[NJTechDiv] [NFBCS] Reading complex PDFs, like investment statements

[Laurie Neidhart]

Dear NFB! My name is laurie. I’m not good at yours. But I know this might not be helpful. Voiceover seems to be the best screen reader in my opinion and I don’t know about talk back, but I think voiceover is easy. I’m sorry about what you’re going through. Thrive alive in 2025 thrive alive in 2025. The word is capital J a capital WS job access with speech.
Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 10, 2025, at 12:37 PM, Curtis Chong via NJTechDiv <njtechdiv at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello Tracy:
>  
> Alas, we do not live in a world that is what we would call ideal. Thus, there are going to be PDF files that will not read properly no matter what technology is used. The statements you refer to may very well be examples of this very vexing but often unsolvable problem. While we can suggest that you beat on your financial institution to improve this situation, this effort will take a lot of time to achieve even the most minimal success. As a long-time member of the Federation who believes in our fundamental objectives, it galls me to have to say this. But I would feel that I am shirking my responsibility if I do not make realistic statements like this from time to time.
>  
> This may be a case where working with a fully plug compatible biological interface (i.e., a human reader) would be the most effective short term solution😔.
>  
> Kind wishes,
>  
> Curtis Chong
>  
>  
> From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione via NFBCS
> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2025 7:16 AM
> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List' <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: carcione at access.net; 'New Jersey Technology Division List' <njtechdiv at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [NFBCS] Reading complex PDFs, like investment statements
>  
> I have some IRA accounts, as well as other investments.  I find it impossible to read the PDFs that are supposed to show me how my investments are performing.  They have many columns, often broken up by other text, so I can’t figure out what numbers belong to which columns.  Sometimes there is 1 header or number on each line, and sometimes there are many numbers on one line.
> Financial plans are even worse than statements—completely incomprehensible.
> I am using the latest version of Jaws, and Adobe.
> I would welcome advice on how to read complex PDFs like this, so I can feel less like a mushroom.
> Tracy
>  
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