Every time I opened a PDF file in Acrobat, a window would appear to notify me that I was reading an Untagged Document that had to be prepared for reading out loud.
Every time. Every PDF. I’d have to click “Cancel” on this dialog:
“This document is untagged and must be prepared for reading. While the document is being analyzed, your assistive technology will not be able to interact with this application.
“Reading Order: Infer reading order from document (recommended)
“Reading Mode Options: Read the currently visible pages only.”
That’s a sweet, generous offer by Acrobat but, hey, call me ungrateful – I actually did not want each PDF read out loud to me. In fact, I kind of wanted it to stop asking. A lot.
As always, tracking down strange unwanted behavior can lead to sidetracks and wasted effort and breaking things. After a lot of work, this is the best information I can put together, in case Acrobat starts wanting to read to you too.
The accessibility features in Acrobat are profoundly helpful to people with disabilities. The flaw is a small one; the programs are a bit too aggressive about deciding they are necessary.
I’ll give you the answer that worked for me, after trial and error with several of the other possible solutions found online. You’re going to be deliberately breaking features that are deeply baked into the programs. Please be aware that the programs may break or there might be unwanted side effects if you try this yourself. If you have any doubts, ask for help!
The next time I opened a PDF after renaming all three files, a window came up with this warning: “This version of the Adobe Reader does not support screen readers. [] Do not show this message again.”
I put a checkmark in the box and clicked OK and have not been asked again about preparing a PDF for Reading Mode. One more niggling annoyance solved!
Again, your mileage may vary. There is advice on this page claiming the problem will be fixed when one those files is moved, and advice in this forum that renaming the other two will fix it. I found it was necessary to rename all three. If there are any side effects, you should be able to return the files to their original names and – with luck – everything will go back to normal.
Oh, and don’t be surprised if you have to do this repeatedly. I’d expect those files to be replaced with new versions each time the program is updated.
Thanks Bruce for the tip and also thanks Ryan (on February 21, 2017).
My Acrobat Pro X started (again) those day to analyze every PDF I open, had to wait a while until the ring cursor finishes spinning.
Unfortunately, renaming the API’s and unchecking the preferences was not enough.
Ryan’s trick in regedit was almost the solution, because in the “Access” key the entries were already at 0, but in the “Accessibility” key I set both bCheckReadMode and iReadingMode from 1 to 0 and it was then fine.
The hive : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\2015\Accessibility Reply
Unlike the youtube suggestions I found, this method worked and the darn annoyance is gone!! Thank you much!! Reply
sean on June 13, 2022 at 11:54 amThis worked. Quick and easy. I appreciate you. I cherish you. Someday we will all be intentionally driven to madness when our toaster ovens speak disrespectfully to us and refuse to toast bread unless we tell them our darkest secrets, bow down to them, perhaps like in the movie Elysium there will be laws severely punishing human acts of disrespect or disobedience against toaster ovens – and anyway, your toaster oven will be able to blackmail you, to destroy you. So, you’d never speak disrespectfully to it anyway, right? Reply
Bruce Berls on June 13, 2022 at 11:59 amOne of the interesting parenting decisions today is whether to teach children to be polite to Alexa and Google Assistant. Should they be taught politeness? Or should they understand these are just electronic gadgets who shouldn’t be anthropomorphized? It’s not completely obvious. I hope you’ve read Cory Doctorow’s novella Unauthorized Bread. If by any chance you missed it, oh my goodness, it’s rather precisely in line with what you’re saying. Reply
Angus Tin on March 4, 2022 at 5:53 pm Thank you so much Bruce!Thank you! A million times thank you!
I was going crazy because of this feature. Every single time I opened a document, and I am opening loads of them. This worked like a charm.
I cannot believe this is still a problem in 2022. Reply
THANK YOU! More than 10 years old and still a “thing”. Had never come across it in over 20 years of using Adobe products, but think when I plugged my phone into my office computer to charge it, it assumed I had visual impairment or something and as such turned on those features. Super frustrating (as it doesn’t even recognize the “Don’t show again” buttons). Saved me from a Acrobat-breakdown! 😉 Reply
Bruce Berls on September 21, 2021 at 11:57 amInteresting that you say that today, because I’m literally on the phone with a client looking at that same window for the first time in several years. I wonder if Adobe has changed something and this will become a problem again. Hmm . . . Reply
Simona on September 3, 2021 at 2:08 pmTHNAK YOU!
it is so simple and it was so annoying. Exactly when you had a lot of work to do and move fast, this will popup and slow you down. Reply
