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Adobe offers several tools for the creation of accessible
PDF forms:
- Acrobat Pro, Acrobat Pro Extended, Acrobat Standard
- Use one of these applications to open untagged or tagged
PDF forms (except PDF forms that are created from LiveCycle Designer)
to add fillable form fields, such as text boxes, check boxes, and
buttons. Then use the application’s other tools to make the form
accessible. Add descriptions to form fields, tag untagged forms,
set the set tab order, manipulate tags, and perform the other PDF
accessibility tasks.
- LiveCycle Designer
- (Available
in Acrobat Pro and Acrobat Pro Extended) Use this product to design
and build new forms or to import untagged PDF forms and make their
form fields fillable and accessible. You can deploy forms in tagged PDF,
XML, and other formats from LiveCycle Designer. Once you create
or edit an Acrobat form in LiveCycle Designer, it becomes a LiveCycle
Designer file. It is no longer a PDF that you can edit or manipulate
in Acrobat. Both Acrobat and Reader can open and read PDF forms
that you create from LiveCycle Designer. These PDF forms, however,
don’t include permissions to modify the file. Therefore, use LiveCycle
Designer only for PDFs that are intended to contain only form-based
information. Don’t use it to add form fields to a document that combines
pages of narrative with an occasional page that has form fields.
In this case, use Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended to add the
form fields. Then complete the accessibility tasks for the rest
of the document content.
- Authoring applications
- Most authoring applications that you can use to design forms
don’t retain their fillable form fields when you convert the files
to PDF. Use the forms tools in Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended
to add fillable form fields. Moreover, if you tag the form during
conversion to PDF, the authoring application can generate inappropriate
tags for the text labels of the form fields. In a complex form,
for example, the text labels for all the fields can run together into
a single line. Screen readers can’t interpret these fields as individual
labels. Such reading order problems can require time-consuming work
in Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended to split the labels apart.
In this case, producing an untagged PDF form from the authoring
application is sometimes the better course. You can then use the
Forms tools in Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended to add fillable
form fields before you tag the entire document. Some forms are straightforward
enough that you can produce a tagged PDF from the authoring application.
Then perform light touchup in Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended after
you add the fillable form fields.
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