Tagging Simple Tables in Adobe Acrobat

Ensuring Access

To ensure that your tables will be accessible to individuals with disabilities, please refer to the following guidelines:

• Use only one header per row or column.
• Tables should be used to organize data, not create layouts on your page.
• Blank and merged cells should be avoided.
• Split tables as needed. Nesting tables together is confusing for all users.

Tables Exported from Office Products

Tables exported from Office products should create an accurate tag tree if the table was created using instructions from the Document Accessibility: Word training course. Refer to that course for instructions for formatting an accessible table using Word.

Reference Documents

The following reference documents are meant to be used in conjunction with this lesson and provide correct examples of a tagged table.

Tagging Tables Column Headers.docx Download Tagging Tables Column Headers.docx

Tagging Tables Column Headers.pdf Download Tagging Tables Column Headers.pdf

Tagging Tables Row Headers.docx Download Tagging Tables Row Headers.docx

Tagging Tables Row Headers.pdf Download Tagging Tables Row Headers.pdf

Analyzing Table Tags in Adobe Acrobat

Table tags have a few structural requirements that must be followed to ensure they render correctly for assistive technology.

1. A parent <Table> tag is required.
2. Within the parent tag, there should be table row <TR> tags that equal the number of rows in your table.
3. Within the <TR> tags, there should be child table header <TH> or table data <TD> tags depending on the type of data.
4. Within each table header <TH> and table data <TD> tag, the corresponding text within the table should be nested with a paragraph <P> tag.
5. Table tags are read in descending order in the tag tree, but should map as left to right in the document.

Column Header Example

Below is an example of a table with column headers including their tag structure. The tags in these examples are only partially expanded to save space on the page, but each <TH> and <TD> tag contains a child paragraph <P> tag with the accompanying text in the table cell.

Analyzing the tags in the image and comparing them to the table on the right, the following is true:

• There is a parent <Table> tag.
• There are three child table row <TR> tags.
• In the first table row <TR> tag, there are four table header <TH> tags.
• In the second and third table row <TR> tags there are four table data <TD> tags each.

Row Headers Example

The following image depicts a table with row headers including their tag structure. The tags in these examples are only partially expanded to save space on the page, but each <TH> and <TD> tag contains a child paragraph <P> tag with the accompanying text in the table cell.

Analyzing the tags in the image and comparing them to the table on the right, the following is true:

• There is a parent <Table> tag.
• There are three child table row <TR> tags.
• Within the table row <TR> tags there is one table header <TH> and three table data <TD> tags.

Evaluating a Table with a Caption

A table with a caption will have the same table elements described above, but will also have a <Caption> tag as the first child element under the <Table> tag. Adobe Acrobat may not tag this correctly and you will need to create the <Caption> tag and move the text content inside of it.

Testing Tag Order

To test the logical sequence of your table, you select the table tag and then use the down arrow on your keyboard to move through each table element (TR/TH/TD) to ensure that the order is correct. If the order is not correct, you can move the tags into the proper order using the cut & paste or drag and drop functionality of Adobe Acrobat.

Table Tagging Lesson Continued

The next lesson will discuss checking the scope and span of table header and data cells using the Reading Order tool, and altering table tags to correctly reflect the table layout.