PDF/UA-1 · CLAUSE 7.1

Untagged content on the page

Content is drawn on the page but is neither tagged as real content nor marked as an artifact.

Rule 7.1-3 ISO 14289-1 Object: SESimpleContentItem

Why it matters

This content does not exist for a screen reader user. It is the single most common cause of a document being unusable with assistive technology.

How to fix it

  • Open Accessibility > Reading Order in Acrobat Pro and assign a tag to each untagged region.
  • Mark decorative lines, background images, and repeated page furniture as Background (artifact).
  • If the whole document reports this rule, it is untagged: retag it at the source rather than page by page.
WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A)

What the standard says

Content shall be marked as Artifact or tagged as real content

Check your own PDF

Validate a file against PDF/UA-1 and see whether this rule fails in your document.

curl -sS -X POST "https://api.ua1.dev/api/validate?format=compact&profile=ua1" \
  -F "file=@document.pdf"