Figures alternate text – Failed

Acrobat’s “Figures alternate text – Failed” means images have no alt text. How to add it in Acrobat Pro, mark decorative images and write useful alt text.

Last updated October 9, 2026

This message comes from Adobe Acrobat's Accessibility Checker.

Figures alternate text – Failed means the Accessibility Checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro found at least one Figure tag, the structure tag for an image, with no alternate text. Alternate text, or alt text, is the short description a screen reader reads in place of an image. The rule is in Acrobat's Alternate Text category, and it passes when every figure either has alt text or is marked as decoration (an artifact), so screen readers skip it.

What this means

Adobe's help says images should either have alternate text or be marked as artifacts. Acrobat's rule checks only one thing: whether alt text exists on tags named Figure. It doesn't check:

Whether the alt text is any good. A description of "image1.png" passes.
Images that aren't tagged at all. Those fail Acrobat's Tagged content rule instead.
Text inside images, such as the words on a scanned flyer.

So passing this rule is the start of the job, not the end. Good alt text says what the image means in its context, briefly:

Image	Weak alt text	Better alt text
Photo in a parks report	Photo	New playground at Riverside Park, with a ramp to the play structure
Bar chart of permit applications	Chart	Building permit applications rose each month from January to June. Full figures in the table below.
Map in a road closure notice	Map	Map of the closure: Main Street between 3rd and 5th Avenues, with a detour on Oak Street
Decorative leaf border	Leaf border	None. Mark it as decorative.

Why it matters

Screen reader users hear nothing, or just "graphic", for an image without alt text. If the image carries information, such as a detour map or a chart of a budget trend, they miss it entirely. Unhelpful alt text is nearly as bad: "chart" tells a listener that something is there but not what it shows. This is WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1, Non-text Content.

How to fix it in Acrobat Pro

In the Accessibility Checker panel, right-click Figures alternate text and choose Fix. Acrobat opens its alternate text dialog (Set Alternate Text in older versions, Add alternate text in newer ones) and shows each figure in turn.
For each meaningful image, type a short description of what it shows and why it's there.
For a purely decorative image, select Decorative figure instead of writing alt text. Acrobat marks it as an artifact.
For charts, maps and diagrams, keep the alt text short and put the detail, such as the values or the full route, in the body text or a nearby table.
Right-click the rule and choose Check Again. If it still fails, open the Tags panel and look for Figure tags with no image in them. Delete empty ones, and move any alt text to the tag that holds the image.

You can also edit a single figure's description directly: in the Tags panel, right-click the Figure tag, choose Properties and type in Alternate Text.

Fix it in the source file

Alt text added in the source travels into the PDF when you export with tags, and it survives the next update:

Word, PowerPoint and Excel: right-click the picture and choose View Alt Text (Edit Alt Text in older versions), then type a description or select Mark as decorative. If you can't find the pane, see Alt text pane missing in Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
InDesign: Object > Object Export Options > Alt Text.
Export with tags: in Word and PowerPoint, keep Document structure tags for accessibility turned on when you save as PDF. In InDesign, turn on Create Tagged PDF.

Fix it automatically with Includoc

Our AI writes alt text for each figure, using the image, the text around it and the document's language, and suggests marking decorative images as artifacts. You approve or edit every description on the review screen. Nothing is applied silently, because no machine can judge whether a description says what an image means in context.

We also flag existing alt text that looks unhelpful, such as a file name, a single word like "image", text that repeats a nearby caption, or very long text, and we propose better wording for you to approve. Charts get a short description and, where needed, a longer one.

Upload your PDF to fix this automatically

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Standards

Standards references: Images are missing alt text
Standard or tool	Reference
WCAG 2.1	1.1.1 Non-text Content (A) (opens another website)
PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1)	Clause 7.3
Matterhorn Protocol	Checkpoint 13-004
Acrobat rule	`Figures alternate text`

Standards references: Some alt text may not describe the image
Standard or tool	Reference
WCAG 2.1	1.1.1 Non-text Content (A) (opens another website)
PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1)	Clause 7.3

Figure tag: everything a correct Figure tag needs under PDF/UA.
Nested alternate text – Failed: alt text in the wrong place, which hides other descriptions or links.

For help writing descriptions, read How to write alt text, or check a PDF free to list every image that needs one.

Figure tag
What a correct Figure tag needs under PDF/UA: alt text, a bounding box, the right content and the right place. How to fix Figure tag errors in PAC.
Nested alternate text – Failed
Acrobat’s “Nested alternate text” and “Hides annotation” failures mean alt text is on the wrong tag. Why that hides content and how to fix it.
How to write alt text: a practical guide with examples
Write alt text that says what an image means, not just what it shows: decorative images, logos, signatures, charts and text in images, with examples.