App communities Why is my converted PDF document not showing the Alt Text from my word document? I made sure to save it Before converting my Word document to a PDF I made sure everything Microsoft word flagged in the accessibility check was fixed. That included adding Alt Text to my images. Then I used "saved as" to save my document as a PDF and checked the box to include document structure tags for accessibility. When my document was converted to PDF and I ran the accessibility check, none of my images have the Alt Text that was added to the images in Word. Now Adobe want's me to re-add Alt Text for each image which creates duplicative work. How do I make the Alt Text from my word document come over when I convert it to a PDF? Comment review and collaborate PDF I have the same issue. Did anyone resolve this? Images kept alt text, charts and graphs do not. I used the create .pdf from the acrobat ribbon. If you are using SharePoint, make sure your document is CHECKED OUT before conversion, it makes all the difference for me. Many small maddening things get picked up in that mode. It looks like it has been years, and I am curious if any solution has been found? I am running into this issue where I have documents with a lot of images that I don’t want to have to re-add the alt text in Acrobat. I also found that when opening my Word document on a different computer, the alt text was gone and replaced with variations of “P24#y3”. I am wondering if this is a Microsoft issue or an Acrobat issue. Hi ​ @Treefrog , Thank you for following up on this. We understand how frustrating it is to lose alt text, especially when working with documents that contain many images. Based on what you’ve described, this behavior is typically related to how Microsoft Word handles alt text rather than Acrobat itself. Acrobat generally preserves the alt text from the source document when creating a PDF. However, if the alt text is missing or replaced in Word before conversion, Acrobat cannot recover the original descriptions. The text you are seeing, such as “P24#y3”, appears to be auto-generated or placeholder text from Word, which can happen in certain cases, for example: When files are opened on different systems or versions of Word When files are opened on different systems or versions of Word When documents are saved in compatibility mode or different formats When documents are saved in compatibility mode or different formats When images are inserted or copied in ways that do not retain original metadata When images are inserted or copied in ways that do not retain original metadata To help avoid this, we recommend: Confirm that alt text is correctly set in Word by right-clicking each image and checking Edit Alt Text. Confirm that alt text is correctly set in Word by right-clicking each image and checking Edit Alt Text. Save the document in the latest .docx format before sharing across systems. Save the document in the latest .docx format before sharing across systems. Use Acrobat PDFMaker or “Save as Adobe PDF” from Word to preserve accessibility tags during conversion. Use Acrobat PDFMaker or “Save as Adobe PDF” from Word to preserve accessibility tags during conversion. If the alt text is intact in Word but not appearing correctly in the PDF, please let us know the Acrobat version and how the PDF was created, and we can investigate further. We understand this can be time-consuming, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention. ~Tariq Here is a solution, though not perfect: In Microsoft Word, choose "save as"(not Save as PDF), select the file type as pdf, and save the file. Only in this way, the screentip (or tooltip, alternateve text... whatever you call it) can be shown in Acrobat. But, such screentip won't show in Web browsers such as Chrome, Edge, etc. And many PDF readers other than Acrobat won't show them either, such as WPS PDF, Foxit, etc. I know WPS PDF is fixing this soon because the staff replied me. It's a shame that Adobe haven't fix it for so many years. Agreed. It is a shame that this is still happening. I am using Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2408 Build 16.0.17928.20114) 64-bit, and Adobe Acrobat Pro Continuous Release Version 2024.004.202403. It is 2024 and this problem is still happening. I ensure that all images and tables have alt text, header rows marked, etc...I then convert the document. It usually fails to convert the Alt Text. Then sometimes it does. So, I end up converting my hundreds of pages long user manuals (lots of pictures and tables) several times before I can get a version that works. This is a time waster and makes Adobe look bad. Word has the data, keeps the data, and successfully exports this to other applications. Only Adobe seems to drop the ball 80% of the time for picking up the data that is being transmitted. This has been here for years. If I can influence any purchaser to go with one of your competitors, believe me I am having that conversation (e.g., Foxit PDFiller, pdfFiller by airSlate, fynk, Wondershare, etc..). Acrobat has become a time sink instead of a time saver. Because the Acrobat PDF Maker (AKA, the Acrobat Ribbon) still has this bug (where it drops the graphic's Alt Text when the graphic has a border on it), you can use Microsoft's built-in PDF export utility (File / Safe / PDF) instead. Complete instructions and settings are in this blog -- See Method C: https://pubcom.com/blog/tutorials/ms-office/export-pdf/index.shtml Adobe appears to have dropped the ball on many missing features and errors in the PDF Maker export utility for MS Office apps. At this time (December 2024), Microsoft's built-in PDF export utility generally makes a better tagged PDF from Word than Adobe's PDF Maker. Very sad to see such a decline in quality and accuracy from Adobe! I have been creating 508 compliant PDFs from Templated Word documents since 2001. I have recently run accross this issue also. The MS Word document tests as fully compliant, I create the PDF from the PDF tab in MS Word, I use Adobe Acrobat Pro DX. I have only seen either fully working or fully failing alt tags in the results in the last 4 months. Select comments, not sure why but the alt text comes across when you select that. This isn't working for me and it is MADDENING. It is the first 27 images in the document that has 100 images. Any other ideas? I'm just ready to scream. Replying to @showalters because their post has the most detail (2021). What's described in the post is a hodgepodge of information that refers to utilities that either don't exist or are in another program. It also contains misconceptions about how these tools work. First, here's a quick step-by-step of how to make an accessible PDF from MS Word . Make an accessible Word document. Format it correctly for accessibility (in other words, use Paragraph Styles to trigger the correct tags in the PDF). Add Alt-text to all graphics in the Word document. Right-click on each graphic, select Alt-text, and write a short description of the graphic.

