[Athen] [EXTERNAL] - InDesign and Reading Order (not tag order)

[Steve Green via athen-list]

In 2021, I wrote a short training course on using InDesign to create PDFs. At that time, I wrote the following:


  *   The reading order in the Content panel is set by the order in which objects are created.
  *   It cannot be changed except by deleting an object and adding it back in, in which case it becomes the last item in the reading order. This can easily be done using the following steps on each object in turn:
     *   Select the object.
     *   Press Ctrl+X to delete it.
     *   Press Ctrl+V to paste it back in.
     *   Reposition it if necessary.
     *   However, this may break the order in the Articles panel.

It is possible that something has changed since then, but I doubt it. It if has, do let me know.

Since you would be deleting and re-adding complete text frames, this should be much faster than moving individual lines in Acrobat. Obviously, creating content in the correct order would be best, but this can be really difficult.

Alternatively, you can use Acrobat's Reading Order Tool to group all the lines in each paragraph. You would still need to put the paragraphs in the right order in the Content panel, but again it's faster and less error-prone than moving individual lines.

Steve Green
Managing Director
Test Partners Ltd

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Hayman, Douglass via athen-list
Sent: 03 April 2025 16:56
To: Eckelberry, Robin <Robin.Eckelberry at nelnet.net>; Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] [EXTERNAL] - InDesign and Reading Order (not tag order)

Robin,

If you don't get a helpful answer to this here on ATHEN, you may want to try the webaim list or the PDF Accessibility group on Facebook as both have seasoned InDesign/PDF accessibility people discussing such things.

Doug Hayman
IT Accessibility Coordinator
Information Technology
Olympic College
dhayman at olympic.edu<mailto:dhayman at olympic.edu>
(360) 475-7632



From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Eckelberry, Robin via athen-list
Sent: Thursday, April 3, 2025 8:51 AM
To: ATHEN <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] - [Athen] InDesign and Reading Order (not tag order)

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Hello ATHEN!

I've looked through the archives, and I'm wondering if folks have experience with InDesign and the Reading Order Panel/Content Panel specifically in Acrobat?

Arranging the content in InDesign using the Articles panel creates the PDF with the correct tag order, but the reading order and content order (essential for reading technologies like text-to-speech, Read Aloud in Edge, for example), are completely out of order in Acrobat.

Does anyone know of a way to address this issue at the InDesign level?

With how InDesign exports every line as a separate content box (as opposed to grouping all lines of a paragraph together in one content box, for example), that creates a ton of containers in the Content panel in Acrobat, so having to adjust the order in the Content panel in Acrobat will be no easy feat.

Thanks!
Robin


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Robin Eckelberry

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