Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
3
↓
What's the easiest way to retain headings when creating a PDF from Word or Google Drive? (self.Blind)
submitted by blundermole
When I put text documents together in Google Drive I use a lot of headings so that the content can be more easily navigated with a screen reader. When I export from Drive to Word, the headings are retained. However, when I export from Drive to PDF -- or from Drive to Word to PDF, using the built-in Mac PDF creation function -- the resulting PDF doesn't retain the headings.
How can I convert a well-structured Drive or Word document into a well-structured PDF?
How can I convert a well-structured Drive or Word document into a well-structured PDF?
BenandGracie 1 points 2y ago
I love Pandoc. I usually export Markdown documents to word format. I haven't tried creating pdfs.
blundermole [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Me too - but, having checked with the mailing list, it appears that it is not able to create the tagged PDFs that screenreaders need. There are reasons to believe that this feature might come along in the future, but for now it seems that using Word and doing a "save as PDF" with the accessibility option selected is the best way to go.
BenandGracie 1 points 2y ago
That is good to know. If I have to create pdf, I will keep that in mind.
blundermole [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Ah, pandoc is a great shout, thank you! Late last night I managed to find a solution, which involved doing a “Save As PDF” from Word, and then choosing the Microsoft PDF creation option. That retained the headers. But I will try pandoc now, as that would give me far more flexibility — and if pandoc isn’t retaining headers etc then its maintainers really need to be made aware. Thank you!
AndAdapt 1 points 2y ago
I have not tried this, but seen as there are no replies yet.
Have you tried using pandoc?
Have you tried using pandoc?
blundermole [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I posted this reply to you earlier, but I didn't post it properly so i didn't appear as a reply to your comment:
>Ah, pandoc is a great shout, thank you! Late last night I managed to find a solution, which involved doing a “Save As PDF” from Word, and then choosing the Microsoft PDF creation option. That retained the headers. But I will try pandoc now, as that would give me far more flexibility — and if pandoc isn’t retaining headers etc then its maintainers really need to be made aware. Thank you!
I've since tried creating PDFs from both Word and Markdown, and in both instances the headers are lost. I'll report back if I'm able to figure this out. It's frustrating, but it's made me realise that pandoc and Markdown would be a great way to do this, if I can get it to work!
>Ah, pandoc is a great shout, thank you! Late last night I managed to find a solution, which involved doing a “Save As PDF” from Word, and then choosing the Microsoft PDF creation option. That retained the headers. But I will try pandoc now, as that would give me far more flexibility — and if pandoc isn’t retaining headers etc then its maintainers really need to be made aware. Thank you!
I've since tried creating PDFs from both Word and Markdown, and in both instances the headers are lost. I'll report back if I'm able to figure this out. It's frustrating, but it's made me realise that pandoc and Markdown would be a great way to do this, if I can get it to work!
AndAdapt 1 points 2y ago
That's exactly what I do with documents. Create in mark down then export. Not had a need to export to pdf though, often favour html.
Hope it works for you though.
On on a related note. I even use mark down for presentations using git pitch
Hope it works for you though.
On on a related note. I even use mark down for presentations using git pitch
blundermole [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Unfortunately it seems that pandoc does not create the tagged PDFs that a screenreader needs -- that's from multiple sources on the pandoc mailing list. The best bet at the moment is apparently doing a "save as PDF" from Word; Microsoft's PDF creation tools do a good job of PDF tagging.
AndAdapt 1 points 2y ago
That's a shame. Good to know word is the way forward though
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.