Format it correctly for accessibility (in other words, use Paragraph Styles to trigger the correct tags in the PDF). Add Alt-text to all graphics in the Word document. Right-click on each graphic, select Alt-text, and write a short description of the graphic. Export the Word document to Tagged PDF . Use either of these 3 methods. Use Acrobat's PDF Maker plug-in , which is accessed through the Acrobat Ribbon in Word . Set the Preferences, then Create the PDF. Use File / Save As Adobe PDF (note the wording) for a condensed version of the above utility. Use Microsoft's built-in utililty : File / Save As, and choose PDF from the File Type menu. Either of these 3 methods will carry over the Alt-text from Word into the exported PDF. Rarely fails. In fact, it's been a few years since this feature has failed. So there's something about how you're making the source Word document, not the conversion itself. And make sure you've updated your software to the latest version of Word (2019 or 365 as of 2021) and Acrobat (DC Pro 2020, and includes the PDF Maker plug-in for MS Office). Use Acrobat's PDF Maker plug-in , which is accessed through the Acrobat Ribbon in Word . Set the Preferences, then Create the PDF. Use File / Save As Adobe PDF (note the wording) for a condensed version of the above utility. Use Microsoft's built-in utililty : File / Save As, and choose PDF from the File Type menu. Either of these 3 methods will carry over the Alt-text from Word into the exported PDF. Rarely fails. In fact, it's been a few years since this feature has failed. So there's something about how you're making the source Word document, not the conversion itself. And make sure you've updated your software to the latest version of Word (2019 or 365 as of 2021) and Acrobat (DC Pro 2020, and includes the PDF Maker plug-in for MS Office). Open the PDF in Acrobat DC Pro and review it for accessibility compliance. Comments about the post: Quote: << then using the Acrobat Make Accessible option in the Microsoft Word ribbon. >> There's no such utility in MS Word. There's no such Microsoft Word ribbon. However, there IS a Make Accessible action wizard panel in Acrobat , looks like this: It does not do what you think it should do: It Does Not Make an Accessible PDF for you. It only prompts you to do these tasks in Acrobat, but doesn't actually do them. It is not magic wand software. But really, all of these tasks should have been done long before the PDF was opened in Acrobat. I don't know of anyone in the industry who uses it, which is why it took 3 of us accessibililty experts to figure out what you were describing. Quote: << Is there a way in Word, an option that needs to be checked, an accesibility format to save as to force all of the alt tags that are already created in Word to show in the converted PDF document? >> I'm concerned that you're getting only some of the Alt-text and not all of the Alt-text. Please double-check you're using the steps above to create the Word source document and export it to PDF with the appropriate settings for Adobe Tagged PDF. Try each of the 3 export methods described above. Let us know if any of them works, or doesn't. And in Word , check the Alt-text for each graphic and ensure that the " Decorative " checkbox option isn't checked. That means to artifact the graphic and whatever Alt-text you might have written in the field box can be left out of the PDF. Let us know if any of this corrects your situation. Thank you for responding. I am using Office 365 Word Version 1808 and Acrobat DC Pro Version 2021.001.20.135. I know how to add alt-text in a Word document, however I can start with a blank document, and it is hit or miss on whether or not the alt-text will convert over in Adobe. Ninenty-nine percent of the time I am being sent documents by our various departments (38 of them) so that I can make them accessible to add to our website, which means I did not have any hand in creating the documents and am having to work with what I'm given. I used to check that the alt text was there and also that it was not (or was, if appropriate) marked decorative, but since I can't realibly trust that it will be converted, I don't bother anymore and just add alt-text in Adobe now. You said "There's no such utility in MS Word. There's no such Microsoft Word ribbon." Well, please see the attached picture that clearly shows the Acrobat ribbon, the Create PDF and Run Action and the Make Accesible Option in my Word program. I didn't make it up. It's there and I use all the time, so you may want to add a 4th method to your instructions. When I use it, it does add the tagging structure to "make it accessible." How do I know this, because I have used the other three methods, and then when I open the document in Acrobat and run the accessibility checker, the PDF tagged usually fails, along