Matterhorn 07-001 · PDF/UA-1 UA1:7.1-9
DisplayDocTitle: stop the reader announcing the filename
Without /DisplayDocTitle the viewer is free to show the filename in the window title instead of the document title.
The condition, as the protocol states it. “ViewerPreferences dictionary of the Catalog dictionary does not contain a DisplayDocTitle entry.”
Matterhorn Protocol 1.1, checkpoint 07, index 07-001, section UA1:7.1-9. Software can decide this one on its own.
What a screen reader actually does
The window/tab title announced on open is the filename, not the document name.
What is in the file
Two entries in the catalog, working together.
1 0 obj
<< /Type /Catalog
/ViewerPreferences << /DisplayDocTitle true >>
/Metadata 4 0 R % the XMP packet holding dc:title
/Lang (en-US)
...
>>
endobj/DisplayDocTitle true tells the viewer to put the document title in the window or tab, rather than the filename. The title itself lives in the XMP metadata stream as dc:title:
<rdf:Description rdf:about="">
<dc:title>
<rdf:Alt><rdf:li xml:lang="x-default">Annual Report 2026</rdf:li></rdf:Alt>
</dc:title>
</rdf:Description>Condition 07-001 is /DisplayDocTitle being absent. 07-002 is it being present and false.
What the user hears
On open, a screen reader announces the window title. Without this entry that is the filename:
final-v3-REALLY-FINAL.pdf
or
Annual_Report_FY26_v7_approved_2.pdf
A sighted user glances at the first page and knows what they have. A screen reader user is told the filename and then dropped into the content. With several documents open — which is normal for anyone doing research or reviewing submissions — the window list becomes a set of filenames they have to remember the meaning of.
WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled is a Level A criterion, and this is how a PDF satisfies it.
How to fix it free, in Acrobat Pro
Ten seconds:
File → Properties→ Description tab → type a Title.File → Properties→ Initial View tab → Window Options → Show: set to Document Title.- Save.
Step 2 is /DisplayDocTitle. Step 1 is the title itself, and without it step 2 achieves nothing.
Acrobat’s Accessibility Check reports this as Title — Failed and offers Fix on the right-click menu, which does both steps and prompts for the title. That is the fastest route of all.
Upstream: Word takes the title from File → Info → Title (not the filename, and not the first heading). InDesign takes it from File → File Info → Document Title. LaTeX with hyperref takes it from \hypersetup{pdftitle={...}}. All three set dc:title and DisplayDocTitle on export.
Writing a title that does its job
The title is what identifies the document in a window list, in a browser tab, in a bookmark, and in search results. Some patterns that fail even when the entry is present — these are condition 06-004:
Microsoft Word - Document1— the producer’s placeholderUntitledor the filename repeated- The organisation’s name with no indication of which document this is
- A title identical to twenty other documents from the same series
A good title is what you would say if someone asked what you were reading: Annual Report 2026, Planning application 24/00817/FUL — decision notice, IS 5568 conformance statement.
Where Taggart differs
Taggart reports the three related conditions separately, because they need different work:
- 07-001 / 07-002 — the
/DisplayDocTitleentry. Purely mechanical; ships in “Fix All Safe”. - 06-003 —
dc:titleabsent or empty. Needs a value from you. - 06-004 — a title that does not identify the document. This one the protocol marks as human judgement, and Taggart applies a heuristic anyway: it flags titles matching known producer placeholders, titles equal to the filename, and titles shorter than four characters, listing which pattern matched:
The document title ‘Microsoft Word - report_final.docx’ does not clearly identify the document.
Setting the title requires you to supply one. Taggart will not invent a document’s name — it writes what you give it to both dc:title and /Info /Title so the two cannot drift apart, and records it in the report.
How Taggart handles it
Taggart detects this condition automatically. It is reported as a blocker, with the page, the structure path and the object id of every occurrence.
The fix is Set DisplayDocTitle to true. It is mechanical, so “Fix All Safe” applies it in bulk with a diff and a single undo.
Whatever Taggart changes, the page still looks identical. Fixes edit the PDF object model, not the content streams, and every remediation is re-rendered and compared against the original at structural similarity ≥ 0.999 before you get the file back. A tool that quietly reflows your document is worse than no tool.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really worth a separate condition?
It is the first thing a screen reader user hears when the document opens, and it is how they tell one of eleven open documents from another. It also takes about ten seconds to fix. The ratio of impact to effort is the best on this site.
What is the difference between 07-001 and 07-002?
07-001 is the entry being absent, which leaves the viewer free to do whatever it likes — and most show the filename. 07-002 is the entry being present and explicitly false, which instructs the viewer to show the filename. Same user-visible result, different repair, so the protocol lists them separately.
Do I need a title as well?
Yes, and they are separate conditions. DisplayDocTitle says 'show the title'. If there is no title, or the title is 'Microsoft Word - Document1', you have moved the problem rather than fixed it. That is conditions 06-003 and 06-004.
Which title wins, XMP or DocInfo?
PDF/UA-1 requires dc:title in the XMP metadata stream. The legacy /Info /Title is what many viewers actually read. Set both to the same value — Taggart does, and any tool that sets only one leaves you with two sources of truth that will drift apart.
Where this sits in the standards
| Standard | Reference |
|---|---|
| Matterhorn Protocol 1.1 | Checkpoint 07 (Dictionary), index 07-001 |
| PDF/UA-1 (ISO 14289-1) | Clause 7.1-9 |
| WCAG 2.1 | 2.4.2 Page Titled — Level A |
| EN 301 549 / Section 508 / ADA Title II | All three point at WCAG 2.1 Level AA for non-web documents, so a Level A or AA criterion here is in scope for each of them. |
Related conditions
- 07-002 DisplayDocTitle is false The entry is present and explicitly instructs the viewer to show the filename rather than the title.
- 06-003 XMP metadata stream does not contain dc:title The Dublin Core title property is missing from the XMP packet.
- 06-004 dc:title does not clearly identify the document A title is present but useless: the filename, "Microsoft Word - Document1", "untitled", or the template name.
- 06-001 Document does not contain an XMP metadata stream The catalog has no /Metadata entry pointing at an XMP packet. PDF/UA-1 requires one — it is where the conformance claim and the document title live.
Other conditions in checkpoint 07
Checkpoint 07 covers dictionary. These are its other failure conditions; the ones without a link are in the rule set but do not have a written page yet.
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