How to Create Accessible Lists and Tables of Contents in PDF Documents

Objective

This job aid provides step-by-step instructions for creating and verifying properly structured lists and tables of contents (TOCs) in PDF documents to ensure accessibility and usability.

Watch the accompanying video for a walkthrough of the concepts covered in this job aid.

Using Proper List Formatting in Your Content Creation Software

Ensuring accessible lists begins with proper list formatting in the original document (e.g. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or other content creation tools).

Creating Ordered and Unordered Lists

Microsoft Word:

  1. Open your document.
  2. Select Home.
  3. Place your cursor on the line of text you want to turn into a list (or highlight multiple lines).
  4. In the Paragraph group, select Bullets (for unordered lists) or Numbering (for ordered lists).
  5. To create a nested list, select the list item and select the Increase Indent button in the Paragraph group - or select the tab key on your keyboard.

Google Docs:

  1. Open your document.
  2. Select Format.
  3. Place your cursor on the line of text you want to turn into a list (or highlight multiple lines).
  4. Select either Bulleted list menu or Numbered list menu depending on the desired styled list.
  5. To create a nested list, select the list item and select the Increase indent button on the toolbar - or select the tab key on your keyboard.

Checking List Accessibility

Lists should be properly formatted to ensure accessibility. To test if lists are accessible, follow these guidelines.

Microsoft Word:

  1. Open the document.
  2. Select the list text to test.
  3. In the Paragraph group, verify if the appropriate numbered or bullet list is toggled. 

Note: If the bullets/numbering option is not active, the list is plain text and should be reformatted using the list tool.

Google Docs:

  1. Open your document.
  2. Select the list text to test.
  3. Select More, using the three dots in the top menu.
  4. Verify if the appropriate numbered or bullet list is toggled.

Note: If the bullets/numbering option is not active, the list is plain text and should be reformatted using the list tool.

Tagging Lists in Adobe Acrobat

After converting your document to PDF, verify and, if necessary, adjust the list tags in Adobe Acrobat Pro to ensure that screen readers interpret the list structure correctly. Each <L> (list) contains one or more <LI> (list items). Each <LI> contains a <Lbl> (label, e.g., number or bullet) and an <LBody> (list item text).

Verifying List Structure in Acrobat

  1. Open your PDF document in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Open the Tags panel.
  3. In the Tags panel, expand the tag tree to verify that list elements are correctly tagged as:

A list tag structure with Label and List body tags nested in each list item tag. List item tags are nested within each list tag.

Adding List Tags

  1. From the Tags panel, select Options (i.e., the three-dot menu) > New Tag.
  2. Create a <List> container.
  3. Within the list, create <LI> items.
  4. For each <LI>, create a <Lbl> (bullet/number) and <LBody> (list text).
  5. Associate content with each tag by highlighting text in the document, right-clicking the tag, and selecting Create Tag from Selection.

Example of list tag structure

List tag structure with two list items with a label and list body nested in each list item nested under a list tag.

Generating a Table of Contents (TOC) in Your Content Creation Software

Accessible TOC must be generated using built-in features rather than being manually created. The TOC can be automatically generated by using the heading structure of a document for its content. If heading styles are not used, then identify the heading styles before generating the TOC.

Creating a Structured TOC

Microsoft Word:

  1. Open your document.
  2. Select References.
  3. Select Table of Contents in the Table of Contents group.
  4. Choose a TOC format.
    Note: Using leader dots between content adds a remediation step.
  5. To update the TOC after modifications, select the TOC area and then select Update Table. Then, choose to update the page numbers only or the entire table.

Note: Update page numbers are only used when the heading structure has not changed but content was added to change the page numbers. Update the entire table is used when the heading structure was changed.

Google Docs

  1. Open your document.
  2. Select Insert.
  3. Select Table of contents and choose your preferred style.
  4. To update TOC after modifications, select the TOC area and select Update Table of Content arrow icon.

Note: The TOC will not update automatically as changes are made to the document.

Tagging a Table of Contents in Acrobat

After exporting the document to PDF, verify the TOC tag structure in the Tags panel.

Checking TOC Tags in Acrobat

  1. Open your PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
  2. Open the Tags panel.
  3. Locate the TOC section and ensure that each entry is tagged appropriately.

A Table of Contents tag structure where Table of content items are nested in a Table of Contents tag. In each table of contents tag, a reference and link tag are nested.

Adding TOC Tags

  1. In the Tags panel, right-click <Document> > New Tag > Table of Contents (TOC).
  2. Within the <TOC>, create <TOCI> (TOC item) tags.
  3. For each <TOCI>, create a <Reference> (and <Link> if applicable).
  4. Associate each tag with the correct TOC entry by highlighting the text and choosing Create Tag from Selection.

Nested Table of Contents

For subsections, create nested <TOC> structures within the parent TOC item.

Example:

A Table of Contents tag structure where Table of content items are nested in a Table of Contents tag. In each table of contents tag, a reference and link tag are nested.