InDesign Accessibility Guide

• Check document for accessibility using these 43 free InDesign scripts from Gilbert Consulting.
• MadeToTag plug-in by axaio (they offer a 30-day free trial).

1. Add a meaningful document title within the metadata of your file. Go to File>File Info>Basic tab>Document Title. The title should be similar to or identical to the main H1 title that appears at the beginning of the document.
2. Consider adding Author and Description information in the same place to further distinguish the document for assistive tech users. 
3. When you export to PDF, be sure to open the Advanced tab, then select Document Title under Display Title; you should also set the language at this time.

1. Utilize paragraph and character styles for all text within your document.
2. To define tags for each Paragraph style, select the Type tool, then select your desired text, then open Paragraph Styles. 
3. Right click on the style, select Edit, then select Export Tagging on the bottom left. 
4. At the bottom is the PDF tag – map the selected custom style to the correct PDF tag.
5. Alternatively, you can go to Paragraph Styles, open the hamburger (panel) menu, and select Edit All Export Tags; then select the PDF button. Finally, map all your custom styles to PDF tags and click OK. Note: Bulleted and numbered lists need to be left as [Automatic] so they can be tagged correctly as lists.
   

1. Tag order is primarily defined by articles. Go to Windows > Articles to open the Articles panel.
2. Grab an object with the Selection tool and drag it to the panel (you may be prompted to create an article, which you should do if there are no articles currently in the Articles panel).
3. Continue dragging objects into the panel in the order you want to be read by screen readers. A new entry should be created under the last entry for each object you drag into the panel.
4. Don’t include any decorative objects – this means that they will be artifacted and won’t have a tag.
5. Go to the hamburger menu and make sure that Use for Tagging Order in Tagged PDF is selected.
6. Alternatively, you can select multiple objects on a page at once by holding the Shift key as you click on objects in the order you want them to appear in the Articles panel. You can also rename and rearrange the articles in the Articles panel at any time, but this process must be repeated for every page in a document, and articles must be in the correct order before final export. 

1. Reading order is primarily defined at the page (or spread) level. If using spreads, you may need to change to single pages to give yourself more control.
2. Open the Layers panel – note that this panel reads from bottom to top.
3. Drag items up or down to move them into the correct order in the Layers panel. You may need to click the small blue square next to an item to identify it, this will make the square blue and will cause a visible frame to appear around the element.
4. Note that items may need to be dragged out of nested groups to be in the correct reading order. Be careful not to accidentally nest items when setting the order. 
   

1. Use the Selection Tool and select an image.
2. Go to Object > Object Export Options > Alt Text tab.
3. The default Alt Text Source setting is From Structure. Change the source to Custom. Add meaningful alt text in the text field (assuming there is none present, or the alt text provided is not meaningful).
4. You might also be able to take metadata text from the image to use as alt text. Do this by making a selection from the Alt Text Source options (such as From XMP: Description). Verify that alt text created from metadata is meaningful and complete.

1. You sometimes need caption tags for descriptions of images, tables and other elements. Note that captions aren’t offered as an export option.
2. To create a caption, go to Object > Captions > Caption Setup. 
3. Under Metadata drop down list, select Headline. Leave Alignment set to Below Image. Under Paragraph Style select the desired style for your captions. You may also want to tinker with the offset for your captions.
4. Delete the existing text field with the caption, if one exists.
5. Select the image; go to Object > Captions > Generate Live Caption.
6. You can apply a text wrap if you need further control of the caption layout.
7. Note that there is a limitation to this approach: when captions stretch over two more lines, text will be condensed and unreadable (this is a design flaw in InDesign).
8. Another approach is to name the Paragraph style for text captions “Caption”; later in the PDF, you can select Edit Role Map under Options, find the mapping for Caption to <P>, then delete that line. The result should be a correctly mapped <Caption> tag.
   

