspect the document.

You visually check:

When you review the document, check for the following:

■ Logical reading order

■ Appropriate use of semantics and tags
■ Possible accessibility issues like the use of hyphenation, or that words and
passages in other languages are marked
You can use the Checker task pane and the Preview panel in axesPDF®, or the
Screen reader Preview in PDF Accessibility Checker (PAC). These tools offer a
simplified structure view so that you can do a visual check very easily and without
deep knowledge of PDF structure elements.

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Fixing PDF/UA problems

Basic requirements problems

Content
Problem: “Artifact present inside tagged content”
A marked content element that is referenced by the logical structure contains a
nested artifact.

To fix this issue:

1. Remove all the artifacts by opening the Content ribbon tab and clicking
Remove Artifacts.
2. Mark the content elements again by clicking Artifact non-tagged content.
Problem: “Tagged content present inside an Artifact”
There is a marked content container with a MCID that is nested inside an Artifact.

There is no standard method for fixing this error; you must examine the affected
content.

If the related element is marked content that is not referenced by the logical
structure:

1. Move the content out of the container.

2. Remove the empty marked content container by opening the Content ribbon
tab and clicking Remove Artifacts.
Problem: “<Type> object not tagged”
The following types of objects can trigger issues if they are not tagged:

■ Image objects
■ Path objects
■ Text objects
To fix these issues:

1. Determine if the object that is not tagged is relevant content.

2. If the object is relevant to the content, then add the required tag.
3. If the object is not relevant to the content, then make it an artifact by opening
the Content ribbon tab and clicking Artifact non-tagged content.

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Natural language
Language assignments can be set on three different levels in a PDF document:

■ Document level
■ Structure level
■ Content level
If the natural language for a document cannot be identified during a PDF/UA
check, the then it cannot be determined for the following type of content in the
document:

■ Outline items
■ Text objects
■ Actual text
■ Alternative text
■ Alternate name of a form field
■ Contents entries
To fix this issue:

1. In the Settings task pane, in the Language field, enter the required language
code. For example, use "en-GB" for British English, "en-US" for US English or
"de-DE" for German.

Logical Structure problems

Alternative Descriptions
Problem: “Alternative description missing for an annotation”
An alternative description about the destination of a link is missing.

To fix this issue:

1. Add an alternative description by opening the Extras ribbon tab and clicking
Set Contents key of Link annotations.
An alternative description is added to every link tag.

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Notes
Problem: “ID missing in Note structure element”
There are Note-Tags without ID.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Add Note IDs.

Role Mapping
Problem: “Non-standard structure type “Story” is neither mapped to a standard structure type
nor to another non-standard structure type”
Every non-standard structure type must be mapped to a standard structure type.
This mapping is missing from the document.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Roles.

2. In the Fix Role mapping dialog box, map every non-standard structure type
Story to the standard structure type Sect.
Problem: “Standard structure type ‘(0)’ is remapped to ‘(1)’”
There is a Standard structure type that is remapped to another structure type.
According to the PDF/UA standard, this is not allowed.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Roles.

2. In the Fix Role mapping dialog box, delete the mapping of the standard
structure type by clicking the corresponding “X”.
Problem: “Structure type 0 is mapped in a circular fashion”
Why is this an issue?

There is a Standard structure type that is remapped to the same structure type.
According to the PDF/UA standard, this is not allowed.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Roles.

2. In the Fix Role mapping dialog box, delete the mapping of the standard
structure type by clicking the corresponding “X”.

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Structure Elements
Problem: “First heading is not on the first level”
In every document, the first heading must be an H1. Heading levels must not be
skipped; for example, an H3 must not follow an H1.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Logical Structure Tree pane, double-click the first tag heading and
change it to “H1”.
Problem: “Table header cell has no associated subcells”
In a table, there are header cells (<TH>) that do not have associated data cells
(<TD>).

