Tagging Images

Owned by Daniel LaGrow, created
Last updated: Dec 13, 2024
3 min read

Instructions

Overview: Images that convey information or meaning should be tagged with the <Figure> tag and provided with alternate text. Decorative images, on the other hand, should be marked as Artifacts to ensure they are ignored by screen readers.

For images accompanied by descriptive text, such as captions, you can tag both the image and its caption together using the Reading Order Tool and the Figure/Caption option. Keep in mind that if a description is added to the Alt Text field of the figure, it will take precedence over the caption text, and the screen reader will read only the alt text, not the caption.

Section 5.16: Using the Reading Order Tool

For images without captions,

  1. Open the Reading Order Tool, and select the image by drawing a box around it with your cursor.

  2. In the Reading Order Tool, click the Figure button.

    The Reading Order Tool is open. There are two steps of instructions visible with arrows pointing at where to click.

  3. In the Accessibility Tags Pane, right-click the Figure tag and select Properties.

    The Properties Option in Adobe Acrobat is highlighted.

  4. In the Object Properties Box, go to the Tag tab and type in an Alternative Text in the Alternative textbox.

For images with captions,

  1. Open the Reading Order Tool, and select the image and caption by drawing a box around them with your cursor.

  2. Click the Figure/Caption button in the Reading Order Tool.

  3. In the Accessibility Tags Pane, right-click the Figure Tag and select Properties.

  4. In the Tag tab, enter the alt text in the Alternate Text field, if the caption does not fully describe the image. In the alt text, you can include the text of the caption itself, and also additional information to fully describe the image.

Section 5.17: Using the Accessibility Tags Pane

Acrobat can sometimes be unreliable when selecting an image and tagging it in the Tags Pane. For example, when using the Selection Tool to highlight an image, Acrobat may fail to recognize the selection, causing the "Create Tag from Selection" option to appear greyed out or unavailable. To address this issue, it is recommended to use the Reading Order Tool for tagging images.

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