Tagged annotations – Failed

Tagged annotations – Failed is a result from the Accessibility Checker in Adobe Acrobat Pro. It means at least one annotation in the PDF, such as a link, comment, highlight or stamp, isn't in the tag tree, the hidden structure that assistive technology follows. Acrobat lists the rule in its Page Content category. Until it's fixed, screen readers may skip those annotations or present them in the wrong place.

What this means

Annotations sit on top of the page rather than in it. To be accessible, each one needs a place in the tag tree, next to the content it belongs to:

• Links go in a Link tag, together with their link text.
• Comments, stamps and other markups go in an Annot tag.
• Form fields go in Form tags. Acrobat checks those separately, under its Tagged form fields rule.

Acrobat's rule fails when it finds an annotation with no tag. Adobe's help says annotations such as comments and editorial marks should either be in the tag tree or marked as artifacts, which is how PDFs label decoration that screen readers skip. The usual causes:

• Links or comments were added in Acrobat after the file was tagged. Acrobat only tags new annotations automatically when its Tag Annotations option is turned on, and it often isn't.
• Pages were inserted from an untagged file.
• A tool turned web addresses into links without tagging them.
• Review comments were left in a file that was meant to be final.

Why it matters

Screen reader users find links and comments through the tag tree. Untagged links may be missing from the screen reader's list of links, or announced with no text. Untagged comments may be skipped or read out of context. Keyboard users are affected too: when a page's tab order follows the document structure, links outside the structure end up in an unpredictable place. This affects WCAG 2.1 success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, 2.4.4 Link Purpose and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value.

How to fix it in Acrobat Pro

Here's how to fix Tagged annotations – Failed in a PDF, step by step:

Fix it in the source file

Annotations created in the source are tagged correctly when you export with tags:

• Make changes in the source. Add or edit links in Word, PowerPoint or InDesign and export a new tagged PDF, rather than adding links in Acrobat afterward.
• Word: export with File > Save As > PDF, and under Options keep Document structure tags for accessibility turned on. Set Publish what to Document, not Document showing markup, so review comments don't come along.
• InDesign: turn on Create Tagged PDF and Hyperlinks when you export.
• Review workflows: stamp and comment on a review copy, not the version you'll publish.

Fix it automatically with Includoc

Includoc fixes this automatically. We tag every annotation in reading order, with links in Link tags alongside their text and comments in Annot tags, and we mark printer marks as artifacts. We also add the descriptions PDF/UA requires for links and other annotations, which the related PAC checks look for.

Two decisions stay with you: whether reviewers' comments belong in the published file, and whether link text such as "click here" makes sense on its own. Our AI suggests clearer descriptions for unclear links, but we can't change the visible words in a PDF.

Standards

Related errors

• Link annotations in Link tag: PAC's version of this problem for links, including link descriptions.
• Annotation has alt text: descriptions for comments, stamps and other annotations.

For the full workflow, read How to make a PDF accessible, or check a PDF free to see every untagged annotation by page.