[ATcoord] [Accessibleit] [ITACCESS] Fwd: [WebAIM] Serious bugs in latest Acrobat update: DO NOT UPDATE

Thu Sep 23 09:14:21 PDT 2021

I would love to have members on this list share successful practices in eliminating or at least reducing the use of PDFs in favor of, for example,HTML or Word.
____________________
Sheryl Burgstahler, Ph.D.
Director, UW Accessible Technology & DO-IT, UW-IT
Affiliate Professor, Education
University of Washington, Seattle
https://sites.uw.edu/sherylb/

> On Sep 22, 2021, at 1:39 PM, Monica Olsson <molsson at sbctc.edu> wrote:
> 
> Forwarding this conversation for those working with Adobe and interesed.
> 
>  
> 
> Monica M. Olsson (she/her/hers)
> Policy Associate – Accessible IT Coordinator
> Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
> molsson at sbctc.edu <mailto:molsson at sbctc.edu> • o: 360-704-3922 • c: 206-914-7187
> sbctc.edu <https://www.sbctc.edu/> • Twitter: @SBCTCWashington <https://twitter.com/SBCTCWashington> • Facebook: @WASBCTC <https://www.facebook.com/wasbctc/>
> From: The EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Community Group Listserv <ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>> on behalf of Ortiz, Tracie R. <tortiz at ODU.EDU <mailto:tortiz at ODU.EDU>>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 12:30 PM
> To: ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> <ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>>
> Subject: Re: [ITACCESS] Fwd: [WebAIM] Serious bugs in latest Acrobat update: DO NOT UPDATE
>  
> I will definitely contribute my frustrations to Adobe. We had the same issues here at ODU and I'm glad to see we're not alone. 
> 
> Thank you for starting this!
> 
> 
> Tracie
> 
> Tracie Ortiz, Ph.D.
> Instructional Designer
> Center for Learning and Teaching
> Gornto Hall, #131
> Old Dominion University
> tortiz at odu.edu <mailto:tortiz at odu.edu>
> 757-683-3222
> From: The EDUCAUSE IT Accessibility Community Group Listserv <ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>> on behalf of Krista Greear <krista at INCLUSIVEINSTRUCTIONALDESIGN.COM <mailto:krista at INCLUSIVEINSTRUCTIONALDESIGN.COM>>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2021 3:24 PM
> To: ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU> <ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU <mailto:ITACCESS at LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU>>
> Subject: [ITACCESS] Fwd: [WebAIM] Serious bugs in latest Acrobat update: DO NOT UPDATE
>  
> EXTERNAL to ODU: This email is not from an ODU account. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
> Important - please read thread below and vote for fixing so Adobe sees our frustration at https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/sugg <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Facrobat.uservoice.com%2Fforums%2F590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac%2Fsuggestions%2F44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20&data=04%7C01%7CTortiz%40ODU.EDU%7Cb156bc2dc7414a38e30f08d97dfe98f7%7C48bf86e811a24b8a8cb368d8be2227f3%7C0%7C1%7C637679354711245613%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=zQg276NLVhN4NX4FwSbr%2B40fZIg5kQvMUYr%2BTDkURp8%3D&reserved=0>
> estions/44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20 <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Facrobat.uservoice.com%2Fforums%2F590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac%2Fsuggestions%2F44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20&data=04%7C01%7CTortiz%40ODU.EDU%7Cb156bc2dc7414a38e30f08d97dfe98f7%7C48bf86e811a24b8a8cb368d8be2227f3%7C0%7C1%7C637679354711255604%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=NkRNosfITQoaePVt2bi6t7BA5YPFFnB8PxAx39sEjYA%3D&reserved=0>. 
> 
> Krista
> 
> Krista Greear
> Accessibility and Inclusivity Crusader 
> ATHEN Executive Council Vice President 
> Access Technology Higher Education Network <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fathenpro.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7CTortiz%40ODU.EDU%7Cb156bc2dc7414a38e30f08d97dfe98f7%7C48bf86e811a24b8a8cb368d8be2227f3%7C0%7C1%7C637679354711255604%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=I1O9a2raIBFIAK2pYx7Kb%2FXsowI%2FlgFvJ4dpaTlmvDg%3D&reserved=0>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: <chagnon at pubcom.com <mailto:chagnon at pubcom.com>>
> Date: Wed, Sep 22, 2021 at 11:57 AM
> Subject: [WebAIM] Serious bugs in latest Acrobat update: DO NOT UPDATE
> To: WebAIM Discussion List <webaim-forum at list.webaim.org <mailto:webaim-forum at list.webaim.org>>
> 
> 
> Last week, Adobe updated Acrobat and with it, the PDF Maker plug-in for MS
> Office that is used to export PDFs from Word and other office apps on
> Windows.
> 
> Several key bugs in PDF Maker have shown up since, namely:
> 
> *       Alt-text added in Word is dropped in the exported PDF and replaced
> with code gibberish. (Yes, all the Alt-text you worked hard on is gone!)
> 
> *       Every frigging line, border, and background fill on table cells,
> text boxes, paragraph borders, and hyperlinks is tagged in the Tag Tree with
> <P>PathPathPathPathPathPath.one "path" for each border on each cell in a
> table.
> 
> *       And there's no way to roll back to the previous version of Acrobat
> and recover your tools. Once updated, you are S O L.
> 
> Three actions to take:
> 
> 1.       Vote to fix these bugs on Adobe's UserVoice website. 
> If you can, please also add a comment about how accessibility is required
> for you and your organization by your country's and state's laws. (Adobe's
> staff don't understand these laws about civil rights and equal access to
> information.) We need a few hundred votes on this page for Adobe to pay
> attention to the problem, so spread this message to your colleagues.  
> The website is at
> https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/sugg
> estions/44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20 <https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Facrobat.uservoice.com%2Fforums%2F590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac%2Fsuggestions%2F44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20&data=04%7C01%7CTortiz%40ODU.EDU%7Cb156bc2dc7414a38e30f08d97dfe98f7%7C48bf86e811a24b8a8cb368d8be2227f3%7C0%7C1%7C637679354711265598%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=GY%2FcSBIhTiWGxlCXWd5ptiMSbap58KG9EUz%2BnJ5Ymfw%3D&reserved=0>   
> 
> 2.       Until this is fixed, use Microsoft's built-in utility to export
> accessible tagged PDFs, and skip the Acrobat Ribbon (which is the Adobe PDF
> Maker plug-in) altogether. I'll have a blog / tutorial on this by the
> weekend, but in the meantime, here are the quick instructions:
> 
> a.       Make an accessible Word document as usual, with styles, Alt-text,
> etc.
> 
> b.       File / Save As / and then choose PDF in the File Type field. This
> triggers Microsoft's built-in export utility, not Adobe's.
> 
> c.       Set your options, file location, and file name.
> 
> 3.       And don't upgrade to the latest version of Acrobat. The version
> that is buggy (well, more than usual) is 2021.007.XXXX, and the versions of
> PDF Maker that are installed with it are PDF Maker 21 Library 21.7.123 and
> Library 21.7.112.
> 
> 
> 
> - - -
> 
> Bevi Chagnon  | Designer, Accessibility Technician |  Chagnon at PubCom.com <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com>
> <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com <mailto:Chagnon at PubCom.com>>  
> 
> - - -
> 
> PubCom: Technologists for Accessible Design + Publishing
> 
> consulting . training . development . design . sec. 508 services
> 
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