Replace fig-pos [H] with [h] when PDF tagging is active

The [H] placement specifier (from LaTeX's float package) breaks
lualatex's PDF tag structure, causing /Caption and /Figure to appear
as direct children of /Document instead of being properly nested.
Standard [h] ("place here") is the closest equivalent without the
float package's incompatible reimplementation.

When pdf-standard requires tagging (e.g. ua-2), all automatic [H]
injections are replaced with [h] across the filter pipeline:
- quarto-pre/figures.lua (execution engine fig-pos defaults)
- quarto-post/latex.lua (panel layouts and star environments)
- layout/pandoc3_figure.lua (unlabeled figures)

Fixes #14164

Author: gordonwoodhull

src/format/pdf/format-pdf.ts

@@ -352,6 +352,12 @@ function createPdfFormat(
             extras.metadata = extras.metadata || {};
             extras.metadata[kPdfStandardApplied] = standards;
           }
+          // Expose tagging state to Lua filters so they can adjust
+          // figure placement (e.g., avoid [H] which breaks tag structure)
+          if (needsTagging) {
+            extras.metadata = extras.metadata || {};
+            extras.metadata["pdf-tagging"] = true;
+          }
         }
 
         return extras;

src/resources/filters/layout/pandoc3_figure.lua

@@ -124,9 +124,13 @@ function render_pandoc3_figure()
       -- if this ends up in a layout without fig-pos = H, it'll fail
       -- 'H' forces it to not float
       if figure.identifier == "" then
+        -- Use [htbp] instead of [H] when PDF tagging is active.
+        -- [H] (float package) breaks lualatex's tag structure.
+        -- See https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/14164
+        local forced_pos = option("pdf-tagging", false) and "h" or "H"
         figure = _quarto.ast.walk(figure, {
           Image = function(image)
-            image.attributes['fig-pos'] = 'H'
+            image.attributes['fig-pos'] = forced_pos
             return image
           end
         })

src/resources/filters/quarto-post/latex.lua

@@ -260,14 +260,19 @@ function render_latex()
       if f ~= nil then
         noteHasColumns()
         el.content = strip(el.content, f)
-        tprepend(el.content, {pandoc.RawBlock("latex", "\\begin{figure*}[H]")})
+        local star_pos = option("pdf-tagging", false) and "h" or "H"
+        tprepend(el.content, {pandoc.RawBlock("latex", "\\begin{figure*}[" .. star_pos .. "]")})
         tappend(el.content, {pandoc.RawBlock("latex", "\\end{figure*}")})
         return el, false
       end
     end
   end
 
   local function handle_panel_layout(panel)
+    -- Use [htbp] instead of [H] when PDF tagging is active.
+    -- [H] (float package) breaks lualatex's tag structure.
+    -- See https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/14164
+    local forced_pos = option("pdf-tagging", false) and "h" or "H"
     panel.rows = _quarto.ast.walk(panel.rows, {
       FloatRefTarget = function(float)
         if float.attributes["ref-parent"] == nil then
@@ -278,14 +283,14 @@ function render_latex()
             -- give up
             return nil
           end
-          float.attributes[ref .. "-pos"] = "H"
+          float.attributes[ref .. "-pos"] = forced_pos
           return float
         end
       end,
       Figure = function(figure)
         if figure.identifier ~= nil then
           local ref = refType(figure.identifier) or "fig"
-          figure.attributes[ref .. "-pos"] = "H"
+          figure.attributes[ref .. "-pos"] = forced_pos
         end
         return figure
       end
@@ -337,11 +342,12 @@ function render_latex()
           end
         })
       end
+      local panel_pos = option("pdf-tagging", false) and "h" or "H"
       float.content = _quarto.ast.walk(quarto.utils.as_blocks(float.content), {
         PanelLayout = function(panel)
-          panel.attributes["fig-pos"] = "H"
+          panel.attributes["fig-pos"] = panel_pos
           return panel
-        end 
+        end
       })
       return float, false
     end,

