---
title: "Configure PDF/UA Output"
slug: "configure-pdfua-output"
description: "Describes settings for PDF/UA outputs of Lasernet Core forms."
tags: ["Form Editor", "Lasernet Core", "PDF UA"]
updated: 2026-08-03T09:17:35Z
published: 2026-08-03T09:17:35Z
canonical: "kb.lasernetgroup.com/configure-pdfua-output"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.lasernetgroup.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Configure PDF/UA Output

**Applies to:** Lasernet Core 10.12 and later

PDF/UA stands for Portable Document Format / Universal Accessibility. PDF/UA-compliant documents make their content readable by assistive technologies (such as screen readers). In some areas, local laws require that generated PDF documents are accessible in this way.

Assistive technologies can do this because significant and decorative content in PDF/UA documents is semantically tagged. Significant content, such as line item data, carries information and is meaningful. As a result, it is content that the user must hear. Decorative content, such as drawn shapes, is not meaningful.

Within the PDF document, the semantic tags for significant content form a structure tree that describes the order and hierarchy of the information content within the document. This structure tree enables a screen reader to understand what document content to read, and the correct order to read it in.

PDF/UA-compliant documents also provide “alt text” for each significant image. This is text that describes the image. A screen reader will read this alt text in place of the image.

> [!WARNING]
> Important
> 
> Lasernet Core’s PDF/UA capability is being developed iteratively. It can generate PDF/UA-compliant documents in common form design scenarios. However, if you notice any issues in the PDF/UA structure generated from your form design and workflow, contact [Lasernet Support](https://support.lasernetgroup.com/new-ticket). Your feedback will help us improve this feature.

## Compatible Input Format

Lasernet Core can create PDF/UA output from EMF input data.

## Configure PDF/UA Document Generation

To enable the generation of PDF/UA-compliant documents, follow these steps:

1. On the **PDF/UA** tab of the **Sheet Options** window:

![Properties on the PDF/UA tab for the Sheet Options window.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/PDFUA sheet options.png)
  1. Enter a **Title** for the PDF document.
  2. Enter an **Author** for the PDF document.
  3. Enter a **Subject** for the PDF document.
  4. Enter a **Language** for the PDF document. This can be a language code (for example, **en**) or a locale code (for example, **en-US**).
2. If necessary, configure [PDF image compression](/v1/docs/configure-pdfua-output#image-compression).
3. Click **Ok**.

After you deploy the configuration to a Lasernet Core environment, that environment will generate PDF/UA documents.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> The **Preview** function within Lasernet Form Editor does not generate PDF/UA documents. To generate a PDF/UA document, you must send a job to a Lasernet Core environment that is running an appropriate configuration.

### What Does Lasernet Core Add to PDF/UA Documents?

Lasernet Core adds tags and alt text to documents.

#### **Tags**

As described above, Lasernet Core tags content within the PDF document. The tags for significant content form a sequence within the PDF/UA document’s structure tree and, where relevant, are nested to create a hierarchy.

The structure tree’s root tag is `<Document>`. Lasernet Core applies the following tags to PDF content, and then adds the tagged content to the structure tree in accordance with the following structure:

- `<Sect>` groups absolute rearranges, text, barcodes, images, charts, hyperlinks, and subforms.
  - `<P>` around absolute rearranges.
  - `<P>` around text.
  - `<Figure>` around barcodes, images, and charts.
  - `<Link>` around hyperlinks.
  - `<Sect>` groups one or more form items from a specific subform.
- `<Sect>` represents conditional areas and contains the following tags:
  - A `<Div>` for each line item in a pattern, which can contain:
    - `<P>` around rearranges.
    - `<P>` around text.
    - `<Figure>` around barcodes, images, and charts.
    - `<Link>` around hyperlinks.
    - `<Sect>` groups one or more form items from a specific subform.

The order in which Lasernet Core renders patterns in the PDF determines the order in which elements are added to the structure, and consequently (to some extent) the reading order.

Decorative content is tagged as `<Artifact>` and is not included in the structure tree.

#### **Alt Text**

To make images and charts accessible, you can add alt text to them. This alt text is added to the relevant element in the PDF/UA document’s structure tree.

For information about how to add alt text to images, see the *Alt Text* section of [What Do I Need to Do When Designing a Form?](/v1/docs/configure-pdf-output#what-do-i-need-to-do-when-designing-a-form)

### What Do I Need to Do When Designing a Form?

When designing a form, you can modify the reading order of items in the form design and add alt text to images.

#### **Modify Group Order and Reading Order**

To appropriately order the semantic content tags in the structure tree, set the **Group order** and **Reading order** for the rearranges, text labels, images, charts, barcodes, and subforms in the form design.

Form items that have the same **Group order** number are part of the same group, so their `<P>` or `<Figure>` tags (or `<Sect>` if a subform) occur within the same parent `<Sect>` tag in the structure tree. The **Reading order** value of each form item determines the order of its `<P>` or `<Figure>` tag (or `<Sect>` if a subform) within that parent `<Sect>`. The reading order of items is meaningful only within their group, so items in different groups can have the same **Reading order** value with no adverse effect.

The relative values of the **Group order** numbers applied to form items determine the (ascending) order of the groups and consequently the order of their corresponding `<Sect>` tags in the structure tree.

You can use this capability to ensure that items in the header of the form design occur in the structure tree before items in the conditional area, and that items in the footer occur after the items in the conditional area. The conditional area has an implicit **Group order** of 100. So, to achieve this outcome, you could give all the header items a **Group order** of 50 and all the footer items a **Group order** of 150.

**Reading Order for Subforms**

Use the **Reading order** of a subform to specify the position of the subform’s content in the structure tree, relative to other content that has the same **Group order**. At that position in the tree, the structure tree contains a `<Sect>` that contains the content of the subform.

The **Reading order** of the items within the subform determines their order within that `<Sect>` in the structure tree. Lasernet Core ignores the **Group order** of items in a subform. For more information, see [Create PDF/UA Subforms or Convert EMF Subforms to PDF/UA](/v1/docs/configure-pdfua-output#create-pdfua-subforms-or-convert-emf-subforms-to-pdfua).

For example, you could use **Reading order** and **Group order** on form items, subforms, and subform items to create the following structure tree:

- `<Document>`
  - `<Sect>`
    - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 150; **Reading order**: 50.
    - `<P>` — absolute rearrange. **Group order**: 150; **Reading order**: 60.
    - `<Sect>` — subform. **Group order**: 150; **Reading order**: 70.
      - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 100; **Reading order**: 50.
      - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 100; **Reading order**: 60.
    - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 150; **Reading order**: 80.
  - `<Sect>`
    - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 200; **Reading order**: 50.
    - `<P>` — absolute rearrange. **Group order**: 200; **Reading order**: 60.
    - `<P>` — text. **Group order**: 200; **Reading order**: 70.
    - `<P>` — absolute rearrange. **Group order**: 200; **Reading order**: 80.

**Set the Group Order or Reading Order For Form Items**

To set the **Group order** or **Reading order** for a rearrange, text label, image, chart, barcode, or subform, double-click the item in the Form Editor design area to open its properties window (for example, the **Edit Rearrange** window). On the **PDF/UA** tab, change the **Group order** and **Reading order** value.

![The Reading order property for a rearrange on the PDF/UA tab of the Edit Rearrange window.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/group order and reading order.png)

Each item has a default **Group order** and **Reading order** value of 100. It is recommended that you apply distinct and appropriately separated values to items, to correctly order them and to provide space for inserting new items into the ordering. For example, if a group contains four rearranges, you could give them **Reading order** values of **150**, **160**, **170**, and **180**, respectively. This would appropriately order the items, and it would also enable you to add a new item and order it fourth in the sequence by giving it a **Reading order** value of **175**.

#### **Alt Text**

To make images and charts accessible, you can add alt text to them:

1. In the form design area of the Form Editor, double-click the image.
2. On the **PDF/UA** tab of the **Edit Image** window, enter the alt text in the **Alt Text** box.
3. Click **Ok**.

![The Alt Text box on the PDF/UA tab of the Edit Image window.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/image alt text.png)

#### Create PDF/UA Subforms or Convert EMF Subforms to PDF/UA

Only subforms whose **Output Format** is **PDF/UA** are compatible with PDF/UA forms. This is because only the form items in PDF/UA subforms have the necessary **Reading order** properties.

You can create PDF/UA subforms or convert existing EMF subforms to PDF/UA format.

**Create PDF/UA Subforms**

When you create a subform, select **PDF/UA** from the **Output Format** list.

**Convert EMF Subforms to PDF/UA**

The **Output Format** property for existing subforms is grayed out. To convert an EMF subform to PDF/UA, click **Convert to PDF/UA** beside the format list.

![A red rectangle around the Convert to PDF/UA button in the Subform Properties window.](https://cdn.document360.io/c831ef63-c6b3-48ee-b443-3e33644e4e2e/Images/Documentation/convert subform to PDFUA.png)

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> Although PDF/UA forms require PDF/UA subforms, the subforms that you convert from EMF to PDF/UA can still be used by any EMF and PDF forms that currently use them.

**Set Reading Order on Form Items in Subforms**

As described above, the **Reading order** of form items specifies their order in the structure tree.

Within a subform, appropriately set the **Reading order** of form items.

**Group order** is ignored within subforms and has no effect. Set the **Group order** of all items in a subform to the same value; the default is 100.

## Limitations

The current PDF/UA feature has the following limitations:

- [XHTML that is read from the input file and rendered directly into the output document](/v1/docs/add-input-data-to-a-sheet#render-xhtml-within-input-data) is omitted from the structure tree.
- ActualText attributes are not supported.
- Manually setting tag types is not supported.
- Tables are ignored. The data within the table is included in the structure tree, but it is not semantically described as a table.
- Overlays are ignored and their use should be avoided.
- Splitting or combining PDF/UA documents is not supported.
- It is not possible to add alt text to images that are inserted by scripting code.
- **Lasernet Core 11.1 and earlier only:** Hyperlinks within input data are not automatically interpreted as hyperlinks and do not become `<Link>` elements in the structure tree. Only rearranges that are manually marked as hyperlinks in the form design become `<Link>` elements.

> [!NOTE]
> Note
> 
> From Lasernet Core 11.2, the Form Engine can recognize URLs in the input data of form objects and then convert the URLs into hyperlinks in output documents. The hyperlinks become `<Link>` elements in the PDF/UA document’s structure tree. To enable this feature, [select “**Scan input text for links”** in the **Edit** window for a text object, rearrange, or image](/v1/docs/turn-form-objects-into-hyperlinks).
- PDF/UA support applies only to documents whose underlying format in Lasernet Core is EMF. PDF/UA support for RTF-based PDF documents is not available.

## Image Compression

Three **Compression** options and a **JPEG Quality** value (default 80%) are available for compressing images:

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Automatic** | Prefers creating indexed images and uses JPEG if the image contains more than 256 colors. |
| **Indexed** | Creates indexed images (using a palette) if the image contains no more than 256 colors, else the image is stored as a bitmap. The setting gives the best image quality, but the file size may increase. |
| **JPEG** | Compresses all images using JPEG. The setting compromises image quality in favor of smaller file sizes. |