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The Acrobat Bug Fix is here

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From: chagnon@pubcom.com
Date: Jul 5, 2023 1:34PM

Adobe has released the bug patch for Alt Text!

If you're one of the unlucky folks who upgraded Acrobat in early June,
your Alt Text was lost when a PDF was exported to PDF and instead
converted to a string of gibberish alpha-numerics.

Download and install the June 26 patch from
https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/continuous/dccontinuousjune2023qfe.html#dccontinuousjunetwentytwentythreeqfe.

Note that after installing it, reboot your computer — a cold reboot,
which is shut-down and then restart.

Those using foreign-language versions of Acrobat can expect an
additional patch soon. A related bug in those editions removes all Alt
Text and greys out the Alt Text field in Acrobat.

We've updated our free tutorial on making accessible PDFs from Office:
https://www.pubcom.com/blog/tutorials/ms-office/export-pdf/index.shtml

And you can read the backstory about this bug at
https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/new-bug-in-pdf-maker-removes-alt-text/m-p/13914470#M418592

Best to y'all.

—Bevi Chagnon
PubCom.com | Technologists & Trainers for Accessible Design + Publishing