src/resources/filters/quarto-pre/figures.lua

@@ -14,6 +14,14 @@ function quarto_pre_figures()
     if el.attributes[kFigPos] == "FALSE" then
       el.attributes[kFigPos] = nil
     end
+    -- Replace fig-pos='H' with 'htbp' when PDF tagging is active.
+    -- The [H] specifier (float package) breaks lualatex's tag structure,
+    -- causing /Caption and /Figure to be direct children of /Document.
+    -- Standard [htbp] works correctly with tagging.
+    -- See https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/14164
+    if el.attributes[kFigPos] == "H" and option("pdf-tagging", false) then
+      el.attributes[kFigPos] = "h"
+    end
     local figEnv = param(kFigEnv)
 
     if figEnv and not el.attributes[kFigEnv] then

tests/docs/smoke-all/pdf-standard/ua-code-chunk-figure.qmd

@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+---
+title: "Code chunk figure tag structure"
+lang: en
+format:
+  pdf:
+    pdf-standard: ua-2
+    keep-tex: true
+_quarto:
+  tests:
+    run:
+      # verapdf validation not available on Windows CI
+      not_os: windows
+    pdf:
+      noErrors: default
+      ensureLatexFileRegexMatches:
+        - ['\\DocumentMetadata\{', 'pdfstandard=\{ua-2\}', 'tagging=on', '\\begin\{figure\}']
+        # Must NOT have \begin{figure}[H] — [H] breaks PDF tag structure
+        # See https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/14164
+        - ['\\begin\{figure\}\[H\]']
+---
+
+# Code chunk figure with cross-ref
+
+R code chunk figures with `fig-cap` get automatic `fig-pos='H'` when code is echoed.
+The `[H]` specifier (from LaTeX's `float` package) breaks lualatex's PDF tagging,
+causing `/Caption` and `/Figure` to be direct children of `/Document` instead of
+nested inside `/figures` → `/float`.
+
+```{r}
+#| label: fig-test-plot
+#| fig-cap: "Test plot"
+plot(1:10)
+```
+
+See @fig-test-plot.

tests/docs/smoke-all/pdf-standard/ua2-unlabeled-figure-caption.qmd

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 ---
-title: "UA-2: unlabeled figure caption produces invalid structure"
+title: "UA-2: unlabeled figure caption"
 lang: en
 format:
   pdf:
@@ -14,34 +14,15 @@ _quarto:
       noErrors: default
       ensureLatexFileRegexMatches:
         - ['\\DocumentMetadata\{', 'pdfstandard=\{ua-2\}', 'tagging=on']
-        - []
-      printsMessage:
-        # Known issue: unlabeled captioned figures go through pandoc3_figure.lua
-        # which produces a bare \begin{figure}[H] environment. LaTeX's tagpdf
-        # places <Caption> as a sibling of <Figure> under <Document> instead of
-        # nesting them inside a grouping element. This violates UA-2 which
-        # requires <Caption> to be a child of <Figure>, <Table>, or <Formula>.
-        #
-        # Labeled figures ({#fig-label}) go through FloatRefTarget, which wraps
-        # the figure in a \Div that provides the grouping context tagpdf needs.
-        #
-        # Structure produced (invalid):
-        #   /Document
-        #     /Caption    <- should be inside a grouping element
-        #     /Figure     <- sibling instead of parent
-        #
-        # Expected (valid, as produced by labeled figures):
-        #   /Document
-        #     /Div
-        #       /Caption  <- properly nested
-        #       /Figure
-        level: WARN
-        regex: "PDF validation failed for ua-2"
+        # Must NOT have \begin{figure}[H] — [H] breaks PDF tag structure
+        # See https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/issues/14164
+        - ['\\begin\{figure\}\[H\]']
 ---
 
-# Known LaTeX tagging limitation
+# Unlabeled captioned figure
 
-An unlabeled captioned figure produces invalid UA-2 structure because
-tagpdf does not nest `<Caption>` inside a grouping element.
+An unlabeled captioned figure. Previously this produced invalid UA-2
+structure because `[H]` placement broke lualatex's tag tree. With
+`[htbp]` the tag structure is correct.
 
 ![This is a caption on an unlabeled figure](penrose.svg)