Enhanced screen reader capabilities with new cloud-based service

Acrobat offers a cloud-based service enhancing screen reading for eligible PDFs. It uses this cloud service to better understand the document's structure tags and reading sequence when you access a PDF using assistive tools. After analyzing, it prompts you to decide whether to use the enhanced cloud functionality. The new cloud-based service gives more accurate detailed results and automatically recognizes texts in scans, including:

  • Heading levels across the document.
  • Tables, with or without borders.
  • Lists, including a list of lists.
  • Reading order in a multicolumn layout.

Reading a PDF with a screen reader using the cloud-based service

  1. Open a PDF in Acrobat and enable the screen reader.

  2. In the Prepare document for screen reader dialog, select the Change screen reader options to change the reading option, else select Continue.

    Prepare document for screen reader settings

  3. In the Reading options for assistive technology dialog box, do the following:

    • Select Read the entire document, or Read current visible pages only from the Screen Reader Options drop-down list.
    • Select Infer reading order from the document from the Reading Order drop-down list.
    • Select the check box Make document more accessible using cloud-based service.
    Reading options for assistive technology

  4. Select Confirm. Acrobat prepares the document for reading. After the processing completes, the screen reader reads the document.

    Note:

    Although the PDF is processed in the cloud, it isn't stored there.

    Preparing document for reading progress

PDFs not qualified for cloud-based screen reading

If Acrobat determines the PDF isn't suitable for the cloud-based service, it locally optimizes the PDF using the current reading method. In the Reading Order drop-down list, if you don't select the option Infer reading order from the document, the cloud accessibility option is hidden, and the PDF isn't cloud-processed.

Reading options for assistive technology when cloud service isn't used

Enable or disable screen reading with the cloud-based service

  1. In Acrobat, go to Edit > Preferences (Windows®), or Acrobat > Preferences (macOS).

  2. In the Categories on the left, choose Accessibility.

  3. To enable or disable the feature, select or deselect the option Enable cloud-based auto-tagging for accessibility. Then select OK.

    Enable cloud based auto-tagging for accessibility

 Adobe

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