About importing structured PDF documents as artwork

You can import structured PDF documents as artwork, which contains tags and structural information to provide a defined tabbing and reading order for assistive technologies such as keyboard access and screen readers.

The PDF Structure palette in Designer provides a view of the hierarchical structure of a tagged PDF and displays three types of structural tags:

<content>

Content tags apply to the content within the document. Content tags are similar to HTML tags and are displayed as <P>, <H1>, <Sect>, <Figure>, and so on. The content of the document is displayed below these tags. Content tags are provided for reference only and cannot be modified in Designer.

<form>

Form tags act as containers for field tags. All structure for library objects is contained under the form tags.

<field>

Field tags correspond to the actual objects in the document. Field tags can only exist under form tags. Each field tag can be linked to a single object. When a field tag is linked to an object, the tag displays the name of the object along with an icon indicating the object type in the document. When a field tag is unlinked from any object, the tag displays the words unlinked field.

When you import a structured PDF document as artwork, Designer maintains the structure and automatically associates any tagged Acrobat form fields that are converted to library objects with the correct form tags in the document structure. However, you may need to manually add field tags under the correct form tags for any untagged fields that remain in the form. You can also place additional library objects on top of PDF artwork and add field tags to the document structure for each object.

Using the PDF Structure palette, you can see which objects are associated with the structure tags in the form. When you click a content tag in the PDF Structure palette, the corresponding object in the form is highlighted in the Design View tab. For example, if you click a paragraph content tag <P> displayed in the PDF Structure palette, the corresponding content, usually text, is highlighted in the form.

After you import a structured PDF document as artwork, you can use the commands on the PDF Structure palette menu (and context menu) to add field tags to and remove them from the document structure, navigate the structure, move fields up and down in the structure, and show the content tags within the structure.

Note: Keep in mind that you can only edit the structure for fields in Designer. If you want to edit the structure tags and content structure in a form, you must do so in Acrobat.

Replacing PDF artwork affects document structure

Keep in mind that when you replace the background artwork in a structured PDF document, the current structure is replaced with the structure in the new background artwork. All content tags for the old artwork are replaced with the content tags for the new artwork. The form and field tags remain and are merged with the new content tags. Any content in the field objects is preserved and merged with the new content structure. You may need to move some of the form and field tags if the merged tags are not in the intended locations.

Note that any form fields that were added to the replacement PDF artwork in Acrobat are not converted to the corresponding editable library objects in Designer.

If the replacement PDF artwork is not structured, the structure of the current PDF artwork is removed and the resulting PDF form no longer has structure.

To add a field tag to the document structure

You can select a field object in a form and then add a field tag under a selected form tag in the document structure. You can add one field tag under each form tag.

You can also create a field tag by dragging a field in the form onto a structure tag in the PDF Structure palette.

In the Design View tab, select the field in the form to add to the document structure.
In the PDF Structure palette, right-click the form tag under which to add the field tag and select Add Field to Structure.

To remove a field tag from the document structure

In the PDF Structure palette, right-click the field tag to delete and select Remove Field from Structure.

To move a field tag up or down in the document structure

In the PDF Structure palette, right-click field tag to move and select Move Field Up or Move Field Down as needed.

To find untagged fields in the document structure

Right-click in the PDF Structure palette and select Find Untagged Fields.

To show the context tags in the document structure

Right-click in the PDF Structure palette and select Show Content tags.