1. Select the graphic/image and go to Object > Object Export Options.
2. Ensure that the Alt Text source is set to From Structure.
3. Click Tagged PDF button.
4. Under Apply Tag, select Artifact.
5. Click Done.
6. You can also artifact an object by not including it when creating the tag order in the Articles panel.

1. Note: Avoid the “Indent to here” command when creating bulleted lists
2. Select the text using the text selection tool
3. Select the Paragraph Formatting Controls button (it looks like a Paragraph symbol) in the top menu
4. Select the button for Bulleted List or Numbered List 
5. Hold Alt and press the Bulleted List or Numbered List button again to bring up the Bullets and Numbering Options dialog. Here you can adjust the indents for your bullet or number. 
6. It’s a good idea to create a paragraph style for your list, so that you can apply that style to future lists
7. If you run into the classic problem of having too much space between list items, right click on the paragraph style you created and select edit; in the Options box, set Space Between Paragraphs Using the Same Style to 0.

1. Open the Hyperlinks panel by going to Window > Interactive > Hyperlinks.
2. Use the Type Tool and highlight the link text. 
3. Click the plus sign button in the Hyperlinks panel to create a new hyperlink. If the hyperlink has already been created, you can click on the hamburger menu and then click Edit Hyperlink.
4. Set the Destination to the correct setting - if the link goes to an URL, set it to URL; if it goes to an email address, set it to email, etc.
5. Turn off the Shared Hyperlink Destinations option unless you have multiple links to the same destination in your document as it can create problems if you don’t turn it off.
6. Leave the style as Hyperlink.
7. Click on the Accessibility tab and add alternate (annotation) text: this should be the title of the webpage that is the destination. If you don’t do this, it will get flagged as an error when you convert to PDF.
8. Check to make sure that your hyperlink style has enough color contrast against the page background color in all instances that it occurs (it will probably need to be at least 4.5 to 1 to meet WCAG AA standard). Adjust this by going to Character Styles>Hyperlink and changing the color for all hyperlinks there.
9. In documents that are going to be read partially in printed form, it is most appropriate to leave text as URLs. If URLs are excessively long, consider using bitly, or another link shortening service, to reduce the size of the URL.

1. Tables should only be used for data. Layout tables are not converted correctly in a PDF and will have to be repaired later, so avoid them when at all possible, especially complex tables.
2. Ensure that tables have correctly designated column headers. With the Type Tool, highlight the header row or rows. Go to Table > Convert Rows > To Header. 
3. This may change the formatting of the header row (depending on whether you have preexisting table styles applied). You can alter this under Table Styles. Note, however, that headers should be visually distinct.
4. Column headers can be designated in InDesign, but InDesign will not allow you to designate row headers. InDesign will also not define scope for table cells. These properties will have to be set in Adobe Acrobat and/or CommonLook after conversion to PDF.
5. Also note that you may have to remove Tables from <P> tags in your PDF after conversion (this will be flagged as an error unless you fix it in the tag tree). You may also have to artifact table footers (and redundant header rows for tables that span pages) if they were created in your table style. 
6. Notably, InDesign (in contrast to Microsoft Word) handles merged cells well.
   

1. Check the paragraph style for the target item before you begin.
2. Select the cross-reference text and delete it. 
3. Go to Type and Tables>Cross References.
4. Click the plus sign (Create New Cross References) button.
5. Under Paragraph Styles, select the paragraph style for the target item.
6. Under Paragraph Text, scroll through the options until you find the one you want your cross reference to link to.
7. Click on that item in Paragraph Text.
8. Under Cross-Reference Format, click the edit (pen) button.
9. Name your new Cross-Reference Format.
10. Double click on the Cross-Reference Format to edit it. Add words or delete spaces in the Definition field as needed.

