Creating Properly Tagged Links (Desktop and Advanced Editor)

Read, below, for "when to use the Reference tag and when to use the Link tag." 

A properly tagged link contains two elements: 

1. The text (as shown in the physical view) that is hyperlinked
2. The link Annotation. 

The “annotation” is the interactive part of the link; it is the “thing” that the user clicks to go to a webpage, open an email, or to navigate to a different place in a document, for example.  Users who are familiar with links tagged in Acrobat may have seen the “OBJR” (object reference) in the Tags tree.  The object reference and the annotation are the same.  Below is a screenshot of a properly structured link. In this example, the text Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is hyperlinked to bring a user to the city's website.  Notice that the Link tag is open showing the Annotation and the text inside. 

Note: A Link tag cannot be positioned at the "root" level. It must be within another, structural, tag. In most cases this will be a paragraph tag but could be anything, such as a table, list, caption, etc.

There are a number of ways to properly tag links in CommonLook.  Two of the more popular methods will be described in the following sections. 

Letting CommonLook Tag the Link Automatically

When there is hyperlinked text in a document, oftentimes CommonLook will correctly structure the components (text and annotation) when generating the Link tag.

1. In the physical view, highlight the linked information. This will include text and annotation.
2. Create a new link tag (in the Insert tag tab on the ribbon or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K). 
3. Level up if needed (Ctrl+P or right-click and choose level up from the context menu), but remember that Link tags cannot be placed at the root level, unlike paragraph or caption tags for example.
4. Open the Link tag to make sure that it contains the text for the link and the annotation.
   Note:  If the Link contains a “Path” – that is the line under the hyperlinked text in the physical view.  Because the line does not convey any relevant information, it can be artifacted.  Select it and untag it, or simply press the Delete key.

When there is hyperlinked text in a paragraph, oftentimes CommonLook will automatically tag the Link correctly when the Paragraph tag is created.

1. In the physical view, highlight the paragraph.
2. Create a new paragraph tag (in the Insert tag tab on the ribbon or keyboard shortcut Ctrl+7). 
3. Level up if needed (Ctrl+P or right click and choose level up from the context menu).
4. Open the Paragraph tag.  Make sure that the Link tag was created and it is in the correct location within the Paragraph tag. 
5. Open the Link tag to make sure that it contains the text for the link and the annotation.  If the Link contains a “Path” – that is the line under the hyperlinked text in the physical view.  Because the line does not convey any relevant information, it can be artifacted.  Select it and press the Delete key.

Manually Creating the Link Tag

If CommonLook PDF does not automatically tag the Link correctly, using the steps in the previous sections, follow these steps to manually tag a link:

1. In the physical view, highlight the hyperlinked text and the annotation that will be placed in a Link tag.  Be sure to select both elements!
   Tip:  If the annotation is in the Untagged Content, make sure that the option to be able to select untagged items is enabled (in the Selection group on the Settings tab in the ribbon).
2. In the Insert tag tab, on the ribbon, select the button to create a Link tag.
   
3. Place the Link tag in the proper reading order.
   Note:  Links need to be placed in some other structural tag (Paragraph, LBody, TH or TD, etc.) and not placed directly at the root level in the Tags tree.  If the Link contains a “Path” – that is the line under the hyperlinked text in the physical view.  Because the line does not convey any relevant information, it can be artifacted.  Select it and press the Delete key.

Links Spanning Two Lines

If you have a link that's on two lines, in the physical view, you'll have one link tag containing both lines of text and two annotations.

The order of the text and the annotations inside the link tag doesn't really matter (as long as the content will be read in the correct order) but make sure that you keep the text together and the annotations together. The two screenshots below illustrate your options.  Inside the Link tag, you can either have both lines of text and then the annotations, or you can have both annotations and then the text.

Adjusting Tab Order

Regardless of if a user is tagging a link manually or automatically, a remediator must still update the document tab order. For more information, refer to the article titled, "Tab Order." 

Untagging the "Path"

In your links, you may occasionally find "Paths."  Their icon is misleading (thanks to Acrobat, which we're still plugged into, remember) because they look like tags but they aren't.  A "Path" is the underline under the hyperlinked text.  That line doesn't need to be tagged.  You can select it and hit the Delete key on your keyboard.  Refer to this article on Untagging Content for more information. 

"I cant' find my Annotation" (Or, "I'm told my Annotation is untagged," etc.)

Depending on how and when the functionality of the links was added in your PDF, your Annotations (the "actionable" part of the link) may be untagged.  

According to the PDF accessibility specification (PDF/UA), link Annotations are not allowed to be untagged.    

Please refer to this article on Tagging Untagged Content for information on how to get the annotations over into the Tags tree. 

When to use a Reference tag and when to use a Link tag

There are, essentially, two kinds of "links" in documents.  One link, like a URL, points to something "external" - a website, for example.  The other type of link points to something "internal" - inside the document that you're currently working with.  Examples include Tables of Contents and footnotes.   

In your document, if you have a link that points to a webpage, for example, you'll tag it as we have indicated above.  The Link tag should contain the text and the annotation. 

When you have "internal" links, they go in Reference tags.  One thing that can be confusing about this, though, is that there may not always be annotations associated with this type of content.  Not every Table of Contents contains links, for example, and footnote references aren't always "functionally linked" to their footnote.  However, if the Table of Contents (or footnote, etc.) is linked to its related content in your document, then inside the Reference tag you would need to have a Link tag which contains the text and the annotation.  This is because the current PDF specification does not allow link annotations to be directly contained in Reference tags.  They are only allowed to be in Link tags.  

Follow this link to our article on Tagging Tables of Contents, if needed.  

Follow this link to our article on Footnotes. 

Linked Graphics, Logos, or QR Codes

A few situations can arise in which you might need to make linked graphics accessible.
 

For a basic graphic or image that brings the reader to an external website, tag the link normally and artifact, or untag, the graphic. Be sure to then provide Alt text on the link that describes both the graphic and the link destination. The Link tag would have only an Annotation inside it and that's ok in this context. These situations can be handled relatively easily, as removing the background image is not removing any contextual content.
 

A QR code may seem like the same situation, but these graphical "codes" are not what we would consider background images! For example, if someone needs to show the QR code to enter a sports stadium, or even have one scanned to be able to use a coupon or digital wallet, they are extremely important! In these situations, we would not untag the graphics, as we want all readers to know that the QR code is there. In these cases, tag the QR code as a Figure, just as you would for any other (being sure to provide accurate Alt text), and tag the link as a Link, just as you would for any other except that, as mentioned in the paragraph above, the Link tag will only contain the Annotation and not have any text. 

Didn't find what you're looking for? Navigate to our "Links" section for more related articles that may help!