with many other items, until if run the fix tags options. When I use the "Make Accessible" option in Word (again, it really does exist and I really do use it!) it tags it, then automatically opens the document in Acrobat and gives me the Make Accessible action wizard panel, where I go through the the steps and mitigate any accessibility issues. It is also crucial that I use this method, because if I don't and have to run the Fix for tagged failed in Acrobat, I can run into lots of problems that are far worse than missing alt-tags (i.e gibersih and extraneous text added, missing text, missing graphics, etc.) Believe me, I know that there is no "magic wand" involved where Adobe goes in and makes the document accessible, I've been having to mitigate 508 issues for several years now and know very well the limitations of the program. My issues are real, and I have yet for anyone to give me a solution. And since someone else responded saying they are having the same issues, I don't think I'm alone. Most of my departments don't have access to Acrobat Pro, so when the alt tags they have already added in Word don't convert, I then have to go in and add them, which sometimes can be hundreds. This is the reason I would like a solution, so that I can train the people sending me the documents how to do it right the first time, so I don't have to do it right in Acrobat. I have worked with many people who have tried sending me documents with the alt text, but there is no guarantee that they will convert over, and in some instances (which I haven't even mentioned here) they convert over with completely different alt-text than what the user put in. While I appreciate your response, I suggest you don't condescend to users with your answer. You assumed I didn't know what I was talking about. You assumed I "made up" a function in Word, and you assumed that I didn't know how to mitigate accessibility issues. You were wrong on all three counts. If you think you can help me with my issue I would welcome the help. I have the same issue. @Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com Please give a coherent and expert answer to this bug. PS: I'm a OAST DHS 508 trained to Accessible documents, so I also know how to add an ALT to an image in Word. I reviewed the Alternate text disappears in Acrobat DC , but that does not help , as it refers to adding alt text manually with Adobe Acrobat and my issue is with adding text in Word and it not coming over when converting to a PDF. Your link for the Alternate text not always displaying is no longer working. ScI am having the same issue as the OP, where I am using the latest version of Word, adding in the alt text for the images, then using the Acrobat Make Accessible option in the Microsoft Word ribbon. When the document gets converted to an Adobe PDF then goes through the Make Accessible options, when it gets to the detecting "figures with missing alternate text" it is finding many items that I had already added the alt text in Word are now missing that alt text. Sometimes it converts some of the alt text, and not others for images/objects in the same document! This is making for double work, and is particularly concerning when some of the documents we create in Word are hundreds of pages long with hundreds of images and charts. Here is a screenshot showing that the alt text is added in Word, but not found by Acrobat Pro. What is further concerning is that the Accessbility Checker report shows that only 6 figures need alternate text, however if you go to the accessibility tool and use the Set Alternate Text method, it shows that 8 of the 18 figures do not have alternate text. I'm not sure why the report is showing a different number of figures to fix than the accessibility tool. Is there a way in Word, an option that needs to be checked, an accesibility format to save as to force all of the alt tags that are already created in Word to show in the converted PDF document? showalters... were you able to figure this out? I have run into the same issue as you are saying and the poster above. No, never figured it out and never got a response from Adobe. We apologize for the inconvenience caused, please refer to the following KB articles which discuss the similar issue and scenario Alternate text disappears in Acrobat DC Alternate text not always displaying You may also refer to Repair tag structure accessibility | Adobe Acrobat DC PDF Let us know how it goes and share your findings. Remix with Firefly Community Gallery Thousands of free creations to fall in love with and remix in Firefly. Already have an account? Login To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID. Sign in to Adobe Community No account yet? Create an account To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID. Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.