How to make checkbox accessible on static pdf rendered using AEM form API

Hi ​@SmrithiGo,

Thank you for sharing the details and examples of the issue you are seeing with checkboxes in your static tagged PDF.

I have analyzed the behavior you described:

• The PDF is generated as a static, tagged PDF using the OutputService.generatePDF API.
• Screen readers such as NVDA announce the checkbox as “checkbox unavailable checked read only” after reading the associated label.
• However, VoiceOver and Acrobat Read Out Loud only read the checkbox label/title and do not announce whether the checkbox is checked or unchecked.

This difference is related to how each screen reader interprets the information exposed by the PDF:

• In the static PDF, the visual “X” inside the checkbox is represented as a graphical element (a path), not as explicit text such as “checked” or “unchecked” in the PDF’s tag structure.
• NVDA uses additional heuristics and internal form metadata from Acrobat to infer and announce the checkbox state.
• VoiceOver and Acrobat Read Out Loud rely more heavily on the PDF’s tag structure and the presence of explicit text or accessible properties for the checkbox state. Since the state is not exposed as text (only as a graphic), they read the label but do not announce it.

Because of this, VoiceOver and Acrobat Read Out Loud are not able to reliably announce the checkbox state for static, flattened checkboxes generated in this way.

We are already aware of the issue and the issue has already been fixed and is expected to be released at part of SP25. The fix improves NVDA behaviour but doesn't change the fundamental fact that in a static document the checkbox "X" is still just Path geometry, with no value text for VoiceOver to read.

Thanks
Pranay