Markup annotations must be tagged

PDF/UA check MARKUP_ANNOT_TAGGED · Annotations · severity Medium · PDF/UA 8.9.2.3 Markup annotations

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Why it matters#

Markup annotations (comments, highlights, stamps, etc.) must be tagged in the document structure so assistive technology can access their content. Untagged markup annotations are invisible to screen readers.

What you will see#

Comments, highlights or stamps are present but sit outside the tag tree.

How to fix#

Tag the markup annotation (comment, highlight, stamp, ink, etc.) into the structure tree by placing its object reference (OBJR) inside an Annot structure element. Position the Annot element as close as possible to the content the annotation refers to.

Step-by-step guide#

1. Open the Comments panel in Acrobat Pro (All tools > Comment) and locate each flagged markup annotation (highlight, sticky note, stamp, ink, underline, strikeout, caret, redaction, etc.) using the page numbers and preview images in the EQChecker report.
2. Open the Accessibility tags panel (View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Accessibility tags).
3. From the tags panel Options menu choose Find, set the search to Unmarked annotations, and click Find to jump to the first untagged annotation.
4. Click Tag Element and choose Annotation as the tag type; Acrobat creates an Annot structure element holding the annotation's object reference (OBJR). Repeat Find Next until every flagged annotation is tagged.
5. In the tag tree, drag each new Annot element as close as possible to the content the annotation refers to: a child or sibling of the structure element enclosing that content (PDF/UA-2 8.9.3.2).
6. Alternative path: if a flagged annotation is not real content (leftover review markup no reader should consume), delete it. Making it an artifact per 8.9.2.2 is also standard-compliant, but EQChecker recognizes an artifacted annotation only when its appearance is flattened into artifact page content, so merely leaving it out of the structure tree still fails the automated check.

Verify: Re-run the EQChecker scan; MARKUP_ANNOT_TAGGED should report zero errors. Acrobat's accessibility check should pass its Tagged annotations rule.

Note: Annotations with the Invisible flag set, or NoView set without ToggleNoView, must be artifacts rather than tagged (8.9.2.2); EQChecker skips Hidden, Invisible and NoView annotations entirely. An annotation object can appear only once in the structure tree (only one StructParent is allowed), so never add a second OBJR for an annotation that is already tagged elsewhere.

WCAG success criteria#

1.3.1 Info and Relationships — Level A#

Structure and relationships conveyed visually (headings, lists, tables, labels, groups) must also be available programmatically.

Understanding 1.3.1

Standards#

This check contributes to the following standards:

PDF/UA WCAG A EN 301 549