Setting Reading Order in a PDF Document

17th June, 2009 - Posted by MsD

Reading order is a key component of accessible documents.

The path taken through a document is its reading order. Use the TouchUp Reading Order tool (Acrobat 9 Pro and Pro Extended) to define and order your page elements.

Tip: Set reading order after tweaking the tags. Otherwise, extra spaces and tabs are included in the reading order.

Select the TouchUp Reading Order tool on the Advanced Editing toolbar and click the page to display the content in numbered blocks that identify the reading sequence. The TouchUp Reading Order dialog box opens when you click the page.

Define and adjust the path through the document.

Here are a few pointers for working with Reading Order:

• To adjust the reading order in the Order panel, select the numbered item and drag it in the Order panel’s list. Release the mouse to drop the item in its new order when the indicator bar is in the correct location.
• Reading order integrates with other document items, such as bookmarks and tags. If you need bookmarks and there aren’t any in the file, tag selections as headings and convert the tags to bookmarks.
• Decide in advance how to handle images. You can use a single item with the image and its caption combined, or assign a position in the sequence separately.
• If there is too much correction to do, it may be quicker to start over. Click Clear Structure and then rebuild the page’s structure.

Tags and reading order are generic in that you’ll use them regardless of the type of content involved.