1. Create a new text frame/story for your TOC.
2. Go to Layout>Table of Contents.
3. Create a Title (“Table of Contents,” or “Contents”).
4. Select a Style (you will need to have created this already).
5. Under Other Styles, choose the heading styles that you want to be entries in your TOC. Click Add to add each one.
6. They choose an Entry Style for each subheading (again, you’ll need to have created this already).
7. Decide where you want the page number to appear and select this option.
8. Select the option that want for Between Entry and Number (the recommended option is Tab Character).
9. You’ll need to select a style for each of your subheadings.
10. Make sure Create PDF Bookmarks is selected under Options.
11. Click Save Style and give your style a name. Click OK.
12. Click OK again in the Table of Contents dialog box.
13. Your cursor will load with the TOC. Click in your text frame to place it there.

1. Go to Window>Type and Tables>Index. This opens the Index Panel.
2. Select text and use the plus button to create a new entry.
3. When your index entries are complete, create a new page at the end for your index.
4. Go to the hamburger menu in the Index Panel and select Generate Index. You can apply a style in the dialog box. 
5. Click OK to load your cursor. Then click the page to place your Index.
6. Note that the Index should export as list items.

1. Go to Window > Interactive > Bookmarks.
2. If you selected the option for Create Bookmarks in your TOC Options, you will already have bookmarks here. If not, you’ll need to create them.
3. To create a new bookmark, in the Bookmarks pane, use the Create New Bookmark button (or plus sign). A new bookmark will be created based on the page that is currently selected. Create a bookmark for each major section of your document.

1. Go to Type > Document Footnote Options.
2. Under Numbering and Formatting, apply a Character Style if desired.
3. For Footnote Formatting, apply a Paragraph Style (you’ll need to create this if you want it to differ from other paragraph styles).
4. Choose your separator (this can be a Tab).
5. Insert your cursor where you want the footnote; go to Type > Insert Footnote, then type the text you want in your footnote.
6. The process for creating Endnotes is very similar, but we need to choose Document Endnote Options under Type, and then choose the desired styling options. You’ll use Scope to decide where the Endnotes go (you probably want them at the end of your document).
7. Note that there is currently a bug with Endnote creation in InDesign. You may need to drag the text object into the Link tag after converting to PDF.

Check boxes

1. Create two or more circular shapes using the Elliptical Tool.
   
2. Select all the shapes at the same time using Shift + click.
3. Go to Window > Interactive > Buttons and Forms.
   
4. In Buttons and Forms pane, select Radio button from the Type dropdown.
   
5. Give all radio buttons that are part of the same group the same Name under the Name dropdown; for example, "Button Group 1." This name will only be visible to the document creator, it will not be read by a screen reader. However, using the same name for all grouped radio buttons ensures that the radio buttons will be treated as mutually exclusive and will be correctly interpreted by assistive technology.
   
6. In the Event dropdown, select On Release or Tap.
   
7. Expand PDF options within Buttons and Forms panel. Under Description, type in a description that includes the question or label relating to the group of radio buttons (i.e. if the text label reads "What is your preferred language?" that should be the Description). The Description should be the same for all radio buttons in a group of buttons.
   
8. Select the first radio button in the set. Under Button Value, enter the individual radio button label.
   
9. Select the next radio button in the set and enter a Button Value.
   
10. Continue this process until all the radio buttons in the set have distinct and accurate Button Values
    

1. Select all the cells in your table. 
2. Choose Window >Type and Tables > Table. Set Row Height to Exactly (second box down on the left). Then set all your insets to 0 (last four boxes down on the left).
3. Click inside a cell with the black arrow tool and press escape to highlight the whole cell. 
4. Choose Table>Convert Cell to Graphic Cell to make the cell a frame.
5. Under Buttons and Forms change the cell Type to Text Field.
6. Select the text field and cut it (CTRL + X). Then paste the text field back into the frame (CTRL + V). This will ensure that the form fields are correctly nested inside your table structure when you convert to PDF.

1. Go to Object > Interactive > Set Tab Order.
   
2. In the Tab Order box, use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to adjust order (if needed). Note that the order can be read from top-to-bottom (as opposed to bottom-to-top when setting Reading Order).
   
3. Click Ok when the desired Tab Order is reached.