How to Make PDF Revisions Accessible to Screen Readers
Question details
The user needs to know how to ensure screen readers announce document revisions like inserted, deleted, highlighted, or struck-through text in a PDF file.
- Product
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Preparing a PDF document containing text revisions (such as insertions and deletions) for visually impaired users who rely on assistive screen reading technologies.
- Observed behavior
- Screen reading software fails to natively detect or announce visual formatting changes like strikethroughs and highlights, leaving users unaware of the document revisions.
Ensure you have access to a PDF editor with advanced accessibility features and a tag tree panel, as you will need to manually modify the document's underlying span tags.
Add Alternate Text to Individual Span Tags
Manually adding alternate text to the tags surrounding the formatted text ensures the screen reader explicitly announces where a revision begins and ends.
Assistive technologies currently do not translate visual highlighting or strikethrough formatting. To convey this meaning, you must add specific alternate text to designate the start and end of the formatting so the user understands the context.
Open the Tags panel in your PDF accessibility software and navigate the tag tree to find the <Span> tag corresponding to the revised text.
Right-click the specific tag and select 'Copy Contents' to capture the exact text run.
Paste the content into the Alternate Text or Actual Text field in the Object Properties. Add explanatory context around the text, such as 'Start proposed deletion: [text] End proposed deletion'.
Batch Apply Alternate Text to Grouped Tags
If your document contains multiple instances of the same revision type, grouping them can significantly speed up the tagging process.
Prepare Clean Source Documents with WPS Office
While advanced PDF/UA semantic tagging requires specialized accessibility software, creating a clean source document makes the export process much easier. WPS Office provides a free, lightweight alternative to Microsoft Office, featuring robust Track Changes tools to manage document revisions accurately before you export them to PDF.
- 1. Install WPS Office: Download and install the free WPS Office suite from the official website.
- 2. Open Your Source Document: Launch WPS Writer and open your existing Word document to review or accept tracked changes.
- 3. Export to PDF: Once your revisions are finalized, use the built-in 'Export to PDF' tool to create your final document.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't my screen reader announce highlighted or struck-through text in PDFs?
Screen readers rely on semantic underlying tags rather than visual cues on the page. Standard PDF <Span> tags do not currently convey visual formatting changes like strikethroughs or highlights to assistive technologies.
What is the difference between Alternate Text and Actual Text in a PDF?
Alternate text provides a description of an element (often used for images or to add explanatory context), while Actual Text replaces the content of the tag entirely for the screen reader. Either can be used to add revision context like 'Start deletion'.
Will I always have to add revision tags manually?
Not necessarily in the future. Semantic revision markup is currently being developed through PDF/UA standards. Future updates to major PDF software and assistive technologies aim to automate this process so manual tagging won't be required.
