Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

Correct reflow problems with the Content tab

Use the Content tab to correct reflow problems in a PDF that can’t be corrected by using the TouchUp Reading Order tool. Because you can damage a PDF by editing content objects, make sure that you’re familiar with PDF structure before you make any changes. For comprehensive information about PDF structure, see the PDF Reference Fifth Edition: Adobe Portable Document Format Version 1.6, on the PDF reference page (English only) of the Adobe website.

The Content tab provides a hierarchical view of the objects that make up a PDF, including the PDF object itself. Each document includes one or more pages, a set of annotations (such as comments and links), and the content objects for the page, consisting of containers, text, paths, and images. Objects are listed in the order in which they appear on the page, similar to tags in the logical structure tree. However, PDFs don’t require tags for you to view or change the object structure.

  1. Choose View > Navigation Panels > Content.
  2. Click the plus sign (+) (Windows) or the triangle (Mac OS) next to the document name to view pages and objects.
  3. Move a container or object by selecting it and doing one of the following:

    • Drag it to the location you want.

    • Choose Cut from the Options menu, select the tag above the location you want to paste the cut tag, and choose Paste from the Options menu.

      Note: Container elements can’t be pasted directly to page elements. To move a container to another page, cut the container you want to move, select a container on the page you want to move the container to, and choose Paste from the Options menu. Then, drag the container out one level to the location that you want.

Content tab options

In the Content tab, use the Options menu or right-click/Control-click an object to choose from the following options:

New Container
Adds a new container object at the end of the selected page or container.

Edit Container Dictionary
Specifies the dictionary for the container. Errors in this dialog box may damage the PDF. Available only for containers that include dictionaries.

Cut
Cuts and copies the selected object (not the related page content).

Paste
Pastes content directly below the selected object at the same hierarchical level.

Paste Child
Pastes content into the selected object as a child content item.

Delete
Removes the object (not the related page content) from the document.

Find Content From Selection
Searches for the object in the Content tab that contains the object selected in the document pane.

Find
Searches for unmarked (untagged) artifacts, content, comments, and links. Options allow you to search the page or document, and to add tags to found items.

Create Artifact
Defines selected objects as artifacts. Artifacts are not read by a screen reader or by the Read Out Loud feature. Page numbers, headers, and footers are often best tagged as artifacts.

Remove Artifact
Removes the artifact definition from the selected object.

Highlight Content
When selected, highlights appear in the document pane around content that relates to a selected object in the Content tab.

Show Metadata
Allows viewing and editing of image or object metadata.

Properties
Opens the TouchUp Properties dialog box.