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PDF accessibility errors

What PDF/UA checkers report, what the rules require and how to fix each problem in the source document.

Character encoding failed: characters without Unicode mappingWhy Acrobat's Character encoding rule and PDF/UA rule 7.21.7 fail, what a ToUnicode CMap does, and how to fix missing Unicode mappings at the source.
Content is neither tagged nor marked as artifactWhat “Tagged content – Failed” and PDF/UA rules 7.1-1 to 7.1-3 mean, why content must be tagged or marked as artifact, and how to fix it.
Custom tags are not mapped to standard tagsPDF/UA requires custom tags to be mapped to standard tags in the RoleMap, without loops (ISO 14289-1, 7.1). Causes and fixes in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Document language is missing or invalidWhy Acrobat reports “Primary language – Failed” and PDF/UA rule 7.2-34, what a valid /Lang value is, and how to set it in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Figure or formula has no alternative textWhat “Figures alternate text – Failed” and PDF/UA-1 rule 7.3-1 mean, and how to add alt text to PDF figures and formulas in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Fonts are not embedded or are faultyPDF/UA requires every font used for visible text to be embedded and consistent (ISO 14289-1, 7.21). Causes and fixes in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Heading structure is incorrectWhat “Appropriate nesting – Failed” and PDF/UA-1 rules 7.4.2-1 and 7.4.4 mean for PDF headings, and how to fix heading levels in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Links are not tagged or have no descriptionPDF/UA requires each link to be tagged as a Link element with its annotation and a description in /Contents. Causes and fixes in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
List structure is invalidWhat “List items – Failed”, “Lbl and LBody – Failed” and PDF/UA-1 rules 7.2-17 to 7.2-20 mean, and how to create correctly tagged lists in a PDF.
PDF document title missing or not displayedWhy checkers report a missing PDF document title (dc:title, DisplayDocTitle) and how to set it in Word, InDesign and Acrobat Pro.
PDF is not tagged or the structure tree is incompleteWhat “Tagged PDF – Failed” and PDF/UA rules 6.2-1, 7.1-11 and 7.1-12 mean, and how to create a tagged PDF from Word, InDesign or Acrobat Pro.
PDF/UA identifier is missing or wrongPDF/UA requires the identifier pdfuaid:part in the XMP metadata. What it means, why it is only a claim, and how to add it in Acrobat Pro as the last step.
Tab order failed: pages with annotations need /Tabs /SPDF/UA requires the tab order of pages with links or form fields to follow the structure (/Tabs /S). How to fix it in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Table structure is invalid or header cells are not assignedWhat Acrobat's table rules (Rows, TH and TD, Headers, Regularity) and PDF/UA-1 rules 7.2 and 7.5 mean, and how to tag PDF tables with correct header cells.
Tagged annotations failed: comments and other annotations without tagsWhy Acrobat and PDF/UA checks flag untagged annotations (clause 7.18.1), what it means for screen reader users and how to fix it in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.
Tagged form fields failed: form fields without tag or descriptionWhy form fields fail PDF/UA rules (7.18.4, 7.18.1) and Acrobat's Tagged form fields and Field descriptions rules, with fixes in Word, InDesign and Acrobat.