Hi all,
I've created a Word document which includes nested headings; a H1, two H2's and some H3's and H4's. These are all tagged correctly in the Word doc using styles.
I go to either Export or Save As, and select the option to export or save as a PDF.
I select the Options menu and ensure that, as per online instructions, the "Create bookmarks using headings" and "Document structure tags for accessibility" check boxes are checked.
However, when I open the PDF, the H1 is now a H2, the H2's are fine, and the H3 and H4 tags have been removed. The one image I have has also moved in the reading order.
Am I doing something wrong or what is happening? My only other thought is that maybe the reader is the issue, as I'm opening the PDFs in a browser rather than in Adobe, but that seems crazy if so.
Cheers,
Dave
By Dave Nason, 16 June, 2025
Forum
Windows
Comments
headings are always messed up
i've never seen a converted PDF that gets the heading levels right, no matter how I do it. I will say that the only way to get a PDF that does even half the structuring right, including author and titled for the title bar, is to convert online using the Adobe tool. At the risk of sounding like a rant, all of Adobe's claims to be accessible or support accessibility are quite frankly false. Pointedly, the process in Adobe acrobat of creating an accessible PDF is itself not accessible. but they put out statements about accessibility, universities and corporations and government agencies are happy to take their word for it without testing and call it their due diligence, and nobody listens to professionals in the accessibility community.In the era of reading almost all documents online, nobody should even be using PDF because it's purpose is to retain print formats across platforms. But old habits die hard, an Epub hasn't caught on outside of e-book reader publishing. Still, the entire accessibility community is pretty vocal about Adobe being awful. OK, that was definitely a rant.
I second that rant!
Nothing else to say.
RE: Problems Converting Word Documents
Hi, Dave. Not sure if this will help or not, but you might try converting your document by going through the print process in Word. I don't think I have tried doing a document with the default Microsoft PDF printer ad-in, but when using the Adobe plug-in, or currently the Kofax Power PDF program our office uses, the headings seem to convert just fine. Granted, I do not try to read PDFs with and check heading structures in a web browser, but hopefully that will help you.