Advice on which issues can be solved automatically by clicking Fix is available in online Help. This also provides guidance for manually resolving issues.

• 3-1: Are all form fields tagged?

  In an accessible PDF, all form fields must be tagged as such and be part of the document structure. See Tagged PDF.

  Solution: Use the tool tip form field property to provide the user with information or to provide instructions.

• 3-2: Do all form fields have a description?

  For accessibility, all form fields need a text description (displayed as a tool tip and accessible to screen readers).

  Solution: To add a text description to a form field: select one of the Form tools, and then right-click the form field. Select Properties from the context menu. Click the General properties tab. Enter a description of the form field in the Tooltip field.

The following checks relate to tables. Because table structure can be complex, it is best practice to check them for accessibility manually.

• 3-3: Are the relationships between the elements of the tables valid?

  This rule checks following:

  • Are the TR tags the child tags of a Table, THead, TBody, or TFoot tag?
  • A Table tag may have the following child tags only: TR, THead, TBody, or TFoot.
  • TD and TH tags can only have a TR parent.
  • TR may have only the following child tags: TD and TH.

  Solution: Set correct table tags with the Tag panel.

• 3-4: Do all tables have their header?

  For accessibility, all tables in a PDF must have a header (TH or THead tags).

  Solution: Add table heading tags to the table. Use the Tag panel, find the appropriate <TR> elements, and change their Type to Table Header Cell (TH). See Tag panel for details.

• 3-5: Do tables have the same number of rows and columns throughout?

  To be accessible, tables must contain the same number of columns in each row, and rows in each column. If you cannot avoid having a table with merged cells, at least use alternate text to describe the table. As a part of this requirement, you should keep with the following rules:

  • Table cannot contain irregular table rows. Each Row has to contain the same amount of cells, or Span attributes should be properly set for merged cells.

    Solution: In the Tag panel, add the missing cells to the rows, and if there is a merged cell, create or set the RowSpan or the ColSpan attribute with a proper value in the properties of the cell.

  • Table header cells must have associated subcells. All Table header cells Scope should be set in association with its data cells.

    Solution: Edit the attributes of the header cell as follows.

    • In the Tag panel, select the <TH> element to edit, then select Properties in its context menu.

    • in the Object Properties dialog box, click Edit Attribute Objects to launch the Attributes dialog box.

    • Select the preferred Attribute Object Dictionary item in the list hierarchy, then click New Item to launch the Add Key and Value dialog box.

    • Type Scope in the Key box, select Name in the Value Type list, and type Row, Column, or Both in the Value box.

    • Click OK, OK, and then Close in the dialog boxes to close them.

• 3-6 Do all tables have a header row and a summary?

  For accessibility, all tables in a PDF must have a header. Table summaries are optional, but can improve accessibility.

The following items relate to lists.

• 3-7: Is the list tag LI always a child of L?

  The check reports whether each LI (List Item) is a child of L (List). When this check fails, the structure of this list is incorrect.

  Solution: Set correct list tags with the Tag panel.

• 3-8: Are the list-related tags Lbl and Lbody children of LI?

  Not only a List element (L) must contain List Item Elements (LI). These List Item Elements (LI) can only contain Label Elements (Lbl) and List Item Body Elements (Lbody). When this rule check fails, the structure of the list is incorrect.

  Solution: set correct list tags with the Tag panel.