Reading Order

The order of elements in a PDF depends on the order in which they have been "written into" the page during PDF creation. This is not necessarily the same as the logical order intended for reading the document.

Tools in the Reading Order panel and dialog box use the tag structure of a PDF and let you review this order, have one automatically detected, visually mark elements, set their types and (re-)define their order by dragging. If you change the tags of your document in the Reading Order panel, these modifications will be reflected in the Tags panel - and vice versa.

The Reading Order feature is basically a convenience extension on PDF tags. Use it when you intend to have your page or document read out on the basis of the tag structure.

Reading Order Panel

Use this tool to open the panel:

If you do not see it:

• type Reading Order into the Find a tool box on the toolbar and select Reading Order; OR
• right click in an empty space in the Panel bar and choose Reading Order.

The panel lists existing tags page by page. Click the page icon to open or close the listing for a page.  

The options drop down list offers the following choices:

• Remove whole document structure: Delete all tags on all pages in the document.
• Remove Page Structure: Delete all tags on the page.
• Retag page: Use the automatic Tag PDF functionality (from the Tags panel) to retag the page.

If you select a single element from the panel listing, the context menu displays all the categories listed below. Click one to change the element category to a different one.

To change the reading order of tagged elements (and therefore reading order) simply drag-and-drop one into its intended location in the list.

Touch Up Reading Order Dialog Box

Open this from the tool on the left of the panel.

It enables an area selection tool. Draw a rectangle round a page area and choose a type / description of the content of the area:

• Text: This area contains flowing text.
• Figure: The area contains an illustration.
• Figure/Caption: The area contains an illustration plus a caption.
• Form Field: This is an interactive area that accepts a response within an electronic form.
• Heading:  The area contains a heading whose level in a hierarchy can be defined.
• Table: This area contains data in a grid and should be treated as a table.
• Cell: This area contains a cell within a table.
• Formula: This area contains a scientific or mathematical formula.
• Background: This area encloses a colored or textured background.

Use CTRL+mouse to extract an area from your selection; and SHIFT+mouse to add an area to it.

Types listed above help to preserve structure during reading. For instance, heading type elements are verbally marked to represent the proper information hierarchy. In general it is recommended that you use the Touch Up Reading Order dialog to achieve the best results and utilize the automatic retag option (above) on less complex pages.

Click Close to finish touching up the Reading Order.