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InDesign Accessibility
Use these techniques to make accessible PDF documents with InDesign:
Quick Tips
- Styles & Tags - Use Paragraph Styles and associate them with PDF tags
- Use Window, Styles, Paragraph Styles to identify structural elements, e.g., paragraphs, headings, lists, etc.
- Go to the Styles Options menu, select Edit All Export Tags, check the PDF radio button, and select the corresponding tag for each of your styles.
- Use Heading 1 for the overall heading/title of the document, Heading 2 for main section headings, Heading 3 for sub-section headings, etc.
- Set up a style for every bulleted or numbered list level.
- Order - Use the Articles Panel to set the reading order.
- Select "Use for Tagging Order in Tagged PDF" under the Articles Panel Menu.
- To place content in order, hold the shift key down, with the selection tool click the items in the desired order, while holding left mouse button down, drag and drop your selection into the Articles Panel.
- Alternatively, hold the shift key down, with the selection tool, click the items in the desired order. In the Articles Panel, click the Add Selection to Articles button
- Images - Add Alt Text to meaningful images; 'Artifact' images that are decorative.
- To add Alt Text, right click on an image, left click Object Export Options, select Alt Text, change Alt Text Source to Custom, type in alt text that communicates what the image communicates, click Done.
- To Artifact a decorative image, right click on the image, left click Object Export Options, select Tagged PDF, change Apply Tag to Artifact, click Done.
- Tables - Use the table tool to create tables.
- Mark up table headers using the table creator tool
- Keep tables simple; avoid merging and splitting cells.
- Colors - See our Color Contrast Guide.
- Check that all text/background color combinations Pass (AA).
More Information
For more detailed instructions see: