PDF How To: Correct Heading Structure

Why use headings?

Headings give your document a clear outline that screen readers and keyboard users can scan to find the sections they need. Proper headings go from H1 down to H6 in order, no skipping levels, so everyone knows how your content is organized.

Headings are the titles for each section of your document.
They form an outline, showing how your content is organized.
Use Heading 1 for your main title.
For each level down, use the next heading: Heading 2 under Heading 1, Heading 3 under Heading 2, and so on.
Keep all headings at the same level on the same “branch” of your outline.
Never skip levels or make a subheading the same or higher level than its parent.
In PDFs, these headings can also become clickable bookmarks.

For example:
Headings in order from H1 - H4

Word

Select the text you want as a heading.
On the Home tab, pick a heading style (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.).
To turn those styles into PDF tags and bookmarks:
If you have Acrobat’s PDF Maker tab, open Preferences and choose which heading levels to convert.
Or, when you Save As > PDF, click Options… and check Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks.

InDesign

Apply Paragraph Styles for each heading level (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.).

Open the Paragraph Styles window. Select Window, Styles, then Paragraph Styles.
Once in the Paragraph Styles window, select the heading level that you want to assign to the highlighted text.
To change the appearance of a particular style, double-click on it to bring up Paragraph Style Options.
Under Export Tagging, assign the tag from automatic to the correct export option.
When you export your PDF, make sure Create Tagged PDF is checked, InDesign will map those styles to tags.

Adobe Acrobat Pro

Open Tools > Accessibility > TouchUp Reading Order.
If a heading isn’t tagged, drag to select its text box (or a bit around it).
Right-click (or Ctrl-click) and choose Tag as Heading 1 (or Heading 2, etc.).

Note: Never jump from, say, H2 to H4. Keep each level in sequence so assistive tools and users stay on track.

Additional Resources:

DeQue: InDesign Accessibility Quick Reference

One Stop: Document Structure

WebAIM: Headings