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CC2020: Alternate text for hyperlinks

In CC2020 a new function for writing alternate text for links was introduced.
Using this function and generating a PDF Leeds to wrong PDF notation. The alt text in PDF is presented by alt text, which is forbidden in the PDF world, where alt text only should be used for non text elements, e.g. pictures. By presenting only the alt text the accessibility is lost – this is against the goal to hav a better output!
A correct output would lead to a content entry.

Note: Alt text for links is under discussion, as such alt text is not present for all users (it would be read out loud, but you can't read it) – this is not about equal access.

Thanks for fixing, this would be a good step for all people relying on accessible PDFs.

Best, Klaas

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  • Mark Laslo commented  ·   ·  Report

    I have multiple people on my team still experiencing this issue in 16.4 and 17. Alt tags for links do not export at all.

  • Karen W commented  ·   ·  Report

    "The fix for this issue is available in the latest InDesign release 16.2.1
    Please update to this latest version to get the fix."

    Fast forward 6 months, and in version 17, it's still not working.

    Canada's "The Accessible Canada Act (Bill C-81)" along with the provinces have mandated that all businesses (with 50+ people) provide accessible PDFs for any online content.

    My job is to design for and apply accessibility, so this is a really important feature to fix - especially since accessible PDFs are becoming the norm.

    Will there ever be a fix for this?

  • RY commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is still not fixed in 16.2.1!

  • Joe commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am running 16.2.1 and I have 261 "Tagged annotations" to fix because alternate text and tags for links are NOT working. In fact, alternate text entered in InDesign for any object is always absent in the resulting PDF. Why?

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Where do I find the new content entry then in the link tag properties in the pdf-file?
    NVDA does not read the alternative text, and I try to figure out if it is because NVDA does not access the content entry or because it is not exported the way it is supposed to.

    EDIT:
    Alright, now I found that entry at least in the PAC3 overview. But where would I access that entry in Acrobat, if I wanted to modify a alt description after export?
    END EDIT

    Is there still a way to make hyperlinks with url-text still accessible by providing alternative text?
    e.g. the link: www.link-to-my-website.com is read out by NVDA as it is, ignoring the alternative text I provided in InDesign.

    Thank you for your help!

  • Bevi Chagnon commented  ·   ·  Report

    @amaaroram this bug affects all Alt-text in the PDF exported from InDesign 2020, not just Alt-text on the hyperlinks (which is a new addition in 2020).

    HUGE PROBLEM. Alt-text on graphics and other elements in the document is a major requirement of accessibility standards (PDF-UA and WCAG) and is mandated by national laws of the world's major countries, including India.

    My shop has tested and confirmed that the problem is still in the latest 15.0.1 update.

    Until this bug is corrected, as well as the other broken accessibility features, no one should upgrade to 2020 if they must create accessible PDFs.

    This update prevents all government users of InDesign, at all levels of government worldwide. That's a lot of your customer base!

  • Uwe Laubender commented  ·   ·  Report

    Should I do two different bug reports with Alternate Text for Hyperlinks and the IDML and IDMS issues?
    FWIW: If Alternate Text is not maintained with IDMS it is also NOT WORKING with InDesign library assets and CC Library assets.

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender
    ( ACP )

  • Uwe Laubender commented  ·   ·  Report

    Ah. Same issue with IDML. Had a document with one hyperlink that contains alternate text.
    Exported that as IDML file. Opened the IDML file with InDesign 2020 version 15.0.0.155. Hyperlink is there, alternate text contents is missing!

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender
    ( ACP )

  • Uwe Laubender commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hi together,
    another issue with Alternate Text for hyperlinks.
    The string for alternate text will not be exported with an IDMS file that contains the hyperlink.
    Just tested that because I wanted to see how this property can be managed by scripting.

    It seems there is no new property for Alternate Text for object Hyperlink in the scripting DOM.

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender
    ( ACP )

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