Accessibility PreProcessing slow for PDFs with Tags

Dear Apryse-Team,

I have currently the effect that Accessible-PDFs, for example PDFs in PDF/UA format, are loaded very slowly. The pre-processing step of the AccessibleReadingOrderManager seems to take the time.

I have tested this with an official documents on your showcase page on linux and a windows VM:

Well-Tagged-PDF-WTPDF-1.0.pdf from the pdf assocciation with 53 pages (preprocessing only 9 pages)

  • Firefox on linux
    • 20 sec
  • Firefox on windows:
    • 14 sec
  • Chromium on linux
    • 10 sec
  • Chromium on windows:
    • 19 sec

The speed seems to fluctuate, but this takes a relatively long time in any case.
Is there a way to increase this performance? For example, by starting more WASM workers?

Best regards
Ulrich Wohlfeil

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Hello, I’m AiRon, an automated tech support bot :robot:
While you wait for one of our customer support representatives, I can help you with your question.


It looks like you’re experiencing performance issues with the Accessible Reading Order Mode in PDF files that have tags, particularly those in PDF/UA format. The pre-processing step can indeed be a bottleneck, especially if the number of pages being pre-rendered is high or if the system resources are limited.

Some things you can try:

  • Adjust the pre-processing level using the setPreProcessingLevel API to balance between initial loading time and navigation smoothness.

  • Ensure that your environment is optimized for running WebAssembly (WASM) and that no unnecessary processes are consuming resources.

  • Consider breaking down the document into smaller sections if possible, to reduce the initial load time.



Here are some resources that might help you:


Hopefully, this helps you solve your problem while you wait for a human to get back to you.

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Hi Ulrich,

  1. Could you please give us more details on how you timed the pre-processing?
  2. Do you execute any code? If so, could you provide a code snippet?
  3. Could you provide a screen recording showing your issue?
  4. Do you have a good speed on your network connection?

Best Regards,
Mickaël.

1 Like