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How to check language assignments in a PDF document

Language assignments can be set on three different levels in a PDF document:

  • Document level
  • Structure level
  • Content level

Important:

If there are language assignments on different levels at the same time, always the deepest level "wins". For example, if the document language is "en-US" and a paragraph was assigned to "de-DE" then the language German is valid for this paragraph.

Check language assignments with axesPDF QuickFix

Go to the task pane "Settings" (for document language) respective the task pane "Properties" (for language settings on structure element and content element level).

  1. Document language
    Task pane: Settings - Language
  2. Structure level
    Click in the task pane "Logical Structure Tree" on a structure element.
    Task pane: Properties - Language of P-Tag
  3. Content level
    Click in the task pane "Logical Structure Tree" on a content element.
    Task pane: Properties - Language of Content element

Check language assignments with PAC (PDF Accessibility Checker)

  1. Document language
    PAC: Document language
  2. Structure level
    Click on the button "Logical Structure" and then in the ribbon tab "Structure Elements" on a structure element (in the ribbon tab "Page View" you can see where you are located in the document).
    PAC: Logical structure - language of structure element
  3. Content level
    Click on the button "Logical Structure" and then in the ribbon tab "Structure elements" on a content element (in the ribbon tab "Page View" you can see where you are located in the document).
    PAC: Logical structure - language of content element