Use this tool to open the panel:

If you do not see it do any of the following:

• Type Reading Order into the Find a tool box on the toolbar and select Reading Order.
• Right click in an empty space in the Panel bar and select Reading Order.

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

Click the Reading Order dialog tool to display the Touch Up Reading Order window. See Touch Up Reading Order window for details.

Click the down arrow right to the tool to display the Reading Order options drop down list, which offers the following choices:

• Remove whole document structure: Delete all tags on all pages in the document.
• Retag page: Use the automatic Tag PDF functionality (from the Tags panel) to retag the page.
• Table Editor Options: Set preferences for Table Editor Mode.

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.

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

Enables an area selection tool.

Touch Up Reading Order is a floating window, which works together with the Reading Order panel and with the tags of the active document. If you select a tag or group in the Reading Order panel, its tagging structure is displayed and editable in the document window. You can switch between two modes by selecting the preferred one at the bottom of the dialog box.

• By default, the Reading Order Mode option is selected at the bottom of the dialog box. In this mode, you may tag the elements on the page according to their function.
  Important You need to select a tag or a group of tags (such as a Page or Paragraph) in the list of the Reading Order panel first to display its tag structure in the document window. You can tag only those elements that are part of the current selection in the list.

  Draw a rectangle around a page area and select a type / description of the content of the area. Only fully enclosed items are selected.

  Hold down the Ctrl key while dragging a rectangle with the mouse to extract an area from your selection; use Shift to add an area to it.

  Hold Space during selection to select objects you either entirely or partially included in the rectangle. You can use Space together with the Shift or Ctrl modifier keys.

  Click any of the command buttons to re-tag the elements selected on the page.

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

  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.

• If the Table Editor Mode option is selected at the bottom of the dialog box, then the above functions are not available.

  Important You need to select a tag or a group of tags (such as a <Page> or <Table>) in the list of the Reading Order panel first to display its tag structure in the document window. You can tag only the elements of those tables that are part of the current selection in the list.
  In this mode, you may select table elements (such as cells, rows or columns) in the document window the same way as detailed above, and you may use the following commands of the context menu to edit the tagging of the table, or tag table areas:

  • Merge Cells: Merges the tagging of the selected cells into a single cell tag that covers the selected cells.

  • Merge Rows: Merges selected cell tags vertically. Only cell tags occupying the same column or columns will be merged.

  • Merge Columns: Merges selected cell tags horizontally. Only cell tags occupying the same row or rows will be merged.

  • Split Cell vertically: Cuts a cell tag in two pieces. The two pieces are positioned beside each other, covering the text together.

  • Split Cell horizontally: Cuts a cell tag in two pieces. The two pieces are positioned under each other, covering the text together.

  • Add Cell before: Places a new cell tag that covers the cell on the left of the selected cell.

  • Add Cell after: Places a new cell tag that covers the cell on the right of the selected cell.

  • Set as Header Cell: Turns the type of the selected cell tags to table header (TH). These tags are indicated with red.

  • Set as Data Cell: Turns the type of the selected cell tags to table data (TD). These tags are indicated with blue.

Click Close to finish touching up the Reading Order.