Programs like screen readers cannot recognize the relationship between the
header and the data cells.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double click the error message to move to the
corresponding header cell. The header cell is also highlighted in the Logical
Structure Tree pane.
2. For a simple table, in the Properties task pane, set the correct scope of the
selected header cell.
3. If table header cells do not apply for a whole column or row, you have a
complex table. In that case, you must set the reference between header cells
and data cells by using header IDs. In the Viewer ribbon tab, click Table.

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Problem: “Figure element on a single page with no bounding box”

The bounding box of a figure is missing, so the figure cannot be rendered
correctly in alternate presentations.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click on error so that the related figure and
figure tag is highlighted.
2. In the Properties task pane, add a bounding box by clicking the "+" for one
of the empty attribute fields; for example, the attribute "Left". The correct
bounding box is automatically created.

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Problem: “Link annotation is not nested inside a Link structure element”

There is a link annotation that is not part of a link tag. In the logical structure, it is
the OBJR element.

To fix this issue, add the required tag using a PDF tag editor.

Problem: “Numbered heading skips one or more heading levels”

The heading hierarchy in a document is not structurally correct. One or more
heading levels is missing.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click on the error so that the related
heading and heading tag are highlighted.
2. To change the name of the heading tag, on the Logical Structure ribbon tab,
click Rename Tags, and in the Rename Tags dialog box, type a new name for
the selected tag.
You can also manually edit the tag name in the Logical Structure Tree pane.

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Structure Tree
Problem: “Art structure element used as root element”
The document contains an Article structure element that, semantically, is not used
correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. Click the tag and enter a semantically correct root tag name; for example,
"Document".
You can also create a new root tag "Document" in a PDF tag editor and then nest
all other tags under it.

Problem: “Div structure element used as root element”

The document contains Div structure elements that, semantically, are not used
correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. Click the tag and enter a semantically correct root tag name; for example,
"Document".
You can also create a new root tag "Document" in a PDF tag editor and then nest
all other tags under it.

Problem: “Document structure element found which is not a root element”

There are Document structure elements in the document that are not used
correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. Click the tag and enter a semantically correct root tag name; for example,
"Part".

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Problem: “Part structure element used as root element”

There are Part structure elements in the document that are not semantically
correct.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. Click the tag and enter a semantically correct root tag name; for example,
"Document".
You can also create a new root tag "Document" in a PDF tag editor and then nest
all other tags under it.

Problem: “Possibly inappropriate use of a Figure structure element”

Some figure tags in the document are not used correctly. In most cases, it is due to
the placement attribute.

The figure tag is an inline level element. If it is used as a block level element, the
attribute “Placement: Block” is required. Otherwise, some assistive technologies
are not able to present it correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Placement.
Problem: “Possibly inappropriate use of a Form structure element”
Some form tags in the document are not used correctly. In most cases, it is due to
the placement attribute.

The form tag is an inline level element. If it is used as a block level element, the
attribute “Placement: Block” is required. Otherwise, some assistive technologies
are not able to present it correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Placement.

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Problem: “Possibly inappropriate use of a Formula structure element”

Some formula tags in the document are not used correctly. In most cases, it is due
to the placement attribute.

The formula tag is an inline level element. If it is used as a block level element, the
attribute “Placement: Block” is required. Otherwise, some assistive technologies
are not able to present it correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Placement.
Problem: “Possibly inappropriate use of a Note structure element”
Some note tags in the document are not used correctly. In most cases, it is due to
the placement attribute.

The note tag is an inline level element. If it is used as a block level element, the
attribute “Placement: Block” is required. Otherwise, some assistive technologies
are not able to present it correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. On the Logical Structure ribbon tab, click Fix Placement.
Problem: “Sect structure element used as root element”
There are Section structure elements in the document that are not used correctly.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Checker task pane, double-click the error. The corresponding tag is
highlighted in the Logical Structure Tree pane.
2. Click the tag and enter a semantically correct root tag name; for example,
"Document".
You can also create a new root tag "Document" in a PDF tag editor and then nest
all other tags under it.

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Metadata and Settings problems

Document Settings
Problem: “DisplayDocTitle entry is not set”
The file name is set as the window title; it should be the title of the document.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Settings task pane, click Default.

The standard settings for accessibility are applied to your document and the
document title is set as the window title.

Problem: “Tab order entry in page with annotations not set to S”

The setting that specifies that the tab order should orientate on the logical
structure is missing for one page, for several pages, or for the whole document.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Extras ribbon tab, click Set Tab Order.

Metadata
Problem: “Title missing in document’s XMP metadata”
The document is missing a title.

To fix this issue:

1. In the Settings task pane, in the Title field, enter the title of the document.
You can also add a document title using a PDF editor.

Problem: “PDF/UA identifier missing”

The document is not marked as compliant with PDF/UA by the required XMP file.

To fix this issue:

1. On the Extras ribbon tab, click Add PDF/UA identifier.

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Glossary
Here is a list of terms used in the tools that you use to create and test PDF
documents.

Anchor Assignment of a figure or a text box

(which are not used inline) to a
paragraph in the main content. The
anchoring defines the position of the
element in the logical structure tree.

Artifacts All elements in a document that are

decorative and/or are not relevant
content.

Artifacts are not part of the logical

structure tree and are not processed
by assistive technologies.

Examples include background images,

page numbers or text in headers and
footers, and printer’s imprints.

Assistive Technologies Technical aids that people with

(AT) disabilities use to consume digital
content.

Examples include screen readers or

Braille displays.

Button An interactive element that performs

a specific function or starts a tool.

Caption Text that describes a table or a figure.

Captions are positioned below or
above the corresponding element and
are often numbered.

In Microsoft Word, you can create

tables of contents based on these
captions.

Context-sensitive A representation or a function that is

displayed differently, depending on
the context.

Data table A grid or matrix that is used to

present data.

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Definition list A special form of list with individual

labels. Each label can be an expression
or an abbreviation. The related list
entry provides the corresponding
explanation.

Destination (new) A structure element that is the target

on an internal link.

Dialog box An element of the user interface that

appears after starting a function. It
requires interaction, such as an input
or confirmation.

An example is the window that you

use to edit Unicode mappings in
axesPDF®.

Element Generic term for all possible objects in

a document, including paragraphs,
figures, formulas, etc.

Figure Generic term for all pictographic

objects in Microsoft Word.

Layout table A table that is used for layout

purposes, rather than for the
presentation of data.

Linearized view A view of contents that are ordered

sequentially – one after another.

Link Connection between a source

element (text or figure) and a
destination element (footnote,
endnote, reference, website, or email
address.)

List continue Further paragraphs within one list

item.

Logical document The hierarchical structure of all the

structure tags in a document. This structure
does not necessarily correspond with
the appearance of the document, but
with the division into meaningful
units and elements.

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The logical document structure is the

basis for a machine-readable
document. It is also a precondition for
an accessible document. A PDF
document that has a logical structure
is called a “tagged PDF”.

Logical order An unambiguous linearized order of

all content elements so that there is a
logical information flow.

The logical order results from the

logical structure tree. It is
independent of the position of the
object on the respective page, even
though logical order and visual
positioning should ideally be
identical, particularly in documents
with a simple layout.

You can check the logical order by

viewing the structure tree.

The logical order corresponds to the

reader order, which is important for
assistive technologies.

Machine-readable Structured data that is can be

processed by a machine, such as
assistive technology. Tags are used to
structure the data. See also: Tag

Multilevel list A list that contains more than one

outline level. Also referred to as a
nested list.

Table header Heading of a data cell, column, or

row in a table.

A data cell has a corresponding

column heading or row heading,
which helps you understand its
purpose and content.

Tag Tags are invisible labels that mark

content elements as a special
structure types; also called semantic
markup. The tags indicate the role of

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each content element in the context

of the document.

Task pane A task pane in the user interface

shows a specific perspective of a
document and provides options for
analysis and evaluation, editing, or
for changing settings.

Text box A container for text that can be

positioned anywhere in a document.

Tool group A group of tools that is available in

the ribbon tabs. Each group of tools
has a common theme; for example,
the Document tool group.

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