request for clarification and additional information on a WCAG technique page

On this page: https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Techniques/pdf/PDF6.html

… you state (correctly) that in Word 2007, to add table headings to a resultant PDF file made from the Word file, you need to repeat the first row as a header row. You also state that: “Microsoft Word can only mark up cells as column headings, not as row headings. Only the first row can be marked as heading for all table columns. When the table has row headings or a more complex heading structure, this mark-up must be added in a PDF editor such as Acrobat Pro.”

I’ve tested this in Word 2013, and this is true.

However, in more recent versions of Word, this has no effect whatsoever, and does NOT produce header (<TH>) tags.

In Word 2019, and I believe 2016 (which I do not have installed at the moment so I can’t test it), the only way to add TH / header tags in the PDF is to check the Header Row and First Column checkboxes on the Table Design tab. This creates TH tags for the first row AND the first column (which is opposite of your note, above). Also, making the first row repeat as your article suggests does NOT result in TH tags in the PDF file.

Please see the enclosed PDF files made with PDFMaker from Word 2013 and 2019, from the same Word file (also enclosed).

I think you should update your page to clarify this.

Thank you,

Karin Carlson, MCT
204-997-